Usability Views Article Details  home | timeline | recent | popular | e-reports | userati | books | about  Showdown On the Desktop (01 Aug 2005) Firefox, like Linux and the Mac Mini, brushes off viruses meant for Internet Explorer. It also surfs the Web quickly, blocks pop-up ads, and lets users search a document from a small form in the corner of the window, rather than from a separate window that may obscure part of the text. It also lets users browse many sites at once with a minimum of desktop clutter by opening "tabs" in a window, rather than creating new windows. Microsoft has responded by accelerating the release of its next version of Internet Explorer, originally planned for 2006, when the next Windows system, code-named Longhorn, is due. The new Explorer is expected this summer. Article URL: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/resource/apr05/0405ndesk.html Read 91 more articles from IEEE Spectrum sorted by date, popularity, or title. Next Article: Universal Design & Auto Design: We Are Getting Older     This site is a labour of love built by Chris McEvoy