Slashdot Mirror
Firefox Exec Says Windows Bundling Is a Bad Idea
eldavojohn writes "The Firefox executives say they don't want to be bundled with Windows. Firefox architect Mike Conner also said this of Opera, 'Opera's asserting something that's provably false. It's asserting that bundling leads to market share. I don't know how you can make the claim with a straight face. As people become aware there's an alternative, you don't end up in that [monopoly] situation. You have to be perceptibly better [than Internet Explorer].' He also told PCPro that they are worried about becoming the next monopoly just like Microsoft is now."
MSIE has the largest installation base because MS Windows has the largest installation base. If you don't think that this constitutes a biasing force, you are not thinking... and you are certainly not a Web developer who has had to deal with MSIE 5 and 6.
MS Paint is next to useless. Mentioning it does not support your position. MS Notepad has not stopped people from using real editors, or MS Word, either.
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
And because Windows 7 doesn't currently look like a trainwreck, and it comes with IE8, I think that a lot of people buying new computers will stick with what comes with it, even if they used Firefox before.
Clearly you have not done much work with IE8.
However if Firefox had a service whereby you could save all your favourites, history, etc, to a web service, and then retrieve them on your new Windows 7 laptop later on, that would be an incentive to re-download Firefox despite the presence of IE8.
Like Foxmarks?
To be an illegal monopoly, you have to have both a dominant market share AND you have to implement any of a variety of shitty anti-competitive business practices.
Being dominant is not, in and of itself, enough to make a company or product an illegal monopoly.
Fixed that for you. GP wasn't referring to illegal per se, just monopoly. It's perfectly legal to be a monopoly and not engage in anti-competitive business practices.
I'm not convinced that bundling of third-party software leads to marketshare the same way that having IE as the default browser on Microsoft OSes does. In fact IE got its market share not with simple bundling, but by being the *only* browser on new installations of Windows, the same way Safari achieves marketshare on Macs.
I used to use Firefox/Mozilla exclusively on all of my computers. I'd even install it on my friends' and family's computers and convince them to use it, too. Back in the day, it was easy. On the Mac, it was the only viable option (Mozilla, Chimera, Firefox... all the same to me). IE was the default Mac browser, and it totally sucked, so I'd download Firefox immediately. On Windows, IE was a gaping security hole. Using IE was dangerous; switching to Firefox was an easy sell.
When Apple came out with Safari I held out for the first few versions, but lately Safari is good enough. After I upgraded to Leopard, it wasn't worth the effort to download Firefox and change my default browser on all of my computers. (Incidentally, my parents still use Firefox on their Macs because a long time ago I told them it was better, and that stuck with them. Inertia builds marketshare for Firefox, too).
If Windows included Opera and Firefox, but still had IE as the default browser, I don't think things would be much different. New users might fire up Opera and Firefox and think, "this is just like Internet Explorer. why bother?" I don't know that they'd necessarily delete it, but certainly it would just be more useless icons cluttering up the desktop. That could put Opera and Firefox at a disadvantage. When a new version is released, they'll think, "why should I upgrade this thing that's just cluttering my computer?"
If instead people learn about Firefox or hear about some feature that interest them, they'll invest (minimal) time and effort into downloading it and trying it out. Sure its still pretty much like Internet Explorer, but the effort involved is a much stronger tie than "oh, look. another icon on my desktop". And whatever feature caught their interest will make them more likely to stick with it. That leads to market share.
Bundling doesn't automatically lead to marketshare. (that would have been a much better quote ;).
blog
Between the two of them, I'd bet a pretty penny that Mitchell's thoughts are going to be the more decisive in forming Mozilla's official stance.
I actually commented on this a while back (not as a mass suggestion, but how I - personally - grab firefox on a new windows install).
The funny thing is that it is clear you've never done this - or at least it has been too long since you have to adopt a Socratic attitude.
Like the banner says, releases.mozilla.org.
Leben Sie jetzt die Fragen.