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During the last week (I am writing this
on 16 May 2004) Mark Shuutleworth
launched a new venture called Go Open Source. From
the GO Open Source website I quote
In this article and subsequent articles I want to explain and demonstrate how I use Open Source Software in a Windows world. I am writing this from a home user perspective so it should make sence to the majority of computer users out there. However this article can also apply to any business that wants to go the Open Source route.
Go Open
Source is a South African specific Open Source awareness campaign. A
coalition of Open Source friendly companies and institutions have
united to promote Open Source software within the households and small
businesses of South Africa.
The campaign will be jointly run across television, radio, print, out-door, and on-line – educating and enlightening computer users, and making the software available to everyone. By combining the financial reach of our sponsors, and the geographical and knowledge reach of the Open Source community in South Africa, we will be able to let people know about the financial and social benefits of Open Source Software and help them to make the move.
Open Source is a growing phenomenon world wide, and we aim to bring this phenomenon into your lives.
The campaign will be jointly run across television, radio, print, out-door, and on-line – educating and enlightening computer users, and making the software available to everyone. By combining the financial reach of our sponsors, and the geographical and knowledge reach of the Open Source community in South Africa, we will be able to let people know about the financial and social benefits of Open Source Software and help them to make the move.
Open Source is a growing phenomenon world wide, and we aim to bring this phenomenon into your lives.
In this article and subsequent articles I want to explain and demonstrate how I use Open Source Software in a Windows world. I am writing this from a home user perspective so it should make sence to the majority of computer users out there. However this article can also apply to any business that wants to go the Open Source route.
What is Open Source Software
Open Source
software is non-proprietary software, developed by millions of people
around the world, and is freely available to anyone who wants to use it.
The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing.
We in the open source community have learned that this rapid evolutionary process produces better software than the traditional closed model, in which only a very few programmers can see the source and everybody else must blindly use an opaque block of bits. Open Source Initiative exists to make this case to the commercial world. Open source software is an idea whose time has finally come. For twenty years it has been building momentum in the technical cultures that built the Internet and the World Wide Web. Now it's breaking out into the commercial world, and that's changing all the rules. Are you ready?
The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing.
We in the open source community have learned that this rapid evolutionary process produces better software than the traditional closed model, in which only a very few programmers can see the source and everybody else must blindly use an opaque block of bits. Open Source Initiative exists to make this case to the commercial world. Open source software is an idea whose time has finally come. For twenty years it has been building momentum in the technical cultures that built the Internet and the World Wide Web. Now it's breaking out into the commercial world, and that's changing all the rules. Are you ready?
Starting point
I left the corporate world a couple of
months ago which meant that I was now responsible for the purchase of
my own software. Now I do not know about you but I am not going to pay
thousands of rands for software that I just use now and then. I
also am totally against pirating software which left me with only one
solution --- see what is out there that is free. Although
Microsoft bundles an Internet browser and an Email client, I was never
comfortable using it due to its problem with virusses.
Firstly let me tell you what my setup is like:
Firstly let me tell you what my setup is like:
- Compaq Presario 1800 Laptop
- 384KB RAM
- 20GB Harddisk
- DVD drive
- Windows XP professional with Service Pack 1
How to do it?
Firstly you need to download the
Windows Mozilla Firefox installer from http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/.
Just under the Mozilla logo at the left top of the page is a link to
download the Firefox English Windows version. Download the file
to some area on your harddisk from where you can later install it.
After you have downloaded it make sure you have closed all running programs on your computer. (Note: It is a good idea to always close all running programs when you install something on your computer) Find the file you just downloaded from Mozilla and double click to install Firefox. It will ask you a couple of questions like where to install it and it will even import your IE bookmarks. It will also ask you if FireFox should become your default browser and say yes. Do not worry ... nothing will happen to IE and you will still be able to use it.
