Firefox 3.0 Debuts, Server Crashes

Like so many people who have expressed their fondness for the web browser, Firefox, I have been patiently waiting for the release of version 3.0. Yesterday, I downloaded my copy, snagging it between server crashes.

Yes, Mozilla’s server crashed, probably several times during the day, as the company could not keep up with download requests. Blame Mozilla for this event anyway — they were trying to set a Guinness record for the most downloads in one day with hundreds of thousands perhaps millions of people doing it on June 17th. Hence the broken server issue.

Anyway, if you haven’t downloaded your copy yet, then head over to Mozilla right now and get one immediately.

As far as the latest version goes, Mozilla says they made over 15,000 improvements over the previous version. Version 3.0 is faster, safer, and smarter (so they say) and my quick take on it is that it is easier to use.

I’m one of the early users of Firefox, having gotten fed up with Internet Explorer and making the switch over soon after its November 2004 release. I hardly ever use Internet Explorer, but I still have to in order to see how IE scrambles my blogs. It is so easy to be comfortable with Firefox and forget any other browsers exist, though I do use Opera on my laptop as Firefox got fried and I still can’t use it!

Some of the other big changes with version 3 include:

• An improved address bar that will try to guess where you’re going. So far, this has worked out okay, but it hasn’t always guessed what site I want. Just pay attention to what the toolbar is doing and then choose the right URL to go to.

• Bookmarks, history, and start page all carry over from version 2.0 which is great; previous updates meant doing this all over again — what a pain that could be when you had scads of bookmarks to handle.

• Malware protection is new — if you attempt to download something harmful to your computer, Firefox will warn you before you can.

• New web forgery feature could be useful. Yes, stolen content won’t see the light of day with Firefox.

There are countless other updates that I am just now finding and you’ll want to explore on your own once you download your copy.

Got to love Firefox. Together with Word Press, working online has gotten a whole lot easier!

Top 10 2007 TAW Picks

There are still a few days left in 2007, but now is as good a time as any to run down the list of the ten most read The Article Writer (TAW) blog articles for the year. Next to Time Magazine’s Person of the Year issue, I’m sure that this entry isn’t that far behind!

Some of the articles that placed big were a surprise to me. Thanks to StumbleUpon, you just never knew when an article would go viral and just how widespread its reach would be. FYI, every article that placed well was written during the second half of the year when I upped the ante with my link baiting strategy.

Without further blather, I give to you the Top 10 TAW Reads for 2007:

1. Firefox Wants You To Pay For Their Marketing Campaign — With more than 5000 page views, this article was the clear winner. Looking back, it wasn’t entirely accurate either!

2. 6 Months of StumbleUpon Fun — I thought that a StumbleUpon (SU) post would have won out, but a second place finish is still very good. I have learned that almost any mention of SU draws a strong response — SU was the largest traffic generator of TAW for the year, sending to me 44% of all traffic.

3. Your Blog Has Died And I Really Miss It! — Who says there isn’t a place for blog humor? Although it wasn’t the top visited article, it generated nearly 50 comments from readers.

4. Helium Responds To My Critique Of Their Service — I wrote about the Helium Marketplace or HM (see #5) and that elicited a response from Helium which was the centerpiece of this article. I thought HM was a bad idea back then and I still think that it is today.

5. The Helium Marketplace: Don’t Make This Terrible Mistake — see #4.

6. I Am The Fad Police: Now Cut That Out! — I like to poke fun at the various blog rulemakers who tell us how to blog, how often to blog, why to blog, etc. The nerve of them!

7. Have I Been Sending Stumble Thunder Your Way? — After posting this article, I thought using the word tsunami instead of thunder would have been a better choice.

8. Just A Blip On The Facebook Radar — I’m still not all that visible on Facebook, so I was surprised that article attracted much attention. Maybe I need to blog about Facebook as much as I do about StumbleUpon!

9. The Writing Habits Of Effective Freelancers — Yes, I do blog about writing directing my words to other freelance writers. We freelance writers not only like to write, but we also like to read about how other freelancers work.

10. Grammar Gremlins You Must Exorcise — It must have been the Halloween theme which brought in the visitors for this article. Still, grammar miscues can be a real killer and are worth discussing from time to time.

The results of this report do not include articles that appeared on my The Auto Writer blog or HTML articles posted elsewhere on this domain. Visitors to this URL found this blog first, the home page of URL second, and my auto blog third.

How about you? Have you tracked the performance of articles you have written? If so, please hit the reply button and share the link to your recap here.

Happy New Year and Happy Blogging!