For the real challenger comes not from Microsoft directly; instead, it’s from  a new browser that uses IE’s rendering [...]]]> This is quite amusing. It seems that the interview I gave to ReadWriteWeb a few days ago have stirred up quite some emotions. Believe it or not, Linux Journal calls Maxthon The Real Firefox-Killer...

For the real challenger comes not from Microsoft directly; instead, it’s from  a new browser that uses IE’s rendering engine,  Trident, but which is produced completely independently of the company. This means  that it can offer all the "benefits" of 100% compatibility with what is still  the dominant Internet browser, together with a host of real improvements -  some of which go beyond even Firefox.        This new competitor is called  Maxthon..

BTW, read the comments – quite interesting..

Maxthon for Linux anybody?

Technorati Tags: Maxthon, Linux, IE7, Browsers, Linux Journal, Firefox, Technology

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Somebody in the Maxthon forum made this little thing .

The first rule [...]]]> Internetweek, just ran an article called a very good article called: IE7 Vs. Everyone Else, where they let four tech expert battel over which is the best browser. One of the experts, Ron White from Networking Computing wrote this superbt piece in support of Maxthon, as the best alternative:

The first rule of Maxthon is, “Don’t talk about Maxthon.” If Firefox and Opera are underground favorites among Web surfers, then Maxthon must be the double-dog double-secret browser. Over the last four years, Maxthon has quietly developed a base of devoted — and tight-lipped — users who make the Illuminati seem like exhibitionists. How obscure is Maxthon? It’s so obscure that, despite more than 46 million downloads, even Google barely knows about it. When I did a search for Firefox, Google yielded some 412 million hits, while a search for Maxthon returned a scant 4 million. I can get more hits than that off my own name. (Of course, it helps if you share a name with a well-known comedian.)

Usually such obscurity is well deserved. But in the case of Maxthon, it’s as though Jack Nicholson never made it out of B horror flicks. Maxthon is simply the most powerful, and yet the simplest, browser to be used anywhere, anytime, by anyone.

Ron White, really managed to capture much of the spirit of the Maxthon community by saying that we” make the Illuminati seem like exhibitionists” – that’s hilarious! Ron continues,

When you install Maxthon, it emerges on your screen fully decked out in an array of features and tools and conveniences, as if to say “We’ve anticipated everything you could possibly need for your surfing.” It’s like being on a safari with room service.

Ron then comes to what sets Maxthon apart:

What sets Maxthon apart is pure brawn. To say it browses is misleading. It blitzes the Internet like a cybertank wrapped in armor plate and studded with heavy-duty weaponry.

Finally, towards the end of the article, Ron asks, why we haven’t heard about Maxthon?:

All this invites the inevitable question, “If Maxthon is so smart, why do Firefox and Opera get all the press?” Could it be that, while Firefox and Opera have the clout of free-world capitalism behind them, Maxthon is the creation of one man, working mostly alone, in the warehouse of a company in China? (Really.) There are no PR people pushing Maxthon at CES. No advertising. No press kits.

Well, dear Maxthon brothers and sisters, I think that that Ron White has deserved to become a member of our beloved, well kept, devoted and tight-lipped fraternity. As to Ron’s question “If Maxthon is so smart, why do Firefox and Opera get all the press?”, the answer is quite simple. We are still a very small company (but we are growning..) and so far we haven’t invested any money on advertsing and PR people, but been focused on developing a great product. However, like Bob Dylan sang, “the times they are a-changing”…(in true cryptical spirit please pay attention to a few lines on the last verse..) so stay tuned for more exposure during 2006.

Technorati Tags: Maxthon, Firefox, Opera, IE7, Microsoft, Google, Illuminati, Browsers, Internet Week, Network Computing, Bob Dylan, Ron White

• Linux Journal: Maxthon The Real Firefox-Killer!
• Microsoft Publicly Support Maxthon!
• Off to CES & Las Vegas
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Television cable channel HBO, via its interactive agency, has designed a downloadable “skin” for the Firefox Web browser in the custom theme of its upcoming series “Rome“–an 11-episode drama [...]]]> Just got this piece through Neal Hansch at Macromedia:

Television cable channel HBO, via its interactive agency, has designed a downloadable “skin” for the Firefox Web browser in the custom theme of its upcoming series “Rome“–an 11-episode drama that charts the rise of an Italian empire. The skin, or “theme,” as they are known in Firefox tools, transforms the buttons and external design of the browser into the feel of antiquity.

Representatives for Mozilla and HBO’s agency, Deep Focus, said it is the first commercial theme developed for Firefox.

“The browser is an important piece of real estate,” said Ian Schafer, CEO of Los Angeles-based Deep Focus. “This is one way to break through the clutter.”

It only confirms what I have been saying all the time. Branding & Promotion through browsers are great real-estate.