Ditched Internet Explorer, Outlook is Next

Despite being keen on free software, I’ve been using Microsoft Internet Explorer for years out of sheer laziness. But about six months ago, the weight of evidence against using this flabbergastingly insecure web browser drove me to install Firefox, and I’ve been using that fine ever since.

The only significant web site I’ve found that doesn’t work with it is B&Q’s shopping cart and Trend Micro’s Housecall anti-virus scanner. But you can always invoke MSIE for short periods if necessary.

Having to use MSIE at work means that I can compare and contrast, and I now think Firefox is a better browser than MSIE. I love all the free extensions and themes you can get for it. I’ve even disabled MSIE (as far as one can) so that it can’t be invoked by other programs like Outlook.

Up until now though, I’ve been reluctant to try Thunderbird, the Mozilla mail client, simply because I’ve not been able to manage all my mail accounts in one inbox like I do with Outlook. But with Thunderbird 0.8, you can. So I’m revving up to switch to that too soon I think.

I think it’s now just a matter of time before Windows get the elbow too.