There are several flaws regarding both the benchmark itself and the results. First of all, the test is conducted on a single computer running Vista. That means these results are most likely only valid on a machine running Vista, with similar specs to the computer in question. Second, the tool used to monitor memory usage is written by the author himself. I’m not saying he’s cheating, I’m only saying that he could have. Results are not 100% reliable, not even 50% reliable if the tool used can’t be verified. The author has made it available for download, but we cannot be sure it hasn’t been modified.

Furthermore, I would like to say that the results presented probably won’t match the memory usage on any other PC. On my system, for example, a semi-old HP running Windows XP, Opera never exceeds 80MB memory usage. Firefox 3, which i rarely use, consumes significantly more memory and often exceeds a memory usage of 130MB.

Most of them relate to compatibility and education issues - people would need to learn a new system (even though it’s similar) and old programs and files would need to be updated, converted or replaced. This takes time and knowledge to acheive, but it is possible. The main reason not to run Linux however is the lack of good software. There really is no Linux/Open-Source equivalent to programs like Photoshop (don’t give me that Gimp crap, it’s nowhere near) etc., there might be alternatives but most of the time they’re simply not good enough.

Besides, I beleive that each of the three most popular operating systems have their specific user base, a user base that is fairly balanced at the moment and as such there probably won’t be any mass migrations from any OS (except for goverment and/or company open-source initiatives).

Windows, even though it may be insecure, unstable and slow is perfect for the average Joe and all gamers. The average Joe doesn’t really care, he wants a simple system that requires as little configuration as possible, and I have yet to see a Linux distribution with this (no, not Ubuntu). The gamers basically have no choice since nearly all games are released for Windows, but that market is slowly shifting towards consoles (and no, Wine does not work that good).

Macs are very popular with designers, artists, musicians and other creative people. This isn’t surprising when you look at the software available for macs; most of it is related to these fields.

Linux hasn’t got a clearly defined user base IMO, most Linux users have great knowledge when it comes to computers and as such they can configure their system more specifically, something you can’t do in most other operating systems. The largest “user” base for Linux still it, and will probably always be, as servers. Linux is the perfect system to set up as a server; it is highly customizable, stable and secure.

Anyway, what I wanted to say was don’t go around telling everyone how great Linux is and how much everything else sucks, especially not if you can’t back it up with proper sources. You’ll end up looking like a douche, dragging most of the Open-Source community with you.

The law might not look that bad, as only information which actually passes our nation’s borders will be tapped. However, almost all information that is sent in our modern society passes a national border at one point or another; essentialy all web traffic, including email, chats and phone over IP passes a border since most servers handling this information are set up in foreign countries such as the UK or the US. Even mobile phone calls and text messages will be tapped since most of these also pass national borders while re-routing to the correct destination.

The really non-democrating thing about this law is that no probable cause is needed. Everyone is a suspect until proven otherwise. Because of this, all independent sources media and others use might have been tapped, which makes it impossible for sources to provide information anonymously.

The law is supposed to protect Sweden from any external threats (wait, there are none, that’s why we’re cutting military funds, right?), but since the government and associated agencies also have access to this information, it is prone to ending up in the wrong hands, such as the police or totally unrelated organisations such as AntipiratbyrÃ¥n. If the information actually end up at the police, laws that protect our freedom have effectively been circumvented. Police are normlly only allowed to tap phones etc. after obtaining a court order.

(Ironically, FRA is also the abbreviation of the European Fundamental Rights Agency)

However, a vast majority of all firefox-evangelists that actually make themselves heard don’t act this way. The vast majority are those (what seems to be) fourteen y.o. kids who found something free that also happened to be good and kind of anti-microsoft, thus making it awesome and the only way to go. Most of these people argue that Firefox is faster, better, more secure, open-source, more standards-compliant and so on. These claims might be true, to a certain extent. Most of them are only true when comparing the browser with Mircosoft’s own browser, Internet Explorer (which I agree is utter crap).

Firefox might be faster than IE (and maybe some other browsers) in terms of loading times and memory usage, but when people start claiming this against other browsers (such as Opera) without actually presenting proof things get out of hand. I know that, at least on my PC and I’m sure on others’ as well, Opera actually requires less RAM than Firefox under identical circumstances.

Another thing Firefox claims to be is 100% standards compliant. However, Firefox has on a number of occations failed the Acid tests. It passes the Acid 1 & 2 tests now, but the Acid3 test has proven Firefox to be much less standards-compliant than it claims to be. Serveral browsers, including Opera, score higher than Firefox on this test and internal builds of Opera even pass it. So much for standards compliace.

The last argument, which is also presented as the most important one, is that Firefox is open-source. Taste the word. Open. Source. That has to be good, right? To a certain extent, I can agree to that. Patches will arrive faster, security holes can be spotted faster, innovation may thrive in that environment. But when an application as popular as Firefox is open-source you may easily get another problem: too many developers. Ever heard the expression “too many cooks spoil the broth”? That’s exactly what might happen. Too many features and fixes makes the code hard to overlook, pron to bugs and harder to administrate.

Anyway, I’m not trying to force anyone to switch to another browser, you can use whatever you like. But before you start preaching about your favourite browser and how incredibly great it is, think. Others may not want to hear your arguments. They are probably already using the browser they like. But most of all, remember to look at things in a civilised manner, consider the proof instead of making things up and don’t attack people because they don’t have the same opinion.

Anyway, the reason I’m so excited is that it now has 3G. One of the main disadvantages with the old iPhone was that it only had EDGE, which isn’t very common here in Sweden. I’m sure you’ve heard about the other news regarding iPhone 2.0 presented at the Keynote today, and just in case you didn’t engadget had a live blog post about it. And from looking at that the 3G will probably be sold in Sweden (we’re one of the 22 biggest i hope) from June 11. And with the lower price ($199, around 1200 SEK although probably translated to roughly 2000 SEK) I might even be able to afford one. Sweet!