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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.
Anyone seen the version? is it with a custom dell skin? just currious.
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.
Or at the very least 1.0.7 which has been the latest 1.0.x version out for a while now.
Free MacMini
Inside the corporate offices of Microsoft, an angel dies.
You used "Microsoft" and "angel" in the same sentence without the "of Darkness" phrase. You should know better.
Government's idea of a balanced budget: take money from the right pocket to balance...oh who am I kidding?
-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
... is the day when software bundles is a Good Thing!
(err, right?)
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
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 day is coming when they will openly and consistently offer Linux on their desktop machines
Well, in case Dell is listening, I am one customer for a Dell laptop with Linux pre-installed (the model that has nVidia graphics, as ATI is totally hopeless with OpenGL).
I always install my own Linux systems on desktops, but laptops are somewhat different to desktops in that they often have custom features that aren't covered well (or at all) by standard Linux distros.
A Dell Linux-based laptop with all its hardware features supported would be a very welcome product.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
If Dell does this all over the world it will have a large impact on IE browser numbers. This is the single largest reason IE/Windows has the largest install base. Think how good Firefox needed to be to get people to take the time and download, install and use over IE. Now it is there by default? Man that will be powerful.
I, for one, am outraged. Could you imagine if Microsoft did the same thing and had Internet Explorer installed on every new computer?
Oh wait...
Martini Glasses
For those wondering why this particular version, it is the latest to support FULL msi options http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=1380 33 as listed on the official mozillazine forums.
:)
However if the people at DELL had of just gone one more click to the guys full site, they would see the latest MSIs built ready for pre-install or corp rollout needs http://www.frontmotion.com/Firefox/.
Big thanks to "DraconPern" for doing this, OEMer i been working at has been rolling this onto default install for around 14 months now, not had one gripe about bloatware, and quite a few thankyous from people for saveing them the effort
...
Inside the corporate offices of Microsoft, a chair is thrown.
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
You can order a Dell without an OS. At least in the US.
You can, but it costs more than the same computer with Windows.
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.
..back in the day, computers came with Netscape and MSIE installed. You'd see infomercials saying, "This computer comes with the two leading internet browsers. Netscape and Internet Explorer, so that you can choose which you'd like to use". It will just start bringing more competition to the table for MSIE. I feel bad because I remember in those days recommending that people uninstall Netscape and use IE.
Sig: I stole this sig.
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.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
- most of firefox features were in Opera first and
- Opera has features that will take years to be implemented in firefox and
- Opera's mail client was gmail like before gmail even existed and
- Opera is faster and has a smaller memory footprint than firefox and
- Opera is beautifully designed and integrated instead of being a patchwork frankenbrowser and
- Opera's download is smaller
slashdoters will still not love it. Why? Because Opera is not open source. Therefore, although most people won't ever modify Firefox's code, it will forever remain everyone's sweetheart.Firefox is not just a browser, it is a symbol of rebelion against the system. We should rename it the Ché-wser and make t shirts!
Cheers,
Adolfo
Opera user since forever.
Not suprising they put 1.06 on the machines, considering they still put Adobe Acrobat Reader 6 on their computers.
Dell is a company, and as such, is a SINGULAR NOUN. Usage rules dictate that singular nouns are incompatible with plural verbs. Would you say "My mom are going to the store?" Of course not. Why, then, would you say "Dell are now shipping" ?
Learn some fucking English, people.
Learn to accept different regional usages. Where I come from, saying 'Dell are' is standard usage: 'Dell' is a collective noun and can be treated as a plural.
If your comment title says 'Re: Foo', I'm not likely to read it.
I'm sure someone will correct me if this is not the case, but I believe in the Queen's English (as opposed to American English), organizations are often represented in the plural because they are a group of people. You will read a US headline that says "Manchester United is likely to sell to Glazer", but in the UK, it can be "Manchester United are likely to sell to Glazer". Check out this site. Given the English source for the story, this makes sense.
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.
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.
Sir,
:|
I am not normally moved to put pen to paper these days, but I feel I ought to make an exception for your folly. I shall keep it simple, for it is clear that you are of a reactionary bent and I fear that a lengthy response might be a little too much for your poor little brain, triggering what I believe is termed a "buffer overflow".
I like to count myself amongst those of a gramatically Naziist persuasion, but I am always mindful of one golden rule - the central tenet of pointing out the mistakes of others, as it were - make damn well sure you are right before jumping into the fire. Failure to do so will result inevitably in a demonstration of your limited intellect to all and sundry, as is the case here.
I can only note in closing that it is a pity that you lack even the self-belief to attach a name to your comments - the anonymous grammar Nazi is perhaps held lower in the collective self-esteem than are the goatse and BSD trolls.
Yours faithfully
iqu
Microsoft's income based on IE is negligible if not negative. It costs them absolutely nothing for Dell to preinstall Firefox; the only cost is altering the Windows Update site to allow for both browsers--which they're doing anyway.
Eventually, MS might reach a deal with the Mozilla Foundation to bundle Firefox with Windows, saving them the expense of maintaining IE. Then everyone wins--the users get a better browser and a more secure OS; Microsoft's reputation improves all around; Firefox spreads further; and website designers get redesign their sites to support standards and nix ActiveX controls.
Where's the problem?