Niche Software Steals Microsoftกs Thunder

Niche Software Steals Microsoftกs Thunder

by: Jim Edwards

When you think of software and personal computers (PCs), you think Microsoft.

The global software giant dominates the PC market in both penetration and pocketbook.

It seems you can’t go a single day without seeing at least one news story and several advertisements for Microsoft or a Microsoft product.

But that doesn’t mean Microsoft dominates in every corner of the market; in fact, as the software behemoth gets bigger, numerous niche software offerings spring up to fill in the gaps left in Microsoftกs wake.

As youกll see, a couple of these niche software programs have managed to either beat Microsoft to the punch, or even steal market share away from the seemingly invincible company.

** FeedDemon **

FeedDemon software ($29.95) enables you to subscribe to and read RSS Feeds (Real Simple Syndication).

RSS has emerged as the preferred way to share news and other content with subscribers across the Internet without the use of email.

The advantage to subscribers: as news, blogs, or other content updates somewhere online, subscribers receive virtually instant notification just by opening up their reader.

This represents a huge time savings since subscribers can receive updates without surfing individual sites to chase down stories or wading through piles of spam to find the content they actually want.

The advantage to publishers: no worrying about whether email notifications, news releases, or blog updates made it past the spam filters or unreliable mail servers.

Though many free RSS reader software packages exist (just do a search on Google.com for กfree rss readerก), FeedDemon offers an unmatched suite of tools that enable serious RSS subscribers the power and flexibility to mix and match feeds, including the new กPOD Castingก craze where content providers syndicate audio content (MP3) over the web.

Available from www.bradsoft.com/feeddemon/, FeedDemon sets the standard for RSS readers in a market that Microsoft has yet to even address with any of its software products.

Iกll make a daring prediction here: watch for Microsoft or another large player to purchase FeedDemon rather than try to reinvent the wheel and build a product brand themselves.

** FireFox Web Browser **

Security problems always seem to plague the Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) Web browser.

In fact, last year the problem got so bad, it forced Microsoft to release one of the largest free software upgrades (Service Pack 2) in the history of computing.

According to both OneStat.com and Webside Story, two of the Webกs leading Web analytics companies, Microsoftกs IE market share has dipped below 90%.

See actual stats from WebSide Story Here: http://www.websidestory.com/servicessolutions/datainsights/spotlight.html

In response to serious security threats to Internet Explorer, an upstart browser named FireFox from Mozilla.org took off like a rocket ship in late 2004.

Available free from www.Mozilla.org, FireFox offers not only a fullfeatured Web browser without the security problems, but also a number of features not available on Internet Explorer.

Probably the most popular feature Firefox offers over IE is ‘tabbed Browsing,ก which enables you to open multiple Web pages without opening multiple windows.

Firefox also limits harmful ActiveX controls and popup windows.

Firefox tends towards a less forgiving attitude on HTML coding and may display some Web pages awkwardly, where IE displays most pages as the designer intended.

Despite this, Firefox makes an excellent browser and Microsoft should take heed that market dominance doesn’t last forever once consumers see a viable alternative.

And the lesson in all of this for all you wouldbe entrepreneurs out there with the next great idea?

It doesn’t matter how big or small your organization, it always comes back to a simple formula: Meet the needs and solve the problems of a specific niche audience better than the next guy and youกll be the winner!

© Jim Edwards All Rights reserved

http://www.thenetreporter.com

About The Author

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the coauthor of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or affiliate links…

Simple ‘traffic Machineก brings Thousands of NEW visitors to your website for weeks, even months… without spending a dime on advertising! ==> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com

This article was posted on August 31

by Jim Edwards

7 Reasons to Switch to FireFox

7 Reasons to Switch to FireFox

by: John Gergye

The Firefox browser has exploded on the scene. At the time of this writing there have been 23 million downloads of this innovative competitor to Internet Explorer. Minor drawbacks aside, most who use it love it – myself included.

One stand out feature is the customizable search bar that’s built into the Firefox menu bar. As a long time AOL user I had 10 hot keys set up for sites I visited all the time. With Firefox all I did was set the search bar up with those very same links. Suddenly what seemed like a reason to mourn the loss of AOL vanished.

Then there’s tabbed browsing. This is a new way to use a browser as you can access more than one page in a single browser window. Which makes it easy to switch back and forth among multiple web pages. Makes for a great time saver.

But a big benefit is the ability to install little applications that perform specific tasks. In the FireFox world these are called ขextensionsข. If you’re like me you’ll find extension are sorta like potato chips – you just can’t have just one.

So let me share my 7 favorites. I believe they will save you time or effort while enhancing your FireFox experience.

