MESSAGE
| DATE | 2005-05-13 |
| FROM | From: "Inker, Evan"
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] IBM backs Firefox in-houseBy Martin LaMonica, CNET News.com
|
IBM backs Firefox in-house
By Martin LaMonica, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: May 12, 2005, 9:00 PM PT
IBM is encouraging its employees to use Firefox, aiding the open-source Web
browser's quest to chip away at Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
Firefox is already used by about 10 percent of IBM's staff, or about 30,000
people. Starting Friday, IBM workers can download the browser from internal
servers and get support from the company's help desk staff.
IBM's commitment to Firefox is among its most prominent votes of confidence
from a large corporation. Based on development work by the nonprofit Mozilla
Foundation, Firefox has been downloaded by more than 50 million people since
it debuted in November. Internet Explorer still dominates the overall market
by far, though, with Firefox's share in the single digits.
For IBM, the move is a significant step in lessening dependence on a product
from rival Microsoft.
By supporting Firefox internally, IBM is also furthering its commitment to
open-source products based on industry standards, said Brian Truskowski,
chief information officer at IBM.
"This is a real good example of walking the talk when it comes it comes to
open standards and open source," Truskowski said.
Because Firefox is based on industry standards--as opposed to proprietary
technology--IBM has some "comfort" that it will interoperate well with
third-party products, Truskowski said. By contrast, Microsoft's Internet
Explorer uses some proprietary technology, such as ActiveX for running
programs within a browser.
"What I will avoid is anything that is propriety in nature," Truskowski
said.
The company is training its help-desk staff on Firefox and certifying that
internal applications will work with the browser, he said.
Truskowski expects that Firefox will ultimately end up costing IBM less than
IE because the company can use open-source additions to Firefox. "I hope in
making a small investment up front, I can leverage that innovation going
forward," he said.
Stacy Quandt, an analyst at the Robert Frances Group, said that IBM's
endorsement of Firefox internally aligns with the company's strategy of
backing open-source products based on standards. It may also give other
companies reason to "pay attention to" Firefox and see it as an alternative
to Internet Explorer.
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