It’s true that Firefox is bundled with Dell in the UK. More to come…
Update: I see a lot of organizations covering this story and quoting me as the “official” source, but the only officials qualified to speak in that capacity are spokesmen from each company.
December 19th, 2005 at 6:04 pm
I read somewhere that doing this type of thing is against the Microsoft’s OEM TOS, but I guess not. Good news, hopefully US manufacturers will follow suite with more Firefox and now, Opera! pre-installed in machines.
December 20th, 2005 at 12:35 am
Isn’t it illegal for Microsoft to prevent PC manufacturers pre-bundling software?
The EU already spanked them for their behaviour with firms that used to bundle Netscape, I don’t see them trying it again, especially given the Media Player case.
December 20th, 2005 at 1:25 am
Not just laptops - my brother got a desktop from Dell the other week which came with Firefox 1.0.6
December 20th, 2005 at 4:21 am
This is really cool. Hopefully this is just the beginning ;) Who knows?
Blake, perhaps?
;)
December 20th, 2005 at 10:18 am
This is indeed true. It’s for desktop PC’s aswell, as my brother- who just bought a Dell- can confirm. Interestingly, it was the only web browser icon on the desktop- albeit version 1.0.4, but it’s a promising start.
Guess the logic behind it is simple: less calls to tech support re adware/spyware etc, and people learn to like their PC’s, ensuring repeat customer and a loyalty to the brand.
Firefox as a business tool? Definately. A great example of how free software can make companies money, keep customers happy, and keep the web open.
As Firefox keeps spreading, we may well see more and more companies jumping on board. Before you know it, Microsoft will be using the Firefox RSS icon in IE7…
December 20th, 2005 at 10:47 am
Phhhhffff…..Thats nothing, I have an ISO that I roll out to my clients with the most current version of Firefox, the desktop background set the the Firefox logo, and I drop roughly fifty Firefox shortcuts right there on the desktop. Dell ain’t got nothing on me!
December 20th, 2005 at 4:31 pm
mr. lizard firefox’s live bookmark has already been adopted by IE7 and outlook 12
December 21st, 2005 at 10:36 am
@ milki: I kind of knew that, hence my comment ;-)
December 21st, 2005 at 12:01 pm
So what does it do to the EU’s monopoly case when there’s another browser bundled with IE in a commercial product by a respectable company?
December 21st, 2005 at 1:23 pm
I’ve often wondered the same thing. If MS should have restrictions on bundling a media player/web browser etc with its operating system, then shouldn’t other OS producers, e.g. Apple, be subject to the same rule?
Maybe there’s a fine line somewhere: the OS manufacturer should allow enough of a mix of rival software in order to comply with the ill-thought out EU monopoly case. Pre-installing Firefox and Opera as an example, as well as Safari/IE (depending on OS)
Personally, I’d like to see manufacturers following the lead of companies like Dell in offering open source software that genuinely benefits the consumer. Firefox has proven itself as a highly competent browser, that is at the very least on a level field with IE.
Open Source has grown up a lot because of Firefox- I hope to see more of the same with projects such as Open Office. The object of this not being to break down the Microsoft monopoly, but to instead force the company into innovation. I feel the whole industry is being held back by the complacency of MS. Maybe this is the beginning of a change.
December 27th, 2005 at 9:24 am
Good news! Firefox 1.5 would be nice though :)
And how’s the project coming along that would allow OEMs to brand FireFox to their own liking? (Like netscape had)
“If MS should have restrictions on bundling a media player/web browser etc with its operating system, then shouldn’t other OS producers, e.g. Apple, be subject to the same rule?”
Seeing as how Apple is their own manufacturer (as it were) they wouldn’t legally be subject to the same rule as MS.
“I feel the whole industry is being held back by the complacency of MS.”
Yep. I’ve been a netscape/mozilla user all my life, but from a webdev point of view I really couldn’t care less if people used IE, as long as it supports everything the rest do & in a compatible manner.
December 27th, 2005 at 10:37 am
awesome! and now, if only laptop manufacturers in the united states did the same… i’d probably line up for the first piece.
December 27th, 2005 at 11:01 am
Since Dell sell there Laptops/PCs to Middle east from UK production lines, does this mean they will ship firefox to outside UK also !!? :)
December 27th, 2005 at 12:10 pm
You have to use IE to do a manual windows update. However, for less computer savvy users who may just use firefox because it’s the shortcut on their desktop, they may not know to update their IE every so often. And of course, unless your IE is the most recent version, it will force you to update, check your active x controls, and then put you through the “windows verification” process, all of which adds about 10 minutes to the updating process. It’s extremely annoying, I wish they would make it compatible with firefox.