Favorite Extension #1: Auto copy

Auto copy is a killer keystroke saver. You’ll never CtrlC again. Simply highlight the desired text on the web page with your mouse and it’s instantly copied to the clipboard. Jump over to whatever application you want to paste that text into, paste it and you’re done.

Favorite Extension #2: ScrapBook

How many times have you book marked a site only to return and find it changed? Or worse it’s vanished? That makes the ScrapBook extension the web researcher’s indispensable friend. It lets you take a snapshot of any page. Or you can grab just a chunk it. ScrapeBook keeps such snapshots organized and even lets you add comments if you like.

Favorite Extension #3: TinyURL Creator

How often do you want to sent a friend a URL only to discover it’s a mile long? Like this one for instance?

http://www.google.com/search?as_q=&num=50&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=%22john+gergye%22&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&safe=images

Wouldn’t it be easier to send something like this: http://tinyurl.com/427gg?

Good news. There’s a handy extension that will cut any unwieldy URL it down to size using TinyURL. Even better it will also inventory those you’ve created in case you want to use any of them again.

Favorite Extension #4: Popup Blocking

Okay so this technically isn’t an extension. It’s more of a killer built in feature that will stop pop ups dead in their tracks. I mean there’s nothing like seeing this message ขFirefox prevented this site from opening a pop up windowข to give you a warm glow inside

Favorite Extension #5: Google Pagerank

Want to know the Google PageRank of a page? Sadly the Google Toolbar only runs in Internet Explorer. But never fear. If you like to eyeball PR, say to check out potential link partners, the Google Pagerank Status extension displays pagerank. Even better it’s also in numeric form so you don’t have to mouse over to see the PR. .

Favorite Extension #6 LoremIpsum Content Generator

Whenever you need some quick content to check a web page layout this is your tool. You can tell it to create so many characters, words or paragraphs. Giving you a variety of ขLatinlikeข content like this in the blink of an eye:

Favorite Extension #7: Copy URL

Instead of copying a snippet from a page and then going back and grabbing the URL you can do it all with one tool. Copy URL. Another addictive research tool.

All of these tiny apps can be downloaded from here:

https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions

Or if these 7 have whet you appetite for more, you can nose around there for other extensions to enhance your FireFox experience.

One other tip

To check your extensions go to Tools>Extensions

There you’ll see all extensions you’ve installed. Newly downloaded ones will typically display this message:

ขThis item will be installed after you RESTART Firefox ข

Do so and you’re set.

Anyway, these extensions alone are seven reasons to love FireFox. At the risk of sounding like a shill, I can’t urge you strongly enough to try it. I’m sure you’ll like it.

Copyright 2005 John Gergye

About The Author

John Gergye is the author of ขStreet Smart Linkingข. To learn more about this 131 page, step by step link building guide visit http://www.highprlinkclub.com/j/ssl_sya.shtml/. Or test your search engine IQ by taking his seo quiz http://www.traffictesttube.com/searchenginequiz.shtml/ and get the free special report กComing Out On Topก.

This article was posted on February 21

by John Gergye

Explore the Internet in a Whole New Way

Explore the Internet in a Whole New Way

by: Daniel Punch

For a long time now Microsoftกs Internet Explorer has ruled as กKing of Internet browsersก. Like most of Microsoftกs products an initially brutal marketing campaign pushed Internet Explorer into the mainstreamกs consciousness and from then on it was the logical, default choice. Itกs free with the operating system, works well, loads any page and is easy to use. Other web browsers soon faded into obscurity and sometimes even died in the shadow of the new king of the pack. Netscape Navigator, the former กKing of the browsersก, has now ceased commercial operations and has been taken over by the fan base. Opera is fading into obscurity and Mozilla was facing a similar fate, until recently.

Mozilla Firefox (formerly known as Firebird) is probably the largest threat that IE has faced in recent times. Currently, according to http://www.w3schools.com, IE is the browser used by 69.9% of Internet users and Firefox is used by 19.1%. This might not seem like much, but according to http://www.nua.ie/surveys/how_many_online/ an educated guess at the number of people that use the Internet is somewhere around 605,600,000 users (or was in 2002, the number will have increased substantially by now). That means that (after some erroneous math) a rough stab at guessing the number of people using Firefox is probably over 115,064,000, which isn’t a bad user base at all.

When a friend of mine from university first tried to convince me to switch to Firefox I wasn’t particularly interested. Basically, IE has done everything that Iกve wanted in a web browser. He went on at great lengths about the security aspects, the inbuilt popup blockers, download managers and so on, but Iกd spent a fairly large amount of time and money on antivirus programs, firewalls, spyware removers, and my browser was secure enough. I also have a download manager that Iกm very happy with and refuse to change from. After much cajoling I finally agreed to try this newfangled software. Iกm glad I did too, because now I have no desire to go back.

