Firefox 3 Beta 3 Rips off IE7

[MyndFyre]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080212-first-look-firefox-3-beta-3.html

"In previous versions of Firefox, the back and forward buttons in the navigation toolbar had their own distinct drop-down menus which allowed users to move forward or back by more than one step. In beta 3, the menus have been combined into a single drop-down menu that displays the current position in history and allows the user to move either forward or backward."

This is a big feature of IE7 (imo).  Clearly Mozilla - not looking at any kind of usability studies or customer feedback - wants to EEE.

"Mac OS X integration got a big boost as well with 3.0, with full support for native widgets in forms and inclusion of the new Mac OS X theme."

IE has supported integration of Windows XP and later UI elements since IE6.  CLEARLY, Mozilla is ripping off the idea of using OS-native widgets from Microsoft.

"The URL bar autocompletion mechanism is now better too, and uses an improved algorithm that factors in both the frequency with which pages are visited and how recently pages were last visited."

As anyone who uses IE's autocomplete should know, this has already been a major component of IE since what, 5.x?  IT CANNOT BE DENIED that Mozilla is STEALING from Microsoft!

[Sidoh]

I don't use the back buttons anyway. :)

Seriously, though, all of those seem like pretty obvious improvements.  I don't see why it matters if some other product had it first (at least in a trivial case like this).  I'd say the same thing to people claiming MS is stealing from whoever else.

[iago]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080212-first-look-firefox-3-beta-3.html

"In previous versions of Firefox, the back and forward buttons in the navigation toolbar had their own distinct drop-down menus which allowed users to move forward or back by more than one step. In beta 3, the menus have been combined into a single drop-down menu that displays the current position in history and allows the user to move either forward or backward."

This is a big feature of IE7 (imo).  Clearly Mozilla - not looking at any kind of usability studies or customer feedback - wants to EEE.

"Mac OS X integration got a big boost as well with 3.0, with full support for native widgets in forms and inclusion of the new Mac OS X theme."

IE has supported integration of Windows XP and later UI elements since IE6.  CLEARLY, Mozilla is ripping off the idea of using OS-native widgets from Microsoft.

"The URL bar autocompletion mechanism is now better too, and uses an improved algorithm that factors in both the frequency with which pages are visited and how recently pages were last visited."

As anyone who uses IE's autocomplete should know, this has already been a major component of IE since what, 5.x?  IT CANNOT BE DENIED that Mozilla is STEALING from Microsoft!

You use the word "STEALING" there, but they aren't really stealing anything. It's a great word to use when trolling, though, and that's what this whole post is, isn't it? If not, it sure sounds that way! :P

Anyways, I am in favour of the idea of sharing ideas. I mean, if somebody had patented the cpu, personal computer, laptop, network, monitor, etc., think of how far back we'd be! If they are using ideas from IE7, that's great. I'm sure that IE7 used a bunch of ideas from Firefox (I'll bet you could find a list if you looked). That's great too. It's more important to give the user the best possible experience than to compete/try to sabotage with each other, if you ask me.

On a sidenote, I don't use the forward/back buttons either. Or any of the buttons at the top (I should just disable them!).. I use alt-left/right to navigate through history. But that "new" forward/back button sounds pretty annoying to me, from that quick blurb.

[Warrior]

I love Firefox Beta 3, it's finally starting to show it's shine.
IE7..well that still has some ways to come.

[Chavo]

I actually preferred the Firefox2 style buttons with separate back/forward lists :(

[d&q]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080212-first-look-firefox-3-beta-3.html

"In previous versions of Firefox, the back and forward buttons in the navigation toolbar had their own distinct drop-down menus which allowed users to move forward or back by more than one step. In beta 3, the menus have been combined into a single drop-down menu that displays the current position in history and allows the user to move either forward or backward."

This is a big feature of IE7 (imo).  Clearly Mozilla - not looking at any kind of usability studies or customer feedback - wants to EEE.

"Mac OS X integration got a big boost as well with 3.0, with full support for native widgets in forms and inclusion of the new Mac OS X theme."

IE has supported integration of Windows XP and later UI elements since IE6.  CLEARLY, Mozilla is ripping off the idea of using OS-native widgets from Microsoft.

"The URL bar autocompletion mechanism is now better too, and uses an improved algorithm that factors in both the frequency with which pages are visited and how recently pages were last visited."

As anyone who uses IE's autocomplete should know, this has already been a major component of IE since what, 5.x?  IT CANNOT BE DENIED that Mozilla is STEALING from Microsoft!

You use the word "STEALING" there, but they aren't really stealing anything. It's a great word to use when trolling, though, and that's what this whole post is, isn't it? If not, it sure sounds that way! :P

I think its less like trolling, and more like acknowledging how innocent improvement is sometimes construed as theft  :P. Satire, if you will.

[iago]

I think its less like trolling, and more like acknowledging how innocent improvement is sometimes construed as theft  :P. Satire, if you will.

It could be interpreted as satire, but it sounded more like trolling to me. :)

[MyndFyre]

I think its less like trolling, and more like acknowledging how innocent improvement is sometimes construed as theft  :P. Satire, if you will.

I've officially changed my position on voting for you, Deuce, from no to yes. :)  You understand me!

[Blaze]

I right click and use the back button there. Is that still there?

It used to piss me off when website disabled right clicking because I'd have to drag my mouse up to the back button or press backspace on my keyboard, but now that I have Noscript or whatever, lifes all good.  :)

[Warrior]

I right click and use the back button there. Is that still there?

It used to piss me off when website disabled right clicking because I'd have to drag my mouse up to the back button or press backspace on my keyboard, but now that I have Noscript or whatever, lifes all good.  :)

Yep