Firefox is a bastard child of Mozilla, which is an open source project that Netscape originally started in 1998. Firefox is more like Netscape's distant cousin then a directly related product. Sure, there are resemblences, probably since they work with the same engine, but they're fundamentally different in key ways.

Firefox hasn't been around as long as Netscape, so some convenient features that NN fooled with for a while have always been on Firefox's plate, if not in the alphas. I've considered Firefox to be more like NN with features stripped out than with features added...and it has a cuter mascot than a big floating "N". ( : The thing I've found about NN and its abilities is that it tries to be everything I could ever want. In every possible contingency. In all conceivable universes. I think it's that whole "creeping featurism" schtick that some software people get caught in. Some consider Firefox to be more of a pain because you have to be specific and direct about the things you actually want it to do. Me, I like its swift response time over NN's "ready for anything" stance any day. I also like the fact that it's the most W3C compliant of any browser currently available, including Opera!

Because Firefox is open source, you can even help develop its features yourself, which is cool. Also, as any Linux geek can--and will--tell you, such products are less subject to 13-year-old Johnny Dumbass's stupid virus o' the week (in many cases because this would be a: ineffective for really widespread destruction b: tantamount to shooting themselves in their own feet). It's an exciting project, and I am just giddy to get my hands on 1.0 (ready for the holidays!!). For anyone who's curious, http://texturizer.net has an excellent FAQ about Firefox.

Beth