Firefox is very easy to install and use. Thereกs nothing complicated, you simply download (for free) and run the install file and then when you run the browser for the first time you get presented with the option of importing your IE favourites (a nice feature, with the click of a button everything is moved across to ease your transition) and also the option of making Firefox your default browser. My initial reaction was fairly apathetic; Firefox seemed pretty much the same as IE and in essence, it is. It has all the basic features of IE, but then I discovered it adds so much more.

The first feature to really grab me is the tabbed browsing. Many alternative browsers and even IE plugins support tabbed browsing (where the new pages can be opened in a tab in the one window, instead of filling the task bar with buttons) but Firefox seems to make it so easy and useful. All you do is click a link with the middle button on your mouse (most newer mice have three buttons, the third often being placed under the scroll wheel) and a new tab opens up containing the page requested. Middle clicking on any tab in the window will close it, without having to actually go to the tab and click close. CtrlT will open a new blank tab, and CtrlTab will cycle through them (similar in fashion to AltTab cycling through the open programs). What this all leads to is a much neater Internet experience, with you being able to group certain pages into browser windows, leaving the start bar much cleaner and easier to navigate.

The next feature that caught my attention was the search bar built into the browser. Itกs small, sleek and simple, built into the righthand side of the main toolbar beside the address box. You can add many different sites to the search bar and then select the site you wish to search from a dropdown menu. Then itกs simply a matter of typing your query in and hitting enter to be taken directly to that page and your search results. This makes searching Ebay, Google, Internet Movie DataBase, Amazon etc. very quick and easy as you can simply type in the desired search criteria as you think of it and get the results back fast. You can get search bar plugins for IE but they tend to take up lots of room, contain ads, and you can usually only have one site per search bar.

There are more features than I could write about here but I will tell you that Firefox has impressed me greatly. Browser hijacking: the act of a malicious website script changing your homepage or search page (particularly common on IE, sites will change your default search page so that every time you type an address into your address bar their site gets a hit) is now a thing of the past (at least until someone gets vicious enough to work out backdoors in Firefox, an unlikely event for at least a little while given the massive market share still held by IE). Since changing over I have received substantially fewer attack notices from my Firewall. Sites load quickly, and if you get an address wrong you don’t have to wait for a page to load, you just quickly get a message informing you that the site doesn’t exist. Then there are the extensions that can be downloaded to add all sorts of new features to the browser.

The only downside that I have found is the fact that because IE is the dominant web browser, some websites are coded in such a way that they don’t work properly on other browsers. These sites are few and far between, but occasionally you will still need to fire up IE to view a page. The infrequency of this occurring is enough that it doesn’t annoy me too much, but it will be nice when everything works 100%.

At the end of the day, itกs probably not a vital switch. Both programs suffice in allowing you to plug in and explore the vast world of the Internet with ease and accuracy. However, itกs worth a look though because what starts off initially as กI have no real reason to change backก quickly becomes กI am never going backก. So, as the official Firefox website encourages, ‘rediscover the webก.

About The Author

Daniel Punch

M6.Net

http://www.m6.net

Daniel Punch is a university student always looking to overthrow the man and support the underdog, provided it doesn’t actually cost him anything.

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 01

by Daniel Punch

The Benefits of the New Firefox Browser

The Benefits of the New Firefox Browser

by: Jakob Jelling

You probably heard of the new Firefox browser version 1.0 recently released by Mozilla. If you are currently using Internet Explorer or Netscape, you are probably wondering if Firefox is better and why is it better. In order to answer these questions it is necessary to take a look at all the benefits that Firefox offers you as a user.

First of all, Firefox is free, which is definitely a plus. It is an opensource web browser based on the Mozilla code foundation and will work for Windows, Linux and MacOS X operating systems. These are the technical specification, but what is more interesting to you as a user is that Firefox is very fast, secure, and is easy to use and navigate. The user interface is straightforward and uncomplicated.

There are numerous benefits that Firefox has. One of them is the popup blocking capability. You no longer have to see all those frustrating popup windows since the browser will take cake of them. You also don’t need an alternative popup blocker program. Firefox also allows you to use tabs to open new web pages instead of using a new window. This feature is similar to the one that Netscape offers. However, with the Firefox, you can also open web pages in the background.

If you are trying to download some file, it will be automatically saved to your desktop. If you are using Google search engine for your search needs, you will appreciate the built in Google toolbar. Your Firefox toolbar will also include usual features like bookmarks, history, and text size and is customizable to include additional tools and features. If you would like to have an access to an email client you will need to download the Mozilla Thunderbird mail client software.

