Why should Dell preinstall Firefox?

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Agree!

IE is rubbish. Preinstalling Firefox will be the best decision Dell has made and will attract numerous purchasers. If Dell really does it, I will consider buying a Dell laptop when I go to college.

I love Firefox.

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It's kinda obvious - if Dell doesn't preinstall Firefox, people are just going to download it anyway!

And I can guarantee you that there are tons of Internet Explorer users out there who don't bother updating IE because they are too lazy. With Firefox, you just click "update" and everything works! And, of course, patches for bugs are quickly created by the Mozilla team!

Check me out at the PC World Community Voices Blog

I think it's a fantastic idea to preinstall Firefox on Dell computers.  Since they had between 18% and 19% of the market in the second quarter of 2006, it can only get bigger and better. Send a message to Bill, and let him know that Firefox works SO much better than Winblows. I had to use Windows for my online courses at ITT, and I also signed up for Qwest's email broadband.  It came with MSN Premium, and when I installed it, it downloaded IE 7. What a mistake. Every other page would lock up my computer, and I was attacked with 3 attempts to infect my computer with a Trojan. THAT never happened with Firefox.

Hutch

I think that both Dell and Mozilla would benefit from this, because if Dell did pre-install Firefox then the whole Firefox community and Mozilla will promote Dell PCs. And on the other hand all the PCs that Dell sell that have Firefox pre-installed will increase Firefox's market share. So both companies will come out on top.  Besides, if they done it for Ubuntu Linux then why not Firefox? 

 ~ DrewMac
 

Why shouldnt Dell preinstall Firefox? I remember back in the day when both Netscape and IE were installed giving the consumer an option. Same idea applies here I would think. Instead of installing all that additional software that no one wants, and Im sure I am correct in saying no one; install something useful to the consumer. All that additional software just takes up space and having it all start up at boot is just plain rude. Get rid of Quicken, zone guard, etc. Those are after market products and if the consumer wants them, they will buy them. A web browser is software that should come preinstalled, so give us those options. Firefox, IE , Opera etc.

... so they want to make money.

In this regard, pre-installing Firefox would be a good deal if they could work out a revenue share with the Mozilla Foundation and with Google for a share of Adsense revenue.

Of course, all the other reasons like customer satisfaction, security etc would be excellent by-products that would have an important (albeit less tangible) impact for Dell.

Dell can take that one step further with Community Edition to pre-install AdBlock Plus with an Easylist subscription. Or any of the other minimum tweaks that draw people to the mozillazine forums. That way they can brand it with dell propaganda logos and whatnot.


- ErrorZilla Mod
- some dell specific UserStyles (Stylish)
- dell specific UserScripts (Greasemonkey)
- Give the option to switch to one of the many themes that look similar to IE  (no, don't really)

Take this fantastic opportunity to protect your ignorant userbase with some great IE tools after removing IE from the desktop, and all start menus.  Or at least simple AdBlocking http://shurl.org/moc.orp7ei.murof .   Also remove the evil that is Outlook Express and replace it with the awesomeness of Mozilla Thunderbird!

Include the option to license the amazing Disruptor antispam product for Microsoft Outlook when custom builds tick that software pre-install

Create a dell support extension with dell tag info to start a support chat from the firefox  Bookmarks Toolbar.  Create extensions to highlight dell deals.  Don't abuse the great potential good of extensions by creating wicked add-ons like ShortShip Pro.  Always require opt-in and informed consent.  Use your market power to set a good example of charity, responsibility, and innovation.

When I worked for my mate in his computer shop, I installed Firefox on all the machines that came in for repair.  Great news for us at SpreadFirefox.com but not so for him as the amount of spyware ridden PCs that came in started to drop!

So come on Dell, not only will it help us but it'll make your PCs look even better due to the drop in spyware etc that gets installed!

Don't give up everyone, we will win!

Chris

It's the best browser, so many great features, better css rendering, better xhtml support etc.

I am a web developer.

