The case for Konqueror over IE and Windows file managers

By MiMi Yeh, Assistant Editor 20 Oct 2005 | SearchOpenSource.com

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You've heard of the Navigator and the Explorer, but have you experienced the Konqueror? David Brickner, author of the new book Test Driving Linux: From Windows to Linux in 60 Seconds has -- and he believes it's the most secure Web browser available today.

Brickner, who writes extensively about Konqueror in his new book, says malware, spyware and viruses have virtually no chance of penetrating machines through the open source browser and file manager.

SearchOpenSource.com recently caught up with Brickner to find out just what else he likes about Konqueror, and how it compares to Internet Explorer (IE) and Firefox.

In addition to writing, Brickner is an editor of Linux and open source books at O'Reilly Media Inc. He has used Linux servers since 1998 and has run Linux full-time on his desktop for the past four years.

Konqueror, part of the K Desktop Environment (KDE) "kdebase" package, was developed volunteers and is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

More on Konqueror: Download a free chapter from David Brickner's book Test Driving Linux: From Windows to Linux in 60 Seconds

What security features make using the Konqueror browser safer than Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE)?

Brickner: Using Konqueror, you have an almost nonexistent chance of having your machine infected with spyware, malware or a virus.

First off, as many people point out, most exploits are written to take advantage of security holes in IE, not Konqueror or Firefox. Secondly, Konqueror doesn't run ActiveX controls, a Windows only feature, which is the mechanism many exploits use to gain access to your machine. Finally, and this is not to be overlooked, the open source nature of Konqueror ensures that anybody who finds a security hole can patch it themselves and share the fix with others. This feature, which exists in all open source projects, is the reason why so many security holes are patched within hours or days of being found, instead of the weeks or months that it sometimes takes Microsoft.

In what other ways is Konqueror a strong browser?

Brickner: Konqueror, like IE, loads quickly, because it is part of the desktop environment; in this case, the KDE desktop environment. Konqueror supports all the modern technologies, such as plug-ins for Flash and .pdf, JavaScript and Java. With helper applications such as Kaffeine installed, it can play videos inside the browser. In addition to this, it has pop-up ad blocking that gives you quite a bit of control over how you want pop-up windows blocked and on which Web sites. Konqueror also supports the now common tab feature, which lets you browse multiple Web sites within a single window.

Where do you feel Konqueror is strongest -- as a browser or file manager -- and why?

Brickner: Personally, I like it best as a file manager, simply because I wouldn't have a good alternative (other than the command line) to turn to if I didn't have Konqueror. For a Web browser, I could always use Firefox.

Using Konqueror, you have an almost nonexistent chance of having your machine infected with spyware, malware or a virus. David Brickner, author, Test Driving Linux: From Windows to Linux in 60 Seconds

What sets Konqueror apart from Firefox?

Brickner: As a Web browser, there isn't a lot of difference except that Konqueror uses KHTML to render the Web pages, and Mozilla (Firefox) uses Gecko. In many ways, Gecko is superior to KHTML, and sometimes it is much faster. There is a side project underway for Konqueror to start using Gecko as its rendering engine. It will be a user configurable choice. What sets Konqueror apart for me is its fast loading, and the fact that I'm already using it for file management.

What's your favorite feature of Konqueror?

Brickner: Definitely the URL handlers that let me access remote file systems easily. I work from home a lot, and this feature lets me connect to the office very easily.

What are some of the top benefits for a systems administrator whi uses Konqueror for their file manager? As a file manager, what features does Konqueror offer that Windows lacks?

Brickner: I really liked Windows Explorer as a file manager. I had used it a long time and was very comfortable with it. I didn't like the graphical file managers available on Linux until KDE and Konqueror hit their 3.0 versions.

What I like best about Konqueror is its ability to handle many different protocols seamlessly and remotely. What this means is you can access remote filesystems, such as an FTP site or your company's file server, directly from Konqueror and work on the files as if they were local.

Windows Explorer can do this too, but only for SMB (Windows file sharing) and FTP. Konqueror can do it for SMB, FTP, SFTP, FISH, NFS, zeroconf, appletalk, and I'm sure many more. So, whereas Windows Explorer really only works well with other Windows machines, Konqueror will work well with almost any other machine.

My second favorite feature is tabs in the file manager. With a single window, I can have dozens of file locations open and I can move files between them with ease. To do this on Windows would require a dozen windows, which can be difficult to manage.

Why do you recommend using Konqueror?

Brickner: In the book I cover Konqueror so extensively because it is a big part of KDE and because Firefox didn't come on the Move CD. So, I won't say that I recommend using Konqueror over Firefox; they both have their advantages. But, I do suggest giving Konqueror a try if you are using KDE because it is so versatile, and using it as a Web browser will make you feel more comfortable using it as a file manager.

I use Konqueror about 95% of the time and only open Firefox when I've visiting a Web site that doesn't play well with Konqueror. This is easy to do, as most installs of Konqueror will detect when Firefox is installed. Once you visit a page, there will be a menu choice under Location called "Open with Firefox" which will open the current page in that browser.

One good thing about Firefox is you can start using it now, on Windows, without having to switch to Linux.

As a file manager, I recommend Konqueror because it is a fantastic GUI file manager that is easy for Windows users.

Tags: Linux enterprise desktop applications,  Securing Linux best practices,  Windows-to-Linux migration,  Open source applications for Linux,  Linux enterprise desktop options,  VIEW ALL TAGS

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