CometBird Browser

[MidnightCowboy]

Back in February I posted news about one of the Firefox clones, CometBird. There was quite a bit of interest in this browser and also some queries raised. I've now managed to make contact with the developers and this is their response to my questions.


1. What is the “stats module” and it’s purpose which connects to the internet at install?

The stats module is a statistical tool, which helps us to know how many people are using CometBird.

2. Can you be a bit more specific about how the antimalware features operate? Are these only the same as included with Firefox, or does CometBird offer something else?
3. How quickly can your development cycle respond to the need for security updates when a vulnerability is discovered?
4. Is this dependent on a patch for Firefox being released first, or are you able to get your own version out independently?

The answer for 2,3 & 4 are about the same. Since CometBird is based on Firefox, hence the antimalware features are pretty much the same as Firefox, and the patches are also depend on Firefox.


5. Lastly, what would you say are the main advantages that users would benefit from by switching to CometBird?

CometBird has 5 main advantages compare to Firefox.
1) Online bookmarks: this function allows users to manage their books even they're on a different computer/operating system.
2) Online video download: users can download online videos/audio/flash when they're watching it.
3) Word translator and notes: CometBird has a word translator, it'll show the translation in user's language when hover mouse on vertain words. And the notes function helps users to remember/save information.

The 3 functions above can be found in the CometBird homepage: http://www.cometbird.com/

4) Coloured tabs: Tabs of relevant webpages will be categorised into colours.
5) Ctrl+Tab: Press Ctrl+Tab when viewing multi site with CometBird, a preview of thumbnails will appear to show all the existing webpages.

Kind Regards,
Lucy Liu
Marketing Assistant
Comet Network & Technology Co., Ltd.

My thanks to Lucy for taking the time to answer these questions. If anyone else has queries about CometBird, please post them here and I'll pass them back to the developer.

[Anupam]

Thanks for the information MC.

Personally, I did not like CometBird. The advantages that are being talked of... I don't seem them as advantages. What they have done to achieve the advantages is... they have bundled some add-ons with the browser itself, so you don't have to download and install these add-ons. The same thing can be achieved in Firefox by downloading and installing add-ons. If those features were built-in, then CometBird would have been different. Only feature I liked was of word translation.

The add-on to achieve bookmark synchronization is a total clone of XMarks.

I don't see why I should use CometBird instead of Firefox. Much has been discussed about this in the other thread. I will still pass. For me, it will remain as a bad clone of Firefox.

[MidnightCowboy]

Well of course it's human nature to seek out alternatives whether it be for browsers, lifestyle or washing-up liquid

One feature of CometBird which will appeal to some is the size of its user base compared to Firefox. I appreciate that Mozilla offers good support but a lot of folks will feel much more "at home" in the smaller CometBird forum community.

[Anupam]

Yes, people always look for alternatives. Even I am on the lookout for different and good browsers.. and have tried many of them. Firefox still remains my choice of browser though.

Some people may like CometBird... depends on personal choice too, apart from the features.

[Taurus]

Originally Posted by Anupam

Yes, people always look for alternatives. Even I am on the lookout for different and good browsers.. and have tried many of them. Firefox still remains my choice of browser though.

This pretty well sums up my experience with adventures in browser land, too.
Chrome, Iron, K-Melon, and a few more. On my XP SP3 machine I do not find any of them "faster" or "more secure" than Firefox. A Sandboxed Firefox is still my browser of choice.

Well said, Anupam.

[Anupam]

Thanks Taurus .

I have tried many browsers. K-Meleon, Opera, SRWare Iron, QTWeb, Arora Browser, Safari(not much though), CometBird, SeaMonkey etc.

Apart from Firefox, I really like SRWare Iron. Its definitely faster than Firefox, and also it "feels" light... maybe because of the minimalist appearance. I haven't tried Google Chrome yet. I want to, but I do not like the background traffic, so I have been avoiding it till now. Features of Iron and Chrome are really nice though, and Iron is my second choice now.

I wanted to like Opera, but could not. Some of the sites do not work properly on Opera, and it also lacks extensions, and that frustrates me.

I am still in lookout for more browsers, just to experiment, and see if I can find another good browser. I have an eye on Dooble browser too, but the reason I have not tried it is, seems like its uninstaller does not work properly, or there is none at all.

[Taurus]

The problem I had with Iron was that I could not get it to work well on a LUA.
I could not clear "private data" at close or when initiated from with the browser. Incognito mode would not work. CCleaner would not clear "private data" and history for the browser.

But when I installed Chrome using the Google Updater, I had no such issues.
But, on my machine, I did not find Chrome any "faster" than Firefox. Google and Chrome put a batch of crap in my startup process that just didn't need to be there. Chrome is part of the new generation of web\cloud applications where there is constant communication between the application and its servers. I'm just not used to or ready for that yet. Feels too much like big brother is watching me. LOL..funny part is, I have nothing to hide.

Maybe you could enlight me as to the proper way to install SWR Iron so that it works well on an XP LUA? I know I had to use Google's installer and updater to get Chrome to function well on a LUA.

I've never been able to get any release of Opera to render webpages correctly for me.

I have noticed that Mozilla is going to fast track new releases of Firefox si my thinking is that there's not going to be a big difference in performance and security between Firefox, Chrome, and other siblings of each.

LOL...I wish all these web browser developers would get together, decide on an engine, and work together to develope a browser that truely is faster and more secure.

[MidnightCowboy]

Originally Posted by Taurus

LOL...I wish all these web browser developers would get together, decide on an engine, and work together to develope a browser that truely is faster and more secure.

You're obviously not old enough to remember the VHS v Betamax saga?

[Taurus]

Originally Posted by MidnightCowboy

You're obviously not old enough to remember the VHS v Betamax saga?

LOL...oh yes I am. Point taken.

Thank goodness for Paragon free 10.1.

[Anupam]

I don't use LUA, or other such techniques, so I won't be able to help with it. I don't even use sandbox .

About Firefox... yes, today only the news is all over the web that Firefox 4 is being developed, and they are aiming to make it faster, secure. Some nice changes are on the way, and I am quite excited about it .

Hmmm.. I would not like companies to work on only one browser... there would be no variety left, and nothing new to try out . Atleast now, we can play with different browsers. There are many browsers out there, and I think they have each got their own set of users... so its all good .

I think we might be straying from the topic of CometBird here... so if there are more things about browsers to be discussed in general, we should start a new thread. The topic of browsers is such that, you just cannot discuss one browser without bringing other browsers into it.