Here is the story of a Firefox browser convert:
I recently began using a new browser to “surf” the web. I had used IE (the Microsoft browser) for most of my online life and just last year started using Safari (the Apple browser). But the switch to Mozilla’s Firefox, which operates on an open source platform, has been as useful as it has been fun for me. My online experience has completely changed and on the web today its all about the experience.

So let me ask, who hasn’t been frustrated by their browser locking up or shutting down with that same error message over and over again. I have literally felt like throwing my laptop through the window. With the other browsers there have been issues with load time, which means that it takes forever to pull up web pages. There have also been security concerns with the Microsoft product IE, like all Microsoft products it is continually being hacked by legions of people that severely dislike Microsoft. The Safari browser has been decent. I have to say that it’s never crashed on me. It is a very basic product that offers a decent experience. But….

But the switch to Firefox goes so much further than the basic stability and usability issues. Firefox is built on an open source code platform, that’s a fancy way of saying the way it runs is not closed up and it isn’t a proprietary system so any other developer can create what they call add-ons that allow you to PIMP YOUR BROWSER! This is so great because you get the best and brightest in the web industry inventing new ways to enhance your experience. They address our need for ease-of-use, provide solutions and new technology so fast it makes my head spin.

Firefox has add-ons for everything you could imagine to help you customize your experience and get this, IT’S ALL FREE! During the next few weeks I will be writing about a few of my favorite add-ons. Today I’d like to profile the one that is helping me the most, it’s cool useful and very social.

Let me start by telling you that I’m a recent convert to “social media”, which include websites like the phenomenon Facebook, others like digg, twitter, stumbleupon, Flickr, and Youtube are all different types of new social media. Many of you use one or more of these web services to stay in contact with friends, family and even customers. With all of these different ways to stay connected a problem has crept up on us all. How do you take the limited amount of daily free time (or boss time, LOL) you have and split it up so you can stay in the loop? Wouldn’t it be great to have all this info on one page or aggregated on one application?? YEZ! Enter one of the coolest apps I have found that adds onto Firefox, Yoono. It feeds all of your info into one place where it becomes manageable again. This little add-on installs on the side of your browser and can be turned on or off with one button. All of your feeds, walls posts, and twits come directly into one place, thats great but it also allows you to type into one box to update multiple websites. It saves an incredible amount of time and effort.

So next week we will explore further, during the meantime download yourself a version of Firefox and start PIMPING YOUR BROWSER with me.