"But out of the ashes of Netscape came the Mozilla Organization. Spun off from AOL, which purchased Netscape a few years ago, the Mozilla Organization has been quietly creating a brand-new Internet browser from the ground up--and sharing its code with anyone and everyone. The benefit of this new browser project is that unlike IE, this open-source code runs independently of your operating system, so a flaw in the browser software won't necessarily expose your entire computer."
ZDNet does a very positive review of Firefox as a serious browser that offers much better security and matches Internet Explorer feature for feature in most cases. Renewed Browser Wars: IE vs. Firefox (ZDNet, November 9, 2004)