You don’t have to be a computer professional to install this new browser. The installation and setup are very simple and straightforward and were designed to minimize the amount of work that needs to be done by the user. All your settings will be imported into Firefox. For example, you will see the same favorites as you saw when using Internet Explorer. Firefox is also available in several languages so if you prefer to use some other language then English, you can just install your language version of this browser.

In addition to all the benefits described above, Firefox browser is also offering you a higher level of security. For example, spyware and adware programs cannot automatically install in the Firefox browser.

About The Author

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.centernet.dk. Visit his website for the latest info on search engine optimization.

This article was posted on November 27, 2004

by Jakob Jelling

What is it with FireFox?

What is it with FireFox?

by: Pete Crewdson

I don’t like FireFox. Iกm not afraid to divulge the fact that I don’t like it. I don’t like people who insist on running on about how great it is, or people who try to push it in my face. I can’t ignore it though, and this is why:

Whilst looking over the FireFox website I noticed the increasing number of downloads it is garnering, this inspired me to try and work out why people are so keen on this browser over its Microsoft Counterpart. So why do so many people choose to switch to FireFox?

The Hype?

FireFox has garnered more and more media hype as the downloads increase, and the more it gets hyped, the more people download it. Itกs a neverending circle of over hyped confusion, and one of the many reasons people have chosen to download the browser.

The CrossCompatibility Issues?

Iกm not a fan of FireFox but even I own a copy on both my home and work machines. Cross Browser compatibility on websites is a must to for every website, you cannot afford to lose out on visitors/potential customers because your website doesn’t work in other browsers. Remember, FireFox now have almost 20% of the browser market share thatกs 20 out of every 100 visitors you will be potentially losing if your website is not cross browser referenced!

The Tabbed Browsers?

Though you wouldn’t think this would be a top competitor in this field, it is. A lot of people I asked said they decided to go with Mozilla and FireFox browsers because of the tabbed browser bar. This enables you to open more than one Internet page within the same browser window, in turn, saving on computer usage and virtual memory capacity. Internet Explorer opens a new window as opposed to this, and in turn, uses up a lot of the computers memory, which can lead to unresponsiveness and crashing.

The Security Issues?

Nearly everyone I spoke to said one thing, กItกs secure.ก And Iกm not going to deny it, but is Internet Explorer really that unsecured that people feel they have to switch well, in reality no. The reason for this is that so many people have hacked and hunted down flaws in Internet Explorer, that Microsoft has been forced to fix them, and made them more secure. Yes, there are still holes in Internet Explorer, but FireFox has not been on the market long enough, or holds enough of a market share for hackers to try and discover all the holes in it. And already, a few companies have in fact, found vital flaws in FireFox (which have now been fixed).

Open Source Project and Patches?

There are currently hundreds, possibly thousands of FireFox patches and upgrades for download across the Internet. Adding to the barebone structure of the original FireFox, these patches allow more usability and customisation of the FireFox browser but with patches not being กofficially endorsedก by the Mozilla Foundation, these patches could cause the browsers security issues to be exposed all it would take is one malicious patch. Being Open Source Software means the browsers coding is commercially available to anybody who wishes to use it The upside to this is that FireFox can ease the strain a bit by letting people continue to work with the code and create patches, cover up security holes and customise the browser to how they feel it should be, without the encouragement of the Mozilla Foundation.

Feedback and Production?

One thing that is prominent in FireFox is its กfan baseก, a dedicated following of users who promote to the death and spread the word about FireFox. One thing that people like about FireFox is how much the designers appreciate and encourage feedback and ideas on the project. This is a browser that they want people to use, and the way they do it is by letting people tell them what they want. What more can they do?

And after all that, no, I am still not convinced that FireFox is a good enough browser for me to make a switch. I can understand the hype behind it, but Iกm sure it will soon die down. There are plenty of flaws and design features which are snarled at in FireFox, and as a web developer and website builder, it is not easy to get around them using the new methods of building on the market (CSS based browsing, for example). FireFox is, in its own right, a good browser, and once they have smoothed out their compatibility and usability issues, and when they start complying with WWW standard text and pixel sizes, then maybe I will think about a switch again.

About The Author

Pete Crewdson is the owner of the Forfeit The Game Network (http://www.forfeitthegame.co.uk), Forfeit The Game: A Linkin Park Fansite (http://www.forfeitthegame.com), and runs the Forfeit The Game Media Weblog (http://www.forfeitthegame.com/weblog/) For all the latest Music, TV, Film, Computer and Internet and Sports articles, look no further than Forfeit the Game.

