Tuesday, September 23, 2003

No more Firebird

I'm switching back to IE, as predicted. Firebird is a good browser which has a few improvements over IE, but it doesn't work for me. Mainly because:

- I cannot get my intranet sites to work correctly
- My product UI cannot run on it
- I have trouble getting the MoneyControl site to render correctly
- I just cannot login into the ICICI Direct website on firebird

, thanks for the link and the info on Firebird, but I'm switching back to IE. I can live without tabbed browsing. I do owe you one for introducing me to Thunderbird, though. Coupled with Hotmail Popper, I found it to be a very neat little email client.

I might continue to use Firebird for LJ and a few other websites, but IE is returning as my default browser.
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30 comments:

  1. mannuSeptember 22, 2003 at 9:35 PM

    I've switched to Firebird permanently. The problems that you reported are with the sites, and not with Firebird. For intranet sites, I usu. raise a call to the IT-OPS department, sometimes with some advice on how to fix the problem.

    ReplyDelete
  2. madhavSeptember 22, 2003 at 9:52 PM

    The problems that you reported are with the sites, and not with Firebird

    Yeah, I thought I'd get this response. ;-)

    Doesn't really make a difference to me. I am sure I can't get these fixed, so its easier to switch browsers.

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  3. fox2mikeSeptember 22, 2003 at 10:06 PM

    I completely agree... Firebird is a really nice thing, & its usually the sites that have a problem. Thunderbird rocks!!

    I switched to Firebird a month back & have not used IE since....Thunderbird just under a few weeks now, & its really comfortable :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. mmkSeptember 22, 2003 at 10:26 PM

    Heh, I'm an open source zealot and all but I too know where the IE buck stops sometimes. But why dont you try:

    CrazyBrowser

    (looks and feels diff, but is really IE).

    ReplyDelete
  5. kalyanSeptember 22, 2003 at 11:30 PM

    Firebird sucks on windows.

    It works quite well on Linux/BSD but on Windows its a big NO- NO. It cant render half the pages correctly.

    ReplyDelete
  6. serioussamSeptember 22, 2003 at 11:35 PM

    ThunderBird does have its downsides, including the lack of support from some IE only websites. If you really liked tabbed browsing, theres no reason you should live without it.
    I recommend Avant. Tabbed browsing, filters for flash and images, and a pretty strong popup blocker. The best part for you, though, is that it is just a shell over IE. All your Active-X heavy websites will run just fine on it. Its freeware too, so give it a try...

    Moi? I am an Opera man.

    ReplyDelete
  7. mannuSeptember 22, 2003 at 11:47 PM

    Well, I'm using Firebird 0.6 on Windows since about 6 months (before that, I used Mozilla 1.x). Maybe my "half the pages" and "correctly" are different from yours.

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  8. serioussamSeptember 23, 2003 at 12:06 AM

    You're getting defensive about nothing. It sucks that many websites are IE only. There are some that don't even open in alternate browsers and redirect you to an "upgrade your browser" page.(Try Activision's website).

    That just sucks. Remember, I am the guy who uses Opera almost exclusively. I face the same frustrations as a Firebird user. Hell, I would have stuck to Firebird if I didn't miss mouse gestures so much. To each his own, I guess.

    But if a guy frequents Active-X heavy websites, he doesn't have much of a choice. Either switch to IE for that website, or don't use that website. I usually choose the latter route, but I can't force everyone to do the same.

    FireBird is in 0.6 right now. When the final point release comes out, there are going to be many bugs that'll be smoothed out. It still is one of the best browsers, and then it is going to be a killer one. The biggest problems Alt browser users, esp. Firebird and Opera users face (apart from active-x heavy websites) is the incorrect usage of CSS. Using incorrect CSS might be forgiven in IE, but Firebird and Opera have better rendering, and will not forgive incorrect style usage.

    I hope to see a day where all browsers can access all sites (excellent examples LJ and Blogger) properly one day. That is when everyone could choose whatever browser they find better, and not worry about support. That is when I will be willing to pay for a good aggregator-cum-browser.

    Till then brother, peace out.

    ReplyDelete
  9. birdonthewireSeptember 23, 2003 at 12:34 AM

    Why not Opera? At home, I am a complete Opera man! And so far haven't faced any problems with rendering either.. (hmm.. except on the TOI site occasionally).

    Or you could try NetCaptor, the wrapper over IE. So you get tabbed browsing, as well as IE! That should do the trick rite?

    ReplyDelete
  10. madhavSeptember 23, 2003 at 12:36 AM

    Tried it out for a while, it does look interesting. However I guess I'll stick to IE and Firebird every now and then, for sites like LJ perhaps...

    Thanks for the suggestions

    ReplyDelete
  11. mujibSeptember 23, 2003 at 12:46 AM

    Ah, another Operateur. Nicetameetya. Are you on Windows?

    ReplyDelete
  12. serioussamSeptember 23, 2003 at 12:53 AM

    Nice to meet you too. Yeah, I am on windows. *shrugs*
    You?

    ReplyDelete
  13. mujibSeptember 23, 2003 at 1:22 AM

    Likewise.

