There is no secret that there is a war between today's browsers, and fanatical followers of a particular piece of software is not something new. You can visit any computer forum and discover aggressive disputes on that theme.

A group of self-titled "political activists" in Massachusetts has started a brutal campaign to get browser users to switch from Microsoft's Internet Explorer to Mozilla's Firefox.

This campaign is called Explorer Destroyer, and takes advantage of Google AdSense to pay users 1 dollar for each referral to Firefox made through Google Toolbar, according to the group's Web site. http://www.explorerdestroyer.com

This is what the activists say:' You already want people to switch to Firefox. Now's the time to get serious about it. Google is paying $1 for each new Firefox user you refer. This is pretty amazing.
Now you can advance your ideals, save people from pop-ups and spyware hell, and make some serious money.
Millions of people have heard about Firefox and are ready to switch - all they need is a friendly push.'

According the Explorer Destroyer website, this group offers site owners a technology that will detect if a visitor is running Internet Explorer. If the user has IE as browser an alert will appear directing them to download Firefox. Whenever a visitor of a website using the group's technology switches to Firefox from IE, the owner of the site will get 1 dollar. The condition is to have signed up for Google's AdSense program.

When you install the script on your site, you can decide how much force you want to use to convince your users to switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox... There are three types of alerts that can be put on a page:

Level 1: Gentle Encouragement Rating: $$
Visitors using IE see a message encouraging them to download Firefox (with a download link) running across the top of the page.'

Level 2: Semi-serious Rating: $$$$
Visitors using IE get a friendly splash page encouraging them to download Firefox. There's a download link, and a link to continue on to your site'.

Level 3: Dead serious: $$$$$$
Level 3 will not allow people using IE to pass a splash page. This level is very useful for sites that are not IE6 compatible. And there's never been a more important moment to switch people to Firefox. Unfortunately, level 3 is a little too intense for the Adsense policies, so for this level you'll have to use a regular, non-Adsense link to download Firefox.'

In addition to the Explorer Destroyer website, the group also has launched another website that parodies IE (http://www.killbillsbrowser.com) and provides users with reasons why they should switch to Firefox.
Microsoft will certainly lose more market share if Firefox usage increases. Should it be worried about a campaign like this' We don't think so.
Internet Explorer could afford to lose another 10-15% of the market and still be the dominant browser on the Internet.

written by Cristian L.