With the release of Firefox 1.0.3 a couple days ago, it's probably a good time to look at the new browser wars. Let's start with Firefox, which has now been downloaded more than 45 million times. It's still the darling of the bleeding edge, but there are a few critics such as Fred Langa, who caution Firefox is not the be-all-and-end-all. He points to security issues within Firefox and the open source movement as a key stumbling block. It's valid criticism given v. 1.0.3 address several critical security flaws, which must warm the hearts of the folks in Redmond who are regularly savaged for IE's security shortcoming.
I think Firefox is entering an interesting juncture. The novelty factor is wearing off so it's time for Firefox to take a major step forward to maintain its momentum. One area where it could improve is extensions. While the "a la carte" approach to extensions is commendable in the bloated software world, Firefox would attract more newbies by offering l different flavors that sport more features. You could market it along the lines of: Firefox-Lite (no extensions), Firefox+ (some mainstream extensions) and Firefox++ (lots of extensions).
As for Opera - the great Norwegian hope of the late-1990s - there are indications its prospects as a PC-based Web browser are beginning to waver. Opera has fought the good fight against IE by incorporating features such as tabbed browsing (which IE has yet to introduce for some bizarre reason). But Opera's future may lie in the wireless world on devices such as cell phones. Not surprisingly, Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchne isn't ready to concede yet. He believes version 8 will reignite interest with a variety of new features, including the ability to morph itself into quasi-IE to handle Web sites that Opera was not compatiable with previously.
In the meantime, you wonder what Microsoft is doing with IE. Other than plans to introduce improved security and anti-virus protection, there's been few rumblings on what else to expect. At the very least, it looks like the newest browser battle is just getting started.