For those of you fanboys (and fangirls) of FireFox 3, this post is for you:

As many of my valued readers might know, I have been following various social media outlets for a few months, with some mixed results.

Let me be frank when I say that I think there is a log of egotistical stuff going on in the world of social media, but I have met some really nice people through channels like Twitter, FriendFeed, Plurk, and so on.

Twitter, in specific, is rather interesting in that I typically post little observations or aggravations about the world at large. For those of you that don’t know what Twitter is, it is what is termed as a micro-blogging site; more to the point, it is a way for you to post little tidbits in 140 words or less.

So it was that I found myself aggravated with some goings on of FF3. It would at some points sieze up, or not allow CAPTCHA’s to be displayed properly on some blogs… This was rather frustrating.

So I blabbed about it on Twitter - and Firefox Answered.

At first firefox_answers gave me what I thought was a mundane answer, uninstall your plug-ins…

“Gee, really? What fantastic advice,” I said… and got a response back. In fact, I got several responses back, much quicker than any of the other twitterers (yes that is what they are called).

… and I ended up enjoying some crow to go with my serving of humble pie - because even though the plugin was only meant to help render FriendFeed a little more cleanly - it stepped on some other pages toes.

Here are the take-aways:

1. Those companies in Tech using social media to talk with their customers are very savvy.
2. Social media used in this fashion creates a very warm customer experience.
3. I should quit thinking I know everything about technology just because I’m in technology - and be a little more humble when instructed to do something by the official semi-official Mozilla FireFox Twitter Technical Support Account.

… it was a plug-in … come on cut me some slack!

So I’m changing my default browser back to FF3 to look for some more flaws… I know, great attitude right? Well, now I have @firefox_answers.

In Mark Evan’s post, Did We Get Suckered by Firefox 3?, he asks a very pointed question. Firefox topped 8 million downloads in a 24 hour period, which reports are stating could be a new world record (Chattahbox).

Mark wasn’t too pleased with Mozilla, and immediately points both barrels and fires:

Everyone likes something shiny and new so it didn’t come as much surprise to see eight million people download Firefox 3… While Firefox is becoming more popular, the reality is people who enthusiastically downloaded as soon as it was released into the wild may have been suckered.

Why is it that Mozilla has this mystique of greatness, anyway?

I’m not so sure anyone got “suckered”, and I’m not of the opinion Firefox is some messiah of browsers. For that matter, I’m certainly no fanboy of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

I get the impression that many almost feel as though Mozilla has some underlying obligation to fix world hunger or bring peace to the Middle East. I mean, come on! The fanatics that follow Apple or tout Google act as if they are some ’dynamic duo‘ out to stop the evils of Corporate America too.

It’s easy to get caught up in the positive spin of a company, but let’s cut the hype… Firefox is a browser just like IE, and just like Safari. I am a user who wants to surf the web, read e-mail, and conduct my business and personal affairs in a connected world. 

I will tell you that I have worked with FF 1 and 2 with no great applause. They’re OK, but interoperability with other suites in my line of business applications have been spotty. I was truly hoping FF3 would fix some of that, but it appears that in fixing some issues others have arisen.

Now that’s a shocker: a software company that has bugs in their code? No, not Mozilla. They’re curing AIDS in Africa with each download - aren’t they?

The black and white of browsers:

Listen folks, I don’t mean to downplay world events - or more importantly anyone’s role in helping others. I’m all for that. However, let’s look at this just like a business. These companies are in business. I love the competition that both Firefox and Safari bring to the table because it helped Microsoft get a clue and clean up some (I said some) of their crap code in IE.

Now speaking of code, FF3 has been all but working smoothly since I downloaded all but less than a week ago. My trusty RoboFormssoftware isn’t working properly and completely disappears at times - and let me tell you keeping track of all the passwords I have is a hassle without it. AJAXey sites don’t function very well that I can tell, like Plurk. Now who knows if that is truly Firefox or the A-Team just goofing with their code base again, but IE7 doesn’t seem to hiccup very much.

Well, maybe these are all tweaks, and maybe not. However, if I put on my, “I’m just a normal user” cap, I don’t care. I want my software to work, out of the box, with no customization. I know, call me lazy - call me idealistic, but don’t call me unrealistic!

The bottom line:

Mozilla isn’t on some grand crusade to make the world a better place by downloading their code. They are a business looking for market share. I’m sure they would be the first to tell you that if you generally want to make a difference in the world, sitting in front of their browser is not the place to be.

Oh well, I’ll wait for a .1 release to fix some of the hiccups along with my software vendors releasing some updated code as well. Until then, I’ll probably kick back to my trusty IE - sorry boys and girls.

Oh well, this is my rant on Firefox 3 for now, do you have a beef with it, or just with what I’m saying? Speak up - because I can’t hear you!