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Review of Mozilla CometBird Browser
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Download from: http://www.cometbird.com Current Version: 3.6 Here is yet another Browser based on the Mozilla 5.0 Browser Engine. CometBird seems to be following Firefox's version number, with a similar-numbered version coming out within 3 to 5 days of a new Firefox version's release! With Firefox upgrading to version 3.6, CometBird too has come out with version 3.6.
With the Browsers niche comprising of giants as well as new challengers, it will difficult for any Browser to find a foothold. Whether CometBird finds a foothold merely fades away into obscurity will depend on many factors...
CometBird, Firefox, Flock, SeaMonkey, the now-dead Netscape Navigator and Orca - all use the highly respected Mozilla Browser engine. The first impressions of CometBird are that it loads up a lot faster than Firefox. The next impression about CometBird is that it looks very clean - an interface that is so like Firefox, yet a little different...
On installing CometBird with the default options, you get the start page http://google.atcomet.com/c/. The page contains a Google Search Bar and links to other interesting sites, all neatly classified. The last of the links is customizable - you can add/ delete your favorites by clicking on this link. You can even add new categories by clicking this link - and do not forget to save your changes, else you will need to set it all up again! The option to edit these links would have been nice too! In the first screenshot to the right, we have added two sites to our Favorites...
This is surprising - after all, both CometBird and Firefox are based on the Mozilla Browser engine, while Internet Explorer is not! In fact, CometBird resembles Firefox so much that when you restart it, the popup states that Firefox is being restarted! We suspect that CometBird and Firefox share more than just the Mozilla Browser Engine! Perhaps the decision to exclude the facility to import Firefox Bookmarks into CometBird is deliberate - maybe the CometBird guys do not want Firefox users to convert to CometBird, for they certainly would not want to see the reverse happening, i.e., CometBird users shifting to Firefox! Like Firefox, CometBird intelligently auto-completes the URL Bar, filling it with URLs from your Bookmarks and recently-visited websites. Again, like Firefox, CometBird lets you reopen any Tab that you have closed, in your current browsing session. All these are certainly features taken from Firefox, rather than developed for CometBird! CometBird does not have issues running Java code rendering websites. WellOiledPC displays just perfectly on it, as shown to the left in the second screenshot. Standard features like Tabbed Browsing, Passwords saving, Pop-up Blocking, etc., are all present too. CometBird has a number of Add-ons for different functions and features. Most of the Firefox Extensions and add-ons will run on CometBird as well, since the common denominator is the Mozilla Browser Engine. We were quick to install SEOQuake, FireFTP and the Alexa Sparky add-on, our favorite Plugins for the Mozilla Browser Engine! Of the greatest importance for a software today - specially for Browsers, since it is hotly-contested territory currently - is a USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Unlike Flock, CometBird does not have a clear USP. Flock squarely targets Social Networking site hounds. Web Developers and Online Marketers are not likely to be swayed from Firefox (which has a stranglehold on this niche) to CometBird, for CometBird does not offer anything extra over Firefox, apart from the much lesser time it needs to start up! This is something that the CometBird guys need to focus upon, in our opinion. |
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Here is the link that tracks Browser usage and publishes Browser Statistics: http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp In our opinion, CometBird has everything that you could want from a Browser: lightning-quick start-up, neat interface and standard features found in the other Browsers (tabbed browsing, passwords management etc.) and the ability to run most Plug-ins for the Mozilla Browser engine. Although both Google Chrome and SeaMonkey are based on the Mozilla Engine too, neither of them work with most of these add-ins. A number of plug-ins do not work with Flock, yet another Browser based on the Mozilla Browser engine! However with CometBird, we have so far discovered just one Mozilla Browser plug-in that does not work - ColorfulTabs. But then, that's hardly skin off our nose!
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