Firefox Fanatic? Well, yes until Microsoft get their act together...

Having just spent several hours getting used to tabbed browsing on Internet Explorer 6 courtesy of the (downloadable add-on) MSN toolbar, I can honestly say that the browsing experience on Firefox is infinitely more versatile, and dare I say user-friendly?

Likewise, it seems that Microsoft is playing catch me up with Google at the moment. The personalised and customizable Google homepage or Gmail service are streets ahead of the Micosoft equivalents my.msn.com or live.com and Windows Live Mail. In terms of funstionality and content, Google will not be beat. The one place where Microsoft can hope to win over consumers is simplicity. The spartan betas on offer from Microsoft at the moment certainly couldn't be accused of being complicated to use.

The explanation is simple and the problems an inevitable consequence of the Microsoft business model. Because of the sheer size of Microsoft and its commitments to the business community, it cannot hope to keep pace with smaller firms that release patch after patch in response to user demands. Now I know that IE7 is coming out soon, along with a watered down version of Longhorn - now Vista, and that no doubt the tabbed browsing feature will be one of many to be improved upon, but I am not holding my breath.

In the meantime, I will be using Firefox and the Google tool suite, not because they are faultless, but because they are a damn site better than anything elseon offer from the likes of Microsoft.