All the reasons mentioned by others and specifically:

- Free Promotion of Dell: We at SpreadFirefox are a large group of tech savvy computer users. Friends, family and colleagues come to us to ask which computer they should buy. Dell would benefit enormously from our community spreading the word about Dell and recommending Dell (at no cost to Dell).

- Respect for the Customer: Providing customers with the choice of a high quality, standards compliant, browser shows that Dell respects the customer. It would imply that Dell thought carefully about which software would actually benefit users and is not merely a channel for large software vendors to push their products.

Listening to your customers is a very good start, Dell has been scoring points in my book the last few months. In fact both my computers are from Dell. Keep it up!

Otto

Firefox is leading the way with new features.  Microsoft, the manufacturer of Dell's current browser, agrees, as can be seen by how they've "borrowed" and integrated two of Firefox 1's best features, tabbed browsing and built-in search engine, into Internet Explorer 7.

There are quite a few reasons why Dell should pre-install Firefox on their machines:

1. Standardization
   The Mozilla Foundation uses the W3C standards for rendering their pages. Firefox displays every web page properly without the use of hacks. One site has even committed itself to dealing with browser hacks (positioniseverything.net) and the majority of the hacks covered are for IE. Along with hacks, Microsoft has gone their own way how their browser should render pages. Here is the result. (Web Standards Acid Test).
   
2. Security
   I know this was mentioned in an earlier post, but you can never be too secure, right? Firefox blocks pop-ups, pop-unders, some spyware, and in a future version, detect phishing! Last time I checked, IE just focused on pop-ups.
3. Speedy Updates and Fixes
   Ok, when there is a security breech or a major bug, not only is it fixed, the patches work! Enough said after all of the commotion recently with Skype. Along with the quick, reliable patches, users will always be notified when a new version of Firefox is available and it automatically installs the latest version...without the use of Dell support!
   
4. Firefox AddOns/Extensions
   This is the one that makes the most sense why Dell should pre-install Firefox on their machines. I could seriously see Dell creating their own extension and using that to update their machines. Based on what I've been reviewing for the past two years, the extension architecture, in my opinion, is what Firefox is all about. There are extensions out there that could completely replace some full-blown applications on my desktop.
   
5. It's not part of the operating system.
   (Sorry, I had to say that.)
   

I hope that this comment post and all of the other contributors to this post provided enough justification for Firefox to be preinstalled on Dell machines.

It just makes sense.

Jonathan Danylko
Home of Firefox Reviews (Fireday)
http//www.dcs-media.com/

   
In former times we had our 8-bit machines even built, which we programmed by ourselves . Afterwards came the home computers and later on those personal computers. People bought everything on finished products that are on the market. All the same whether it was good or bad.

Today those people will awake and think about what they want to use. The trend goes clearly toward to open source. Why shouldn't a computer manufacturer follow this trend and equip its hardware with good software? Open source offers all possibilities.

For years I am a satisfied user of Dell hardware in connection with good (open source) software and naturally with Firefox. A ready to run hardware with a good operating system and a good browser preinstalled would affect not only my next purchase decision substantially.

~peter

(I should write to Dell to discuss the benefits and marketing success by preinstalling good software)

As of August 22nd, the first 2 posts on Spread Firefox's main page not only mention, but praise Dell, and Dell hasn't even preinstalled Firefox yet!

If Dell could create this much buzz by simply considering preinstalling Firefox, imagine how much buzz Dell would create if they actually did it!

People occasionally ask me what PC I'd recommend. If Dell preinstalled Firefox, I'd be more likely to recommend Dell.

With powerful extensions and customizable options, preinstalling Firefox is a no-brainer!

This goes along with smalolepszy's opinion that the biggest reason people don't use Firefox is because they don't know about it.

