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.