Unless you've been living in a computer room sealed off from the internet, you'll know that Firefox has become very popular lately. It's almost fashionable to espouse the browser for being anti-Microsoft. But is it safer than Internet Explorer?

One of the main arguments proponents make is that Firefox is inherently safer than Internet Explorer when it comes to exploits.

Ed Bott brings this issue to the light in a post today.

Ed does a good job explaining that, "... the more successful Mozilla/Firefox becomes, the more likely it is that bad guys will start targeting it too."

Ed raises a very good point concerning the success timeline and the attention an application draws.

Recently Asa Dotzler posted the following graph concerning the number of downloads for Firefox.

Firefox Download Graph
It's a testament to the great job the developers and evangelizers have done.

What Ed discusses and what the numbers show is that the penetration of the market is coming. As Ed mentioned, this penetration has a downside, but it will be limited.

There are three reasons for this limitation:

1) Firefox isn't part of the operating system. Many of the exploits that come to Windows through Internet Explorer look to take advantage of the operating system. Firefox is truly a standalone application and isn't part of the operating system as Microsoft has stated.

2) Firefox troubleshooting is very easy. There are key configuration files that Firefox uses to make Firefox work the way you want it to. This is key in fighting adware/spyware that hijacks your browser. By simply renaming these files you can have a a clean, working version of Firefox very easily.

3) Firefox is open source. At first glance this is a boon for those who want to right exploits, but that's a glass half empty look at things. The fact is Firefox's open source development allows many eyes to look at the code as it's created. People can comment and offer to help shut holes or discuss what may happen to certain parts of code. What a great benefit. Not only do you have more eyes on the front end, but more eyes on the back end so when an exploit is found a fix is available within a day.

Firefox isn't a panacea for exploits, but there is no doubt it makes your browsing life safer and simpler.