About a month ago my 55-year-old uncle contacted me explaining that his computer, which happens to be a Dell, was running very slowly. I realized that by "computer" he probably meant "browser" because he mainly uses his computer to access the internet. I went to his house, installed Firefox, and told him to use Firefox to access the internet instead of "the blue e". Firefox imported all of his bookmarks, passwords, and settings from Internet Explorer with ease. It took him, a 55-year-old computer-fearing man, literally less than 30 seconds to get used to Firefox. With ease, he was using Firefox to browse the internet, visit his bookmarks, and check his email. He was amazed by how much faster his "computer" was.
Read the full story here

Dell, don't think that only tech-savvy people can use Firefox. Anyone can use it just as easily, if not more easily than Internet Explorer. And the people that do use Firefox will be amazed by how fast their "computers" are.

Dell, if i were you, I'd not consider this and just do it :) it'd be a big improvement and most of your customers will enjoy it better then IE. Its the best thing to do for those who have not seen the power of firefox.

Free custom designs
tutorials, downloads, and more

1. Dell, do the right thing. Firefox is independent, standard-compliant and great for both novice and experienced users. Simple enough to be well-suited for the new users, extensible enough to become a powerful tool for experienced ones.
   It's developed by an independent organization and its development and popularization are for the good of the Web and its users.
2. This is a bit of a generalization, but most of the non-Firefox users don't use Firefox not because they don't like it, but because they haven't heard of it (although I am aware that this is not the case for all of them, and I'm happy for those who have chosen some other browser as their preferred one). They probably haven't heard of any alternative browsers whatsoever, so preinstalling Firefox on Dell machines would be a way to show them that they have the right to choose and that they can use it.
3. Dell, ask your web devs how much time they spent on writing HTML/CSS/JS code and then, how much time they waste making it work with IE. You'll have yet another reason.

I installed some software for one of  my neighbours who has a dell system but I couldn't use IE7 so I installed firefox to do the downloading. When he tried using firefox after I'd finished he couldn't believe how fast it was and hasn't used internet explorer at all in seven months.

• Customer Satisfaction
  Most Dell customers would probably not be familiar with Firefox, but if Firefox was preinstalled, they would certainly go around saying things like "The internet is so much better on Dell computers. It's faster and it has all these cool features. You can even add all sorts of features to it, like ad blockers and weather notifications. The internet is so much slower and boring on other computers." [sic]
• Security
  By preinstalling Firefox, Dell would be able to market their computers as being much more secure than other computers. For example, Dell advertisements could say something like "Dell offers all customers the option to use either Internet Explorer or Firefox right out of the box. By using Firefox, you can be sure that overall system security will be greatly improved. Since no other manufacturer offers you this option out of the box, no other manufacturer can say their computers are as secure as Dells'."
• Buzz
  The internet is run by tech-savvy people. Tech-savvy people love Firefox. If Dell were to preinstall Firefox, blogs, websites, YouTube videos, and forum discussions all across the internet would make mention of Dell's move. Slashdot, digg, Engadget, and reddit, to name a few, would make an even bigger deal out it. Dell's decision to offer Ubuntu has generated alot of pro-Dell buzz. In appreciation, members of the Linux community have gone out of their way to help generate this buzz (see: storied I submitted to digg, and plenty of other people are doing the same or similar things). Realize that there are even more Firefox fans than there are Linux fans. They would definitely scratch Dell's back in return.

It is quite this simple: Firefox is clearly something people want. If Dell pre-installs Firefox then they will sell more machines. If they sell more machines they will make more money. 

This is the way it is supposed to work. Microsoft may have something to say about that though.

I used to set up computers for other people and the first thing I would alway do is remove visible traces of IE and prominently install another browser (back then it was Netscape). Today I would do the same with Firefox. If I were buying Dell machines with Firefox they would be saving me time and effort, which equates to money.

If they sold computers with Firefox I could tell people I know to just buy a Dell rather than having to intercept machines with IE and perform exorcisms on each one.

THE ONE BROWSER TO RULE THEM ALL

PHISHING TOOLBARS

HIGH PERFORMANCE

CUSTOMIZABLE...
 

Firefox comes with ADBLOCKERS.