IBM Makes Firefox Its Corporate Browser 152
e9th writes "Ars Technica reports that IBM has adopted Firefox as its company-wide browser. Firefox will be installed on all new employee computers, and all 400,000 employees will be encouraged to use it. Speaking of encouraging Firefox use, IBM VP Bob Sutor blogs: 'We will continue to strongly encourage our vendors who have browser-based software to fully support Firefox.' I hope this means that if IBM can't navigate a vendor's site with Firefox, they'll just look elsewhere."
Re:How will they manage it? (Score:5, Informative)
And will they please release the management utilities via open source?
From the article
A number of third-party tools have been developed over the years to simplify certain aspects of organization-wide Firefox roll-outs. One of those tools is the Client Customization Kit [google.com] (CCK), which was developed by Firefox modification consultant Michael Kaply while he was employed by IBM. Kaply still actively maintains the tool and released an updated version [kaply.com] for Firefox 3.6 in March. IBM is using it alongside other tools to ensure that its Firefox adoption plan goes smoothly.
IBM already has developed the initial version. CCK is currently Mozilla Public License 1.1 [mozilla.org] and I have not seen any notice that they're changing that so your question is answered.
K THX BYE
Anytime, brah.
Re:Great News for Companies Scarred by IE6 (Score:5, Informative)
¨P.S: I'm a Firefox fanboy.
Re:IBM tells Microsoft... (Score:3, Informative)
IBM sold the PC division (desktops and laptops) to Lenovo years ago.
Re:Encouraged to use it? (Score:4, Informative)
FTA:
IBM plans to roll it out to employees on new computers and will encourage its staff of 400,000 to use it on their existing systems.
Sounds like this will be a slow adoption if they are only setting it as the default browser on new computer systems and simply "encouraging" their installed base to use it. It probably does make sense to go slow like this with it, but it doesn't make for a sensational headline to say "IBM to slowly roll out firefox as the default browser as they replace hardware; encourages existing users to use firefox too".
As an IBM employee I can say that the Firefox install was recently pushed as a required update to existing machines, so not only new machines will be receiving it.
Re:I hope IBM listens to itself (Score:3, Informative)
Re:IBM tells Microsoft... (Score:5, Informative)
First off "IBM PC" is a brand name and that's what I was referring to, and you knew very well that's what I meant. Second.....
>>>The PC was invented by Apple
WRONG. The first personal computers were sold in the early 70s, and the most popular of those was the Altair (1975-77). The Apple I was not the first PC. ----- Then Radio Shack introduced the TRS-80 in 1976 and it quickly became the most popular computer up to that date (approximately 1 million sold), followed by the 1979 Atari 400/800 (1.5 million), and finally the Commodore 64 and Amiga 500 (30 million and 15 million respectively).
And now you know..... the Rest of the story. And you can erase that Steve Jobs 101 revisionist stuff from your mind. Apple I was not the first personal computer - the early 70s hobbyist computers were the first PCs.
Re:Great News for Companies Scarred by IE6 (Score:3, Informative)
Globally-installed extensions can't be uninstalled from the browser UI (see /. passim for the Sun & Microsoft extensions which highlighted this).
And if you're locking down a desktop, you can restrict r/w access to the Program Files hierarchy, and the registry bits that matter.
So, yes, it can be locked down.