    ReplyDelete
  14. harish_anSeptember 23, 2003 at 1:57 AM

    try opera

    ReplyDelete
  15. simigSeptember 23, 2003 at 6:22 AM

    There's life to browsing beyond IE and NN. Wow! Just reading these posts is an education in itself.... Thanks folks!

    signed,

    Technologically Challenged

    ReplyDelete
  16. charlesjSeptember 23, 2003 at 6:46 AM

    Err...doesnt anybody use Opera7 ? I've had no problems with its CSS rendering so far.

    ReplyDelete
  17. sushubhSeptember 23, 2003 at 5:04 PM

    Opera 7.20 is out and it rocks. And thats the bottom line... Coz people who uses it says so.

    Mozilla is cool. But for the time being I will stick to Opera.
    Esp coz its too small to download. Small even then some MS's patches for IE. Perhaps they should make this download the final patch for IE that solves every problem IE ever faced! :D

    ReplyDelete
  18. serioussamSeptember 23, 2003 at 5:24 PM

    Thats the thing... good CSS will never go wrong in Opera. I use 7.20 and its just so much fun. Wow. Look at this thread. I didn't know there were so many Opera fans...

    ReplyDelete
  19. serioussamSeptember 23, 2003 at 5:25 PM

    Trust you to find an Opera related discussion and give your two bits... heh. :) I downloaded 7.20 yesterday... not much of an improvement over my 7.10 release, but still, fun!

    ReplyDelete
  20. madhavSeptember 23, 2003 at 5:32 PM

    Opera, here I come. Hope my usual 7-day window gets extended for Opera (before I switch back to IE again )

    ReplyDelete
  21. hserusSeptember 23, 2003 at 5:52 PM

    I run firebird's nightly builds - and they rock.
    Haven't had any problem - not with Java, shockwave, flash or even bank websites (at least my bank site, HSBC, runs a-ok on firebird).

    I'm happy.

    ReplyDelete
  22. kalyanSeptember 23, 2003 at 8:09 PM

    I bank on hsbc.co.in and those fuckers check for UserAgent string for "IE 5.5 or 6.0". If they dont match, they dont let me in. I guess your bank in hsbc.co.hk or something

    ReplyDelete
  23. hserusSeptember 23, 2003 at 8:13 PM

    Yup - got it in one.

    https://www.ebank.hsbc.com.hk - their site design is much cleaner than the Indian version.

    The two sites seem to be on the same server in HK, funnily enough.

    suresh@frodo 12:43:16 [~]$ nslookup www.hsbc.co.in
    Server: localhost
    Address: 127.0.0.1

    Non-authoritative answer:
    Name: www.hsbc.com.hk
    Address: 203.112.80.102
    Aliases: www.hsbc.co.in

    suresh@frodo 12:43:27 [~]$ nslookup www.hsbc.com.hk
    Server: localhost
    Address: 127.0.0.1

    Non-authoritative answer:
    Name: www.hsbc.com.hk
    Address: 203.112.80.102

    ReplyDelete
  24. mujibSeptember 23, 2003 at 9:04 PM

    Thanks for the info. I had downloaded the beta earlier (7.20b7) but it crashed on me a few times, so I rolled back to 7.11.

    Firebird is a good browser, but it lacks saved sessions, which I value the most. Any idea how that can be achieved?

    So, do you skin your Opera? My current fascination is Marina; it appeals to my inner child.

    ReplyDelete
  25. mujibSeptember 23, 2003 at 9:22 PM

    Mind you, the learning curve would be steeper than for Firebird. Things won't work quite like you expect and you would be confused by the plethora of menus and their locations. Also, you will not enjoy the ad banner.

    Have I told you it's my favorite browser?

    ReplyDelete
  26. kalyanSeptember 23, 2003 at 11:06 PM

    thats funny..

    but hsbc.co.in is one of the worest web app I've seen. just by disabling right click, and using other IE tricks they think they are securing the site.

    Look the the html source of few of the pages. ;)
    there are names of developers from infy who have developed the app

    ReplyDelete
  27. mannuSeptember 23, 2003 at 11:35 PM

    If I find one of 'em, I'll burn 'em :-)

    ReplyDelete
  28. 2fargonSeptember 24, 2003 at 5:08 AM

    I cannot open http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com in any other browser, so too many of the aforementioned websites.

    What I do is, for such sites, I do a "windows"+"e" to open the windows explorer, and then use that to open the website. IE has been disabled (made invisible) on my computer, I use only firebird, except for the problem sites, for which I use the above approach.

    An interesting thing about Thunderbird is that when I try to reply to LJ comments, it opens the LJ "comment posted" page in the browser, and gives me "POST required" as an error. That sucks. Is that a problem you face too?

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  29. madhavSeptember 24, 2003 at 3:24 PM

    Yup, I get the same problem. Haven't really figured out a resolution/workaround. It does suck

    ReplyDelete
  30. jayasankarvsSeptember 25, 2003 at 12:30 AM

    I love this guy.

    ReplyDelete

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