After you have downloaded it make sure you have closed all running programs on your computer. (Note: It is a good idea to always close all running programs when you install something on your computer) Find the file you just downloaded from Mozilla and double click to install Firefox. It will ask you a couple of questions like where to install it and it will even import your IE bookmarks. It will also ask you if FireFox should become your default browser and say yes. Do not worry ... nothing will happen to IE and you will still be able to use it.
So what is new
Firstly under the hood -- Firefox start
a lot quicker than IE and it is a lot more secure. No URL
hijaking and script virusses that will slip through your browser.
Firefox is based on the Gecko HTML rendering engine which is 100%
compliant to the W3C HTML standard.
First thing you will notice is an input field just to the right of your address bar to search Google directly. Also you can open multiple sites in the same browser using Tabs. Since it is all in the same browser instance it uses a lot less memory which means that things happen faster on your computer. Oh, use Cntrl-T to open new browser tabs. Cntrl-N works the same as in IE and that opens and new window which is a new instance of the program.
The item I love the most is that Firefox blocks Pop-up windows. Do not worry ... when it does so it places an indicator at the bottom left of the screen saying it blocked a Pop-up. When you click on the blue I at the bottom of the screen you can tell Firefox not to block Pop-ups in future from that particular site.
If you are into looking at the source of your page then Firefox has a much better source viewer than IE. It even color codes all the HTML tags for you.
The other great thing about Firefox is that it can be extended with cool extensions. I have this one which save Quick little notes for later reference. Highlight an area on a page, right click and then just save it. There is lliterally hundreds of these extensions. So you can customize and build your Forefox as you like.
First thing you will notice is an input field just to the right of your address bar to search Google directly. Also you can open multiple sites in the same browser using Tabs. Since it is all in the same browser instance it uses a lot less memory which means that things happen faster on your computer. Oh, use Cntrl-T to open new browser tabs. Cntrl-N works the same as in IE and that opens and new window which is a new instance of the program.
The item I love the most is that Firefox blocks Pop-up windows. Do not worry ... when it does so it places an indicator at the bottom left of the screen saying it blocked a Pop-up. When you click on the blue I at the bottom of the screen you can tell Firefox not to block Pop-ups in future from that particular site.
If you are into looking at the source of your page then Firefox has a much better source viewer than IE. It even color codes all the HTML tags for you.
The other great thing about Firefox is that it can be extended with cool extensions. I have this one which save Quick little notes for later reference. Highlight an area on a page, right click and then just save it. There is lliterally hundreds of these extensions. So you can customize and build your Forefox as you like.
Conclusion
If for any reason you do not like
FireFox then you can just uninstall it using the normal Add/Remove
Programs from your start menu. As said before no changes gets
done to your system and no changes gets done to IE. IE will carry on
working as normal.
Lastly remember that Firefox is still in technology preview, which is like beta, so there might still be some bugs in the program. Having said that, I have found it to be very stable and have not encountered any major problems. One slight issue is when you have a massively big page with a lot of graphics on it, and I mean a lot of graphics. Under these circumstances Firefox sometime looses its way. If this happens to you then just close the current browser instance and start Firefox again.
Trust that you found some value out of this. In part 2 I will discuss Mozilla Thunderbird. A great email client and if you get a lot of spam then just the right program to manage all that spam. Until next time, go out there and tell the world to use and support Open Source Software.
Lastly remember that Firefox is still in technology preview, which is like beta, so there might still be some bugs in the program. Having said that, I have found it to be very stable and have not encountered any major problems. One slight issue is when you have a massively big page with a lot of graphics on it, and I mean a lot of graphics. Under these circumstances Firefox sometime looses its way. If this happens to you then just close the current browser instance and start Firefox again.
Trust that you found some value out of this. In part 2 I will discuss Mozilla Thunderbird. A great email client and if you get a lot of spam then just the right program to manage all that spam. Until next time, go out there and tell the world to use and support Open Source Software.
About the author:
 Marius Bock is the
owner of Henriska Technology, a small company
that specializes in consulting on the use of Open Source Software and
the Internet. He has over 20 years experience in the ICT industry and
worked at major companies in South Africa. He can be contacted on [marius At henriska DOT co DOT za] |
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