It's probably all over the tech blogosphere by now, but Mozilla's Firefox 1.0 browser just hit 25 million downloads -- and they did it within one hundred days of the release. Bravo! It's no secret that we here at the Port are fans of the little browser that could. The Mozilla store is celebrating with discounts on FireFox gear, for those of you who like to wear your Web enthusiasms on your sleave.
It may be pure coincidence, but there is browser news from Redmond as well. It seems that there will be a new, standalone version of Internet Explorer after all. The Chairman himself announed the new version -- IE 7 -- in his RSA Conference keynote. The first beta is due this summer -- on XP SP2 only. It is supposed to contain significant new anti-phising and malware countermeasures, although details were scarce.
In related news, it looks like Widows AntiSpyware -- in beta since January -- will in fact be free of charge to Windows users. This is the first announcement of commercialization plans. Apparently, there will also be a coporate product with enterprise-level management and depolyment features (alas, that one won't be free).
We find both of the MS developments heartening. The idea of letting IE languish (as a standalone browser) always seemed to us uncomfortably reminiscent of the fate of Netscape 4.x. And, having tried the AntiSpyware beta, we can attest that it seems to be a cut above common free solutions like SpyBot or AdAware. So -- good news all around, as far as we're concerned.