October 22, 2006 at 03:40"Private browser" like private business
A growing number of Western firms are allowing their employees to install Firefox on their production computers , and analysts predict that the recent release of Internet Explorer 7 will only increase the popularity of the free browser.
A JupiterResearch study shows that 44% of private firms with 250 or more employees allow their employees to download a browser from Mozilla Corp. In 2005, only 26% of firms did this.
“Such a sharp increase in popularity over a short period of time is unusual,” said Joe Wilcox, an analyst at JupiterResearch, in an interview with TechWeb. He associates it with the fact that employees primarily need applications that, when installed, do not affect other programs on the computer. In addition, Firefox has long been popular, there are certain possibilities, in particular - the tabs (tabs), which were not in Internet Explorer 6 on the Microsoft .
The difference in capabilities was almost eliminated this week when a new version of IE was introduced, however, many companies postpone its installation until Vista is officially introduced (Microsoft promises to provide a corporate version of this operating system in November). The reason is the weak integration of IE 7 with Windows XP: installing a browser on this version of Windows requires careful testing for compatibility with office applications. Instead of double checking this, companies prefer to wait for Vista.
Analysts say that switching to a new OS will take corporate customers about a year or more.
Many users who install IE 7 on their home computer through the automatic update service will experience some inconvenience. Without the ability to install the same version on a working computer, they will want to switch to Firefox.
Despite the trend of increasing popularity of Firefox in the corporate field, it is unlikely that this browser will be able to defeat Internet Explorer in the "browser race." The data provided by various research agencies vary, but the alignment is approximately clear: in October 2006, IE occupies 82-86% of the market, Firefox - 11.5-12.5%.
A JupiterResearch study shows that 44% of private firms with 250 or more employees allow their employees to download a browser from Mozilla Corp. In 2005, only 26% of firms did this.
“Such a sharp increase in popularity over a short period of time is unusual,” said Joe Wilcox, an analyst at JupiterResearch, in an interview with TechWeb. He associates it with the fact that employees primarily need applications that, when installed, do not affect other programs on the computer. In addition, Firefox has long been popular, there are certain possibilities, in particular - the tabs (tabs), which were not in Internet Explorer 6 on the Microsoft .
The difference in capabilities was almost eliminated this week when a new version of IE was introduced, however, many companies postpone its installation until Vista is officially introduced (Microsoft promises to provide a corporate version of this operating system in November). The reason is the weak integration of IE 7 with Windows XP: installing a browser on this version of Windows requires careful testing for compatibility with office applications. Instead of double checking this, companies prefer to wait for Vista.
Analysts say that switching to a new OS will take corporate customers about a year or more.
Many users who install IE 7 on their home computer through the automatic update service will experience some inconvenience. Without the ability to install the same version on a working computer, they will want to switch to Firefox.
Despite the trend of increasing popularity of Firefox in the corporate field, it is unlikely that this browser will be able to defeat Internet Explorer in the "browser race." The data provided by various research agencies vary, but the alignment is approximately clear: in October 2006, IE occupies 82-86% of the market, Firefox - 11.5-12.5%.