December 27th, 2005 at 1:59 pm
Yes, it’s a nice addition which cost Dell nothing and will force non-tech-savvy customers to use a better and more secure browser which will financially benefit both Dell and their customers. But I take Claire’s Message #14 point and it is an important one by implication. Dell is shipping FF as an alternative (not a replacement) to IE on MSFT Windows-based operating systems. As long as the customer is using a MSFT operating system, customers are forced to switch to the IE browser in order to get MSFT’s monthly critical patches/updates. I am not maligning Dell - I feel they are just as lousy as most of the other OEM’s that customise MSFT operating systems to suit the OEM’s marketing desires. I only wish to express a view that they have started to do this to cut their own costs far more than any particular desire to benefit the customer. I’m based in the US nowadays and, suffice to say, Dell’s UK operation is quite more responsive in working with customers in England than Dell is in their home market. It is my hope that, with the release of Vista and IE #7, out of self-interest and that of their customers, Microsoft will buckle down on all of the OEM’s that ship the Windows o/s and begin disallowing them such “customisation” liberties with their operating system. This will benefit all - particularly customers of MSFT Windows-based operating systems who could then as easily turn to Microsoft for help directly - til that day, these customers are forced to turn to unresponsive OEM’s with little self-interest in helping their retail customers out.
December 27th, 2005 at 2:40 pm
Dunno about UK Dells, but US ones are rediculously overloaded with bundleware. Installing Firefox is a matter of seconds while getting rid of it or mccafee or AOL is real pain and system is left with a ton garbage in program files & registry.
December 27th, 2005 at 5:07 pm
I think its good start but one has to keep reminding people behind the Firefox that there is still lot of work to do with firefox. In my experience, there are lots of websites which are not optimised for firefox (and other browsers, maybe its not the browser developers faults, may be internet technologies still needs some standardisation) and some of the features will not work under firefox. But as an alternative to the customers its good step, keeping in mind some customers may not like Dell deciding which software they want to use. I think there should be easy to follow wizards with each new pc/laptop/servers offering the customers options about Browser, anti virus and security software. But I may be talking something for an ‘ideal world’; manufacturer/suppliers may have their own ideas, as they always have.
December 28th, 2005 at 12:53 am
Its The coolest thing to happen to computers.Its sign of things to come and maybe sometime in the future we will get thunderbird ,google desktop search also.Microsoft beware the future’s bright
the future’s firefox and more generaly open source.
December 28th, 2005 at 7:48 am
FF rocks but what is so special for Dell to ship cost-free products?
I would rather appreciate if they would bundle software which would provide a real value-add such as the very cool software www.maxivista.com
It allows using a laptop as a monitor.
Sirius
December 31st, 2005 at 3:54 am
@paavan: Beware of Google. I wouldn’t like to get a new PC bundled with any Google software. Imho Google is world’s data collector #1.
January 2nd, 2006 at 11:44 pm
That is so good that Dell is having Firefox installed with it’s computers when they are shipped in the U.K. Gotta start somewhere.
SolutionBound
July 2nd, 2006 at 3:33 pm
Awesome! One of the best things to happen to computers in quite a while!
“I would rather appreciate if they would bundle software which would provide a real value-add such as the very cool software www.maxivista.com
It allows using a laptop as a monitor.”
Which would be great and all for you, but I don’t think dell wants to buy bulk quantities of a program like that when many users will just uninstall it, since they won’t be using it. I, for one, don’t even have a laptop, and I don’t think that the general public would ever really use it, so it’s not a real ‘value-add’ if you ask me.
“Dunno about UK Dells, but US ones are rediculously overloaded with bundleware.”
I know what you mean. I got a dell, and, lo and behold! I don’t want to use AOL. I’ve had it and been deleting AOL for six months and I did a little cleaning up a few days ago, and found about 20 more files. If the general public doesn’t mind it, then good for firefox, but if most people share the disdain for programs like that that I do, it’s not exactly portraying firefox in a positive light. Hopefully dell will get rid of some of the junk in the future, but I don’t see any reason that they would.
“I think there should be easy to follow wizards with each new pc/laptop/servers offering the customers options about Browser, anti virus and security software.”
The problem with that is that the general public would likely stick with IE. Even though Firefox might be a much better all-around browser, many people would not know that, and would stick with what they’ve always used, and probably never even try firefox.
November 18th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
Microsoft are awful, there O/S are slow and sluggish and take up far to much space! I’m glad that companies are finally steering away from the Microsoft monopoly and installing Firefox instead.