There's a lot of excitement about Firefox 2.0 (although it seems muted compared with 1.5) but I have no plans to jump on the bandwagon quite yet despite the new version's better security and better speed. Why not? It mostly has to do with the compatibility of extensions. Why would I want to jump to 2.0 if some of my 1.5 extensions won't work? It would be like buying a new car with a better motor but the headlights and speedometer don't work. For now, I'll stick with 1.5. Who knows, I may even try IE7.
Update: Hardware 2.0's Adrian Kingley-Hughes has a post looking at 2.0's shortcomings, including memory leaks, weak anti-phishing features and incompatible extensions. He still believes 1.5 users should upgrade: "If you stick with 1.5.x then you're going to be at risk from unpatched vulnerabilities.  The only way to go is up to 2.0 and keep downloading updates as they become available."

Another week, another Talking Tech podcast. We've gone high-tech, migrating from an Olympus digital recorder (which mysteriously locked up and remains so until someone from Olympus returns my e-mail) to Apple's GarageBand (sweet!). Anway, where was I? Oh yeah, Talking Tech. This week, Kevin and I take a look at Apple's stellar fourth-quarter results, including the fact more than 39 million iPods were sold in fiscal 2006. We also explore the "new and improved" Internet Explorer 7, and take a skeptical look at the virtual world/Second Life phenomena. If you have suggestions, comments, etc., you can e-mail us.

After months of anxious anticipation, Internet Explorer 7 is finally available. Now, we can abandon those pesky open-source browsers that have kept IE from cementing its domination of the market. I can't wait to uninstall Firefox, Flock and Opera. No more worrying about cool extensions and plug-ins from an army of developers, no more worry about Web sites that just don't look quite right, and finally no more guilt about trying to be one of those people who seeks out Microsoft alternatives. If I were you, I'd rumble over to IE7's download site immediately. Can it only be a matter of time before Firefox's 10% to 12% share of the browser market returns to a more reasonable level - say 2% to 3%? Then, we'd be back to normal again with a true king and lots of little wannabes wandering around to make it seem like competition is alive and well.

   Then again...what if IE7 isn't the be all and end of browsers? What if it's a simply much-needed improvment from IE6, which was still using Spyglass technology from late-1990s? What if Firefox 2.0 is just as good and user-friendly? (and less of a memory hog would help as well!) Surely, this would force Microsoft to deal with competitors (Firefox, Opera, Flock, Maxthon, etc.) that encourage innovation. What if all those Firefox users and all those Firefox developers just keep on doing what they're doing? Now, this could be interesting, very interesting.

   So what do you do as a browser user? Well, if you're curious and brave, download IE7. If you're happy with Firefox, Flock and Opera, just keep on doing what you're doing. For more view check out FactoryCity, Inside Microsoft and Matt Cutts.

Stowe Boyd was ruminating earlier this week about the need for a Web site to take a hard look at some Web 2.0 services six months after they have been profiled by TechCrunch. It turns out he inspired two German entrepreneurs who are poised to unveil a site this week called Techcrush. Not sure if Techcrush is a spoof but some retrospection on the Web 2.0 landscape would be interesting. A good example of a Web 2.0 service that deserved to be re-visted is Flock, which was drilled when it released an alpha version of its browser last year. While Flock's developers likely had good intentions, the browser was far from cooked and looked bad in comparison with the alternative browser du jour, Firefox. Several months later, Flock released a new and improved beta that was a huge improvement over the alpha. Of course, Flock's beta didn't get as much attention because people had already moved on to the next new and shiny thing. I'm sure there are lots of Web 2.0 services that need a second chance in the spotlight after getting off to a rough start; just as there are many services that received lots of buzz and hype only to come back to earth. Update: Speaking of Web 2.0 services, a new version of Go2Web20 has been released. It's pretty.

Sorry, one more G-Thought. Now that Google Apps is out in the wild, the inevitable question is when Google will launch a browser. I mean, it can't hide behind Firefox forever, right?