Aha Moment: Firefox is Becoming My OS
Yesterday I installed another extension for Firefox. This one is called Foxytunes and allows you to control your MP3 software from Firefox. Installing the extension wasn’t that big a deal and, honestly, the extension isn’t that big a deal either. What was a big deal, however, was the aha moment I had right after I installed.
All of a sudden I realized that my browser was looking more and more like an operating system. The more extensions I installed, the less I ever had to go anywhere else. I could have lots of programs running in the background, all controlled with Firefox. It’s a pretty amazing idea.
Then, this morning, as I was sitting on the toilet (where I do some of my best thinking), I realized that I’ve installed more extensions onto my computer than software. Thinking about the software I use at work, it’s not a long list: mail, Word, PowerPoint (occasionally), Excel (occasionally), iCal, AIM, MSN Messenger, TextEdit and of course Firefox. That’s nine programs. You know how many extensions I have installed at the moment? 13. Kind of interesting. Imagine five years ago telling someone you have installed more programs on your browser than you have on your OS.
Wow.
Hi, I'm 
I am noticing this more and more too. I’ve been faithfully following your extension reccommendations (I love them all so far except the one that saves tabs from session to session…sometimes I just want a clean start), and I really am not using that many other programs at all (work or home). Brilliant stuff. My only problem with firefox so far is that it doesn’t work with some websites (most notably, I still need to open IE if I want to listen to the radio on CMT.com). Anyway, thanks for the extension advice, keep them coming.
And for the record I do much of my best thinking on the throne as well.