Simply better.

Better performance (and more control through features) from a browser was exactly what I was looking for in late 2004 when I started searching for something other than the ball and chain (IE) that I had been stuck with for so many years. I tried many different browsers with Opera being my top pick until I discovered Firefox.
I actually gave Opera a second chance to win me over after I had tried Firefox but there was no comparison.

I guess that I fall into a rare group of Firefox users who are ones that were actually shopping around for a new browser when I discovered it (downloads.com). Even at its first release, Firefox made a very big and good enough impression to get a new user which says a lot for the quality of it and for all of the planning, testing, and development that went into it.

It still amazes me that as good as Firefox was then, it’s even better today and will be even more so tomorrow and it hasn’t costed the average user a dime.

Ironically enough and speaking of improvements, “costed” isn’t in the default Firefox dictionary. For now I’ll take Wiktionary’s word on it that I speeeled it correctly.