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 23

by Pete Crewdson

The Firefox Browser, Will It Work For You?

The Firefox Browser, Will It Work For You?

by: Garret Belisle

The firefox browser is fast becoming the browser of choice for online enthuisiasts for several reasons. Here are just a few reasons why :

1. Faster, Safer

2. Popup Blocking

3. Privacy and Security

It has over 64 million downloads already.

With the firefox browser you can surf several pages on one tab, you can actually set up your home page to have several webpages in it, unlike most browsers where you can only have one.

Not to mention the additional security and of course RSS syndicated feeds, commonly used by news and media sources, let you read the latest news headlines as they happen. Plus you will enjoy hassle free downloading as all files you download are automatically saved and managed to a single location on your computer, of your choice.

This browser is truly improving and speeding up any computer task you may have.

Go ahead and take a look at what else the firefox browser can do for you today.

About The Author

Garret Belisle is the c0author of the Firefox: How to…ก

www.firefoxmentor.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 13

by Garret Belisle

Is Your Web Browser Putting You At Risk?

Is Your Web Browser Putting You At Risk?

by: Doug Partridge

Itกs free, it comes with Windows and itกs used by approximately 94% of the Internet population. It also poses an unacceptable security risk. What am I talking about? If you guessed Internet Explorer, you’re right on the money. So, is your web browser putting you at risk? If you’re one of the 94% using Internet Explorer, the answer is a definite *yes*. By my math, quite a few people require critical information for protection.

Whatกs the problem with Internet Explorer (known as กIEก from here out) and how does it put you at risk?

The main problem with IE is the numerous security flaws. As an example, between April 2001 and June 2004, Microsoft documented *153 security flaws* in IE. When a security flaw is discovered Microsoft releases information about the flaw and the potential impact. *Usually* at this point Microsoft provides a downloadable security fix to remedy the problem. Since many people don’t know about the flaw and the fix, frequently people remain vulnerable for long periods of time.

Just how serious are some of these security flaws? Some of the critical security flaws allow attackers to basically gain control of your computer and run whatever malicious programs they chose. In many cases, your vulnerable computer can be compromised just by visiting the wrong website.

Here are but a few of the malicious programs Iกve seen loaded on peopleกs computers through security holes in IE:

Browser Hijackers. These are programs that do nasty things like change your home page to another page, usually something pornographic in nature. They can also install software and links on your desktop, of course *without* your permission.

Spyware. This is extremely devious and malicious software, and in many cases, itกs used by criminals for online identity theft. Once itกs on your computer, Spyware sits quietly in the background recording information about you. Do you shop and bank online? This is one threat to be extremely concerned about.

What can you do to improve security?

Rather than continue to apply what boils down to กband aidก security fixes to IE, I recommend a more permanent solution. Stop letting IE put you at risk, and switch to another web browser.

How exactly will switching web browsers help? Quite simply, there are so many security exploits on the Internet targeted specifically to IE that just by using another browser, youกll happily avoid most of them.

The good news is that there are several alternative web browsers available free of charge like Netscape, Mozilla, Opera and Firefox. For more information a great website to visit is http://BrowseHappy.com. This website is dedicated to getting people to switch from IE. Itกs full of ‘real lifeก stories about why people switched, and what browser they’re using now.

So, whatกs the best browser of the bunch? Well, itกs highly subjective of course, but my vote goes to …

Firefox, ‘rediscover the Webก A new browser called Firefox has quickly become my web browser of choice. First off, Firefox was written to be กlean and meanก and it certainly delivers. Itกs faster at loading web pages than IE and even provides features not found in IE. Something I suspect will quickly become a favorite feature is called tabbed browsing. Tabbed browsing allows you to load multiple web pages in the same window, and quickly switch between the loaded pages. Tired of popups? Firefox has the best builtin popup blocker Iกve seen. I have yet to see a popup get past it. When it comes to security, Firefox receives *high marks*.

Firefox definitely has a positive กbuzzก going right now, and itกs easy to see why. If you’re interested in trying out Firefox, you can download it for free here: http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Iกll conclude by saying that switching browsers is only one of several steps necessary to protect yourself from the many threats on the Internet, but itกs certainly a good place to start. Hereกs to practicing safe computing.

© Doug Partridge All Rights reserved

About The Author

Doug Partridge is coauthor of a new eBook, กHow to Secure Your Computer Using Free Tools and Smart Strategies.ก This is the missing Internet security guide that should have come with your Windows computer, but didn’t.

Free Details => http://www.SecureYourComputer.net

This article was posted on December 03, 2004

by Doug Partridge