Over the last few days, I've been using the Firebird browser from Mozilla, a technology organization focused on open source development. This browser is fantastic even in its pre-release (version 0.7) state. However, many of its attributes are relative to what Apple's Safari, somehow, could never do.

Apple Safari never worked with Citibank online. The discussion boards on Apple's support site feature lots of finger-pointing (it's Apple's fault; no, it's Citibank's fault) but at the end of the day, this meant I had to run Internet Explorer to use the Citibank site. Firebird handles Citibank just fine, and that's all I need to know while Apple and Citibank continue to blame each other.

Apple Safari never worked with animated maps on The Weather Channel site. One frame of the animation loop would appear and then stall. This animation problem seemed particular to the Weather Channel, though, because animated loops on other weather sites worked fine. But so what? With Firebird, animations work everywhere, whereas with Safari they didn't.

Apple Safari also never worked with Lexis/Nexis and a remote access corporate email system I use. These too required running IE separately. Now that hassle is over.

Apple says Safari is in line exactly with established standards. I'm sure it is. But the Web browser development market is tough: all that matters now is that, even if The Weather Channel, Citibank and others are at fault, I've ditched Safari until further notice. (I would gladly try the new version of Safari, but Apple requires purchasing an entire operating system upgrade to enjoy the benefits of the latest release.)