Firefox 2, finally!

[Yeahman]

The verdict: Unimpressive.
No compelling reason to upgrade. There are a few very minor improvements (close buttons on each tab and a built-in spell checker) but the drawback, that it breaks many extensions (now called "add-ons") and search plugins, is significant.
You won't be missing much if you wait for 3.0.

The IE team at Microsoft sent the Firefox team at Mozilla, a congratulatory cake.
http://fredericiana.com/2006/10/24/from-redmond-with-love/

[yoMAMA]

I totally agree.

This is the best microsoft software engineers can do?

[Yeahman]

I read one article that went so far as to call this the beginning of the end for Firefox. Not that Firefox 2 is bad but that, if this is all we can expect from Firefox in the future, they're not going to get any new users. Some, who have touted Firefox in the past are even saying that IE7 is on par now and there is no longer a compelling reason for IE users to switch to Firefox.

[thaite]

Firefox 2 chokes on my bookmarks, when it used to not do that. Not pleased.

[yoMAMA]

i just downloaded ff2, really like the visuals.

reminds me of safari.

[bluemonq]

Did the FF1.5 extensions break or do they still work?

[Banana]

Firefox 2 has repaired a large memory leak that was in 1.5

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10442_7-6656808-1.html

Now that IE 7 has tabbed browsing, the main benefits of Firefox are extensions and, historically, fewer security issues. Some of the extensions I use are Adblock, del.icio.us Bookmarks (online bookmarks, convenient if you use more than one computer), Download Statusbar, and Greasemonkey (uses Javascript to customize web sites).

Extensions, generally, are the biggest advantage. I don't think there's probably any specific "killer app" at the moment that prefers one over the other, it's just that Firefox tends to evolve more quickly. Some of the IE7 features have been available for 2 years in Firefox.

One big Firefox extension I like is NoScript, which will block ALL Java applications from a site until you approve them. You can approve them temporarily or permanently (and you can always remove "permanent" status). I also like the translation tools that extensions provide, which is a big deal for me. Other extensions might prove to be a big deal for you, depending on what you use the internet for.

[bluemonq]

Firefox 2 has repaired a large memory leak that was in 1.5
I installed it on Tuesday, and it still leaks like a broken sewer main. 352 MB (and climbing) after it was open for three days. The same set of pages on Opera plateaued around 175 MB.

Now that IE 7 has tabbed browsing, the main benefits of Firefox are extensions and, historically, fewer security issues. Some of the extensions I use are Adblock, del.icio.us Bookmarks (online bookmarks, convenient if you use more than one computer), Download Statusbar, and Greasemonkey (uses Javascript to customize web sites).

...

One big Firefox extension I like is NoScript, which will block ALL Java applications from a site until you approve them. You can approve them temporarily or permanently (and you can always remove "permanent" status). I also like the translation tools that extensions provide, which is a big deal for me. Other extensions might prove to be a big deal for you, depending on what you use the internet for.
I'd like to point out that Opera has the functionality of all of those extensions, except for del.icio.us, for which an Opera user has already coded a set of buttons:
http://erlang.no/?p=14

[Banana]

^ User error imo.

:)