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Dell Pre-Installing Firefox in UK
seizer writes "Blake Ross, creator of Firefox, has confirmed on his blog that Dell are now shipping Firefox on all desktop and laptop machines in the UK. While rumours had been floating around before this, and UK buyers had been reporting that 1.0.6 came pre-installed, this is the first official confirmation of Dell's decision. Is the US next?"
Definately good news, but if it's not the default browser the impact will likely be limited. Most people will use whatever's the default.
And if the users don't want it (I'm not sure why) they could uninstall it unlike IE
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Get a free Playstation 3 here!
If Dell is going to buck Microsoft and install Firefox, perhaps the day is coming when they will openly and consistently offer Linux on their desktop machines as an alternative to Windows. But we will see. Something tells me MS isn't going to take this lying down.
-Is it installed like the rest of their nagware? (e.g. buried in the menus)
-Is it the default browser?
-Will it remain the default browser?
-Is there an icon on the desktop? (still will probably not switch the trained to click the "e" people.)
In one way it's very good news.
I don't think it changes much though once IE7 is available. The IE7 hype for a feature set that Mozilla browsers already have will be deafening.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
The UK is the second greatest market for both Slashdot and Dell, so reporting this only makes sense.
My 3D Texturing Skinning work (under construction)
Perhaps the new PC could prmopt the user at first login to choose clients for the various protocols. Thunderbird could be available as an alternative to Outlook Express, and some alternatives to the commercial chat programs could also be available. I like that idea.
This sig, aah-ah, is comin' like a ghost-sig...
Now if we could just get them to preinstall OpenOffice.org, offer Linux as a real alternative OS, and (god forbid) even consider offering AMD based systems then we would really be making progress...
I set up a bunch of new Dell laptops and set Firefox to be the default browser.
Much to my chagrin, McAfee (which is pre-installed) has a self-update is almost entirely ActiveX/javascript dependent. It loads about 10 pages in succession, which is rather strange. Even though it "fell down went boom" about 80% of the time in IE because McAfee's servers were continuously overloaded or down (thus resulting IE error pages which you can't continue from- you have to hit 'update' again and wait another 5-10 minutes.)
The incompetence in the decision to use complex ActiveX/javascript bouncing off 10 different pages and a couple webservers...just to check for effing definition updates...is astounding. Do they really not have anyone capable of writing a decent simple Windows 2k/XP program?
Please help metamoderate.
and today is the day when software bundles is a Good Thing!
(err, right?)
Yes, when they encourage competition, as happened in this case.
I have discovered a truly remarkable proof of this theorem that this sig is too small to contain.
They've got the same system with XP media center for $20 less.. Tell me again how there's no "Microsoft tax". http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx ?CS=19&kc=19&oc=DE510SAP
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
What is so good about Firefox?
Extensions.
I tried Opera 8.5 for about a week, and while versus Firefox without extensions there would be no contest, there were just too many things I could not acheive in Opera, that Firefox extensions provide. Opera was fast and stable though.
It's a unfortunate that extensions are also a bit of a weak point for Firefox. It would be nice if the APIs for extensions were made robust enough that it was harder for extensions to break the browser, and I still haven't had a problem free browser upgrade without doing a clean reinstall.
Oh no... it's the future.
If so, I don't think it'll make much difference to the number of firefox users, as most large firms I know, who buy from Dell, have IE only web sites and intranets. It will however boost the statistics for Firefox, viz. number of installations.
First Off, I love FireFox and use it every day, it's default on every computer I use except this one (damn you work!).
/.) proves what everyone says, Dell puts too much crap on their boxes. Well, now thier putting another browser there, albeit a better one. It's technically another thing we (consumers) don't need.
Anyway, to play Devils Advocate, does everyone see that this should be considered more bloatware from Dell? I mean, the HardOCP review of Dells gaming rig (last week on
I am probably going to get flamed for this post, but it has to be said. They put lots of programs that aren't needed on their computers and people bitch. Well, now thier putting another browser on there (again, I know its a better one) and everyone is happy.
