OPINION: Forget Vista, XP and Linux – Firefox is now my #1 operating system

I had some sort of religious dawn last week. Some kind of personal discovery, a moment of clarity, if you will. I used a Mac – and it was fine!

Now, I pretty much hate Macs. I’ve only ever used old Macs, rubbish ones from the distant past that are unable to cope with newer operating systems. So I associate Macs with PAIN.

But I just used one and it was fine. Because the only thing I use is Firefox.

The first thing I did upon borrowing a MacBook Pro for a week was to put Firefox on it. I spend my entire working day staring at it, so it makes sense. Import my bookmarks, and away I go.

Suddenly it doesn’t matter if I’m on Windows XP, Vista or OSX – as long as Ctrl+T opens up a new tab and Ctrl+K takes you to the search box, it’s fine. Everything’s fine. The Apple button is really near where the Crtrl key is on a PC. It’s not a problem to switch over. I’m not afraid of Macs any more.

I also spent a bit of time fiddling about on an Eee PC last year. The idea of being stuck with Linux was a nightmare. Linux, for me, is the great Uncharted Country. Until I opened up the Eee’s Firefox and it was the same as PC Firefox. And everything was the same. There was no need to panic about having to learn new things!

The shortcuts are the same, it works the same, it looks the same. It’s both relaxing and reassuring to know that whatever computer I may get stuck working on, it’s going to be the same.

Now, I could end this column by going into some long, awkward, waffling rant about “server side” applications being the future and how Microsoft is doomed and all that stuff because of things like this, but I won’t. Frankly, I can’t be bothered.

My only point is this – I like the way Firefox is the same no matter what computer you use. It’s my favourite operating system. It’s all I ever use. I really don’t care what my computer’s called, what it does or who makes it.

If there’s a Firefox for it, I can use it.

This might not apply to you, though, especially if your job involves emailing spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations around to 50 different people for their input and approval. But for a man who spends all of his days on the internet, Firefox is my home.