Ever since I first fired up KDE on openSuSE, I’ve been in love. The KDE interface just swept me off my feet. But there’s always been one nagging thing. Firefox and Thunderbird stick out like two sore thumbs. They don’t look like KDE apps (see figure 1 and figure 4), they don’t work with KDE programs (like KPrinter), and they just don’t feel like they belong in KDE.

I’m now an avid Firefox user. It took me a long time to give up my treasured Maxthon, an Internet Explorer shell that I truly loved. Here are a few of the cooler Firefox add-ons I’m using. Give them a whirl and let me know what you think.

Firefox has begun to feel slow and dated. But Firefox 4 may change all that. Here are four reasons you'll want to switch to Firefox 4.

Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Popular Firefox extension Tab Mix Plus has finally released an update supporting Firefox 3, meaning that the tabbed browsing enhancements you'd come to know and love with TMP in Firefox 2 are now ready for your updated Firefox install

The one area where Google Chrome definitively beat Firefox is on the speed front. Firefox is simply not fast enough. But if speed was the only reason behind your decision to choose Google Chrome instead of Firefox, FasterFox Lite Firefox extension will give you some reprieve.

The pace at which Mozilla works can seem insane. It was less than a month ago when the the company released Firefox 3.5. Only three weeks later, Firefox posted screenshots of Firefox 3.7, which includes a change to the Tools bar and an Embracing Glass design.

But the ambition doesn’t end there. The Firefox team is looking even farther in the future: all the way to Firefox 4.0.

One of the biggest complaints a Firefox evangelist encounters is "it doesn't act or feel like browser X." Internet Explorer users complain that Firefox doesn't look like what they're used to. Opera, Safari, and Netscape users complain that it's missing many of their favorite features. And the social networking gurus point to the powerful social networking features Flock boasts and Firefox lacks.

Although Firefox 3.5 (formerly Firefox 3.1) is still in beta, Mozilla is already developing Firefox 3.6 code-named Namoroka. Slated for an early-to-mid 2010 release, the browser will be marketed as Firefox.next (FX) moniker in a nod to new technologies set to take Firefox to the next level.

If you’re holding your breath while waiting for the 64-bit (x64) flavor of Firefox 4.0, feel free to exhale now.