I know it's a step in the right direction in general, but am I the only one who sees the majority of the previous posts as somewhat hypocritical?
We can very easily see that you're a zealot. You haven't said a single thing about why Opera is better than Firefox (and I personally don't believe that's true, both have things going for them).
Come on Opera is the best.
Why? You certainly haven't told us. Your saying so won't convince anyone.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
are they really losing anything
They are loosing 'mindshare'. People are actually using something that MS is not the source of.It may or may not last, but is an encouraging step...
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
Not suprising they put 1.06 on the machines, considering they still put Adobe Acrobat Reader 6 on their computers.
Yes, you can say by shipping it with Windows they already are shipping it with security risks. But computer manufacturers will ship their computers with what the majority of the users want. The majority of users want Windows, so they get what they want.
The majority of users do not care what browser they use (see: IE's 84% market share.) In this case, Dell is trying to promote a new browser. They are not including this browser because a majority of their customers have demanded it (although I'm sure there are a certain percentage that have), but because they believe it will make their customers computers safer and more secure.
With that being said, the parents comment is valid because version 1.0.7 was a purely security and stability release to fix problems in 1.0.6. Such security and stability changes include:
Using all the mentioned data, Dell is shipping security risks by packaging their computers with 1.0.6. Although I applaud them for trying to spread the Firefox love, they probably should have done their homework first.
-Mike
Sources:
Firefox 1.0.7 Release Notes
Firefox doubles market share as IE slips
It's quite funny. Your type seem to cry "anti-competitive practice!" and "monopoly!" when Microsoft chooses to include a product of great quality in their operating system suite, however, look at you now. "I doubt they remove IE on the system". Heh. It's alright when theoretical anti-competitive practice favours Firefox, but not Internet Explorer?
That's because Firefox isn't leveraging an existing monopoly in one area to gain ground for another (usually inferior) product. That's anti-competitive behavior. For example, if Firefox firmly controlled 95% of the browser market, and told OEMs "We won't allow you to install our product if you install another browser, and unless you bundle Thunderbird with it", that would be anti-competitive monopolistic behavior. If the OEM simply decides not to include what they consider to be inferior but competing products of their own accord, that's the free market in action.
If MS simply bundled apps with Windows and OEMs left the other products out, I would be quite happy with that. I'm glad they've finally decided to give anti-virus another go for a number of reasons. It's when they tell OEMs, "If you want Windows, you can't install X" that they really need to be backhanded.
Shouldn't they ship it with the latest version at least
If Dell gives updated versions of Firefox with their online updates (Dell does have its own online updates, doesn't it?) there should be no problems. The fact that Firefox is already installed is signficant because when the average Joe hears someone talk about how great Firefox is, he is more likely to use it if it is already installed. And if Dell takes care of periodic updates, there should be no problems keeping the average Joe happy with it.
One minor point, but it bears repeating: as long as the most common plugins are taken care of without user interaction, the user will probably be happy with the Firefox application. If the user gets a new install of Firefox and the most common plugins have not been configured, he or she is likely to use IE. Hopefully Dell takes care of this. This is a make or break issue with end-user software acceptability.
Suddenly, the hairy finger of a familiar monkey tapped me on the shoulder. It was time.--G. T.
A good alternative might be for Dell or (more likely) a third party (for profit or otherwise) to release 'brand specific' Linux distro installation ISOs. Rather than running a standard install script, you download the ISO for your particular model of new big-brand machine and the installer simply writes a disk image onto the hard drive which already has all the appropriate drivers and config settings for the standard hardware. The only question is whether it's worth the effort when most installers are pretty good at figuring it out for themselves now anyway.
Back in the 80's, I was pushing MS on anything that was not IBM. Just about every geek, except for the CIS types, was fighting against IBM. Now, the CIS types push MS, and fight IBM.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.