Firefox's New Year resolution: Keep growing

"We're really down to just a few problems," Hofmann said.

Those problems include Web sites' reliance on ActiveX, Microsoft's proprietary application programming interface (API) for letting Web sites take advantage of the computer's underlying functionality.

ActiveX has long been considered a security liability and was a key focus of Microsoft's recent Service Pack 2 security upgrade for IE users with Windows XP. Mozilla is part of a coalition including fellow browser makers Apple Computer and Opera Software, along with plug-in application vendors Sun Microsystems, Macromedia and Adobe Systems, to come up with a standard ActiveX equivalent.

The second most common problem for Firefox compatibility is what Hofmann termed "Microsoft's proprietary implementation of the DOM." The DOM, or Document Object Model, is a W3C recommendation for letting scripts interact with discrete elements of a Web page.

One way Mozilla got to 98 percent compatibility from 75 percent was by convincing Web sites to code differently. Another was to emulate IE when faced with nonstandard pages.

That strategy resulted in what Mozilla calls its "quirks mode." When Firefox loads a page and its Gecko engine rendering engine detects nonstandard IE-specific behaviors, the browser switches into that mode and is able to render the page correctly -- albeit at a more sluggish pace.

With the success of Firefox in winning market share, Mozilla is finding Web authors more receptive to its message about standards and compatibility. The group is now fielding between 10 and 15 calls per week from individuals and organizations asking how to make their sites work with Firefox.

Even Microsoft has become more responsive to requests that its Web pages be accessible in Firefox. Hofmann credits the software giant's sunnier attitude in part to the $12m settlement the company paid following Opera's accusations that Microsoft was deliberately breaking its pages when viewed with the Opera browser.

Microsoft declined to comment on the matter of its Web pages' compatibility with non-IE browsers or on the issue of browser-site interoperability in general.

But the company noted another area where Mozilla will face significant challenges gaining market share: enterprise desktops.

Like post-11 September presidential candidates, both sides claim to have the best security story to tell.

"Over the last year, we have started to see interest on the part of corporate IT managers worried about security problems in IE who are starting to think about strategies for backup when serious vulnerabilities arise in IE and Microsoft doesn't have a patch," Hofmann said. "We have talked to them, listened to their concerns and are assisting them with deployment plans for rolling out Firefox."

Mozilla's pitch will likely focus on lesser-known enterprise capabilities of Firefox, such as its ability to update browser preferences from a central server.

In the coming year, Mozilla expects to continue to evangelise Firefox to corporations -- something old Netscape hands at the foundation know a thing or two about.

"We see lots of interest," Hofmann said. "The companies we're talking to are across all industries. Entering the enterprise market is a long and hard route, and several of us have experience in it from our days at Netscape and know what it takes to succeed. We're in this for the long haul."