Friday, February 11, 2005

Visitors From Redmond

I've been reading the visitor logs while working on an update to ... well, that's coming tomorrow, maybe. Today, I want to share one interesting item with you. Okay, I thought it was interesting. Here is a section of a screen shot of one visitor who has visited multiple times:

Click on the image to get a better view.
Yes, I greyed out the I.P. address. But I left the domain. I get a blast out of the fact that someone at Microsoft has found the blog and has come back. But I also get a kick out of the browser they are using: Firefox.

I really like the Firefox browser. I really, really do. I'm not one of those old Netscape hold-outs. I moved to IE full-time when version 4 was released. I had grown tired of Netscape by then, having first used it when it was version 2.

I sang the praised of IE from version 4 on. Other browsers were used and abused, but I always went back to IE. Until now. Firefox is my default browser, and I only use IE for Windows update.

Now, I'm not dumping all over Microsoft here. I use Windows XP. A lot. The wife has XP Home on her computer. I have XP Professional on the laptop (upgrade from XP Home) and on the old Gateway desktop (upgrade from ME). Plus I have another box with XP Home that's not on anything. I had it on the other computer that now has Linux.

Quire honestly, I actually like Windows XP better than Linux. But I want to play with Linux so that I'm not totally out of the loop. So, when all is said and done, I admit I like Microsoft products. And I absolutely love a Microsoft mouse! To me, those are the best. I have the old classic on the Linux machine, and a cordless on the laptop. I say again, I like lots of Microsoft's stuff.

But I loathe Internet Explorer. And I really, really like Firefox. Checking the logs, Firefox accounts for 27% of the visitors, while IE accounts for 65% (63% IE 6, 2% IE 5). The rest is split among Safari, Opera, various versions of Netscape, Mozilla, Konqueror, Lynx, and others.

I'm glad to see someone at Big Redmond likes Firefox. But don't worry; I won't tell anyone.

Visit the Beltway Traffic Jam.

8 comments:

  1. Anyone check in from Cupertino yet?

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  2. i tried out Firefox when it was still in the beta stage, and haven't looked back. the day after i downloaded Firefox, i got Thunderbird. drank that, then downloaded the Mozilla e-mail program.
    i really admire those kids on the Mozilla project. they have some great stuff to offer. and it doesn't surprise me one bit that a Microsoft employee, who knows whats going on much better than do the vast majority of people that use computers would decide to use Firefox.
    btw, by "kids" i meant Blake Ross, who is still a kid. all adults working on the Mozilla project, please don't take offense.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Macker:
    No evidence of a visitor with an apple.com domain. But I'm on the lookout.

    moehawk:
    I'm not quite as thrilled with Thuderbird, but it's difinitely the best alternative that I have seen.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Micro$oft will strike again!

    basil's blog has an article that may show why Mozilla & FireFox will be the next Company / Product to be added to the Computer History Museum (I sure hope not though).

    ReplyDelete
  5. I wonder if this must be me, since I fit the criteria... I work at MS and use Firefox's lovely tab feature to check my bookmarked list of weblogs.

    And thanks for not telling. ;-)

    No, I don't really feel like a trator, why do you ask?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Squire Trelane:
    Might be, although there are a total of three different IP addresses showing in the logs, including the one you're using today. So, there might be others there, too.

    I do like the tab feature. Hope they get the security issues with it fixed.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Could be because we're behind proxy servers here, so you may get pings from any one of them. Although it's true that I can't imagine I'm the only one to have found you here...

    And thanks for the link. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. basil...you must be on the cold meds again...i don't think you would ever try "thuderbird"...difinately don't think you'd do that.

    ReplyDelete

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