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The Migration
It is a trend that is catching on and hopefully will become global. This trend is the migration from Microsoft Internet Explorer to a better browser. After years of trying to convince technologically inept relatives to stop using Internet Explorer, computer geeks worldwide may finally rejoice as they have something new to back up their words. The German and French Governments!
The French government joined Germany today in advising to its citizens to stop using IE and migrate to another browser. Hopefully this will mean a large jump in the amount of Firefox users this month 
The announcements come after a recent admission by Microsoft that there is a serious security problem that can be found not only one version but in numbers 6, 7, and 8!
Internet security company McAfee pointed out this security vulnerability in Internet Explorer, which allowed hackers in China to attack Google, Adobe and a large number of other companies, including Yahoo and Northrop Grumman.
While Microsoft is working on a fix for the problem, I believe that this is a big, and potentially critical blow to the company and will encourage a large number of people to migrate away from the browser permanently.
My next thought is this… How do we take advantage of this in the Mozilla Community and help people make the right choice when looking for another browser? Not only that, but how do we encourage other governments to follow the German lead and get them to advise people to steer clear of the browser?
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I have to admit it, this is fantastic news. Perhaps more so for Chrome and Google as a whole than for Mozilla, but I believe I’m right in saying that this is unprecedented; for not one but two governments to reccomend so strongly that their people get rid of IE is probably the best opportunity Mozilla has had to increase awareness of Firefox.
However, I can’t see that Mozilla will do better out of this than Google – Google is better placed to capitalise on this opportunity for a number of reasons. They have, relative to Mozilla, a vast marketing budget, and are, most importantly, a trusted household name (I know, Mozilla isn’t completely unknown, but when compared to Google…).
Ah well, our enemy’s enemy and all that…
The answer is: you don’t take advantage of that. People either see the value and switch, or they don’t. Forcing something “good” down their throat will not help. It’s time for FOSS community to grow up and read “Permission marketing” (many years old book by Seth Godin).
Instead of taking advantage of others’ issues, focus on making Firefox faster (not on Mozilla’s benchmarks but from Average Joe’s perspective), less crashy, less bloated (oh, sorry, that is called “extensibility” now) and on par with great new features in Chrome. And, and, fix that idiotic screen that scares the holy shit out of people when sites use self-signed SSL sertificates. Time to grow up, Mozilla. It is 2010.
Okay, now as a committed community member, I disagree with some of what you have said and the way in which you put your point across, but I am still allowing it because you do have a point…. We don’t want to force Mozilla down peoples throats. (Note Google seem to be doing this with chrome…).
I also agree to a point with the self-signed SSL certificates however, there is a reason behind that, maybe we need to dumb the alert a little.
As for other points in your comment, I am not going to be petty and pick at each one with a fine tooth comb, but I will say this… Each to their own, as long as it is not Internet Explorer
That anonymous coward talks about things I’ve never come across, and I swapped from IE to Firefox years ago. I have only once had a crash/lock-up which was due to an update of Flash, never had a scary screen, never have I seen Firefox not start up quickly compared to IE, which is dreadful, and the newer versions start up really quickly, on my PC within 5 seconds to my home page.
And as for browsing speed there is no comparison, all you have to do is install Firefox and try it for yourself. The add-ons are a fantastic idea and it is safe to use, I have not yet had a virus since I dumped IE, which allowed a virus through and prompted me to change reluctantly to Firefox all those years ago.
That guy must be using a really old version or something for him to say that it is slow! Either that or he/she is just an avid fan of IE (as I used to be) and refuses to see the light and to see sense, either way it is time to grow up Anonymous Coward, it is after all 2010.
You’ve never seen Firefox crash, so there’s no way it can? You serve as an a excellent example of a manner with which one should NOT use inductive logic in, lest one appears like a fool. And to top it off, you’re even shameless enough to tell other people to grow up. What a hoot.
Firefox has crashed nonstop for my housemate since the 3.5.7 upgrade, that he now has to use Chrome. As for me, it’s always a miracle when Firefox starts up in less than 30 seconds (I’m now on Opera). So yeah, sing all the praises you want, but just because you refuse to acknowledge Firefox’s flaws doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
I am going to say one thing to those who are reading this post. I respect everyone has a different opinion and different experiences. I will continue to allow comments that are contrary to what I think as this is a god given right that you can speak your mind. This is not however, the way I intended this comment thread to end up, but it is nice to get feedback (good or bad).
But please… do not bicker on my blog
As an open source company, and as an economic company in general, advertising without spreading FUD would be the best manner of business. Try to ignore IE in your comparisons, and instead show what is different in Fx than in Chrome, Opera, and Safari. Not mentioning IE can help when a person wants to completely leave IE, and mentioning other browsers allows for people to make browser comparisons easier. Increase knowledge and understanding of the market. That is the best that can be done.