Dell Pre-Installing Firefox in UK

seizer writes "Blake Ross, creator of Firefox, has confirmed on his blog that Dell are now shipping Firefox on all desktop and laptop machines in the UK. While rumours had been floating around before this, and UK buyers had been reporting that 1.0.6 came pre-installed, this is the first official confirmation of Dell's decision. Is the US next?"

Pictures??

[Klanglor]

Anyone seen the version? is it with a custom dell skin? just currious.

Re:1.5 is out?

[brontus3927]

Or at the very least 1.0.7 which has been the latest 1.0.x version out for a while now.

Re:Great First Step

[Anonymous Coward]

They can't "buck" Microsoft by installing Firefox as IE is still installed. It's just giving users an alternative version to use.

This is a carefully weighted decision based on its ease of support for Dell's staff. Hence we're more likely to see Firefox as a default install, along with iTunes, Realplayer, Winzip and goodness knows what else before we'll ever see Linux offered on the desktop. In any case 99% of prospective Dell buyers don't want Linux on it anyway, and would probably moan that it wasn't Windows if they did choose it...

Dell: I would buy a pre-installed Linux laptop

[Morgaine]

perhaps the day is coming when they will openly and consistently offer Linux on their desktop machines

Well, in case Dell is listening, I am one customer for a Dell laptop with Linux pre-installed (the model that has nVidia graphics, as ATI is totally hopeless with OpenGL).

I always install my own Linux systems on desktops, but laptops are somewhat different to desktops in that they often have custom features that aren't covered well (or at all) by standard Linux distros.

A Dell Linux-based laptop with all its hardware features supported would be a very welcome product.

This is very bad news for Microsoft

[IntelliAdmin]

If Dell does this all over the world it will have a large impact on IE browser numbers. This is the single largest reason IE/Windows has the largest install base. Think how good Firefox needed to be to get people to take the time and download, install and use over IE. Now it is there by default? Man that will be powerful.

Re:Sounds like a step in the right direction...

[KingPunk]

you wouldnt happen to have any instructions on how to go about, removing explorer, msie, etc. straight from the windows kernel, would you? because, it is totally integrated into windows. if you remove ie, you remove explorer, and your windows os, is totally useless. thats half of the problem there. ...the only way to go about what you're saying you did with your superhuman geekboy strength and "l33tn3ss" is by using a shell replacement, which most people cannot tolerate, or even use functionally. props to you, for trying to be cool though! i'd do my research next time.

Same way with Netscape back in the day..

[ModernGeek]

..back in the day, computers came with Netscape and MSIE installed. You'd see infomercials saying, "This computer comes with the two leading internet browsers. Netscape and Internet Explorer, so that you can choose which you'd like to use". It will just start bringing more competition to the table for MSIE. I feel bad because I remember in those days recommending that people uninstall Netscape and use IE.

already do this

[brontus3927]

As a small system builder, I've been doing this since Firefox 1.0.1

When I sell a machine, I install the latest version of Windows, firefox, WinAMP, Norton AV, and OO.o (unless they "upgrade" to MS Office) and set firefox & WinAMP as defaults. I also offer a "bonus" CD with competing products such as Opera, RealPlayer, MusicMatch, and iTunes, and clear, conside directions on how a user would uninstall the software on the computer and replace it with what's on the CD. I also make sure the latest patches, updates, drivers, and virus definitions are installed.

Of course, I also sell linux boxes priced at the cost of Windows and Norton less than the Windows boxes. For those I just deliver the machine completely clean.

Eleven years ago

[ReinoutS]

OS/2 Warp was pre-installed on the machines from large retailers (typically Escom or Vobis). This was almost one year before Windows 95 was released. We all know how that story ended.

OK, the configuration of OS/2 on those machines (often 486DX2 with 4MB of RAM) was particularly crappy, sharing a FAT partition with DOS and Windows 3.1, but all I'm saying is that pre-installation doesn't imply mass adoption yet.

Hey, tell 'em to call me when I can buy bare metal

[mmell]

It'd make my eyes really twinkle if I didn't have to pony up an extra c-note just to remove the preinstalled OS.

If I want Windows (which I might), I'll purchase a Genuine Windows CD; uh, that is, when they get the x_64 version working. It's in Microsoft Beta - that is, what the rest of us would call Alpha. SuSE 10.0 did a better job of recognizing my hardware right "out of the box", while the XP x_64 not only missed two cards, but refused to install the vendor-supplied (32-bit) drivers for the cards.

So, just for my sins, I now have an AMD x_64 machine running a 64-bit aware OS with application code compiled to take advantage of x_64 architecture. This begs the question - why does <insert hardware vendor name> trundle a 32-bit OS with 64-bit hardware?

Who is Feeding Who?

[SuperKendall]

But is it wise to slap the hand that feeds you?

We'll find out if Microsoft tries anything. Dell sells a huge volume of servers and other computers to businesses, and if they really threw their hat in the ring in regards to Linux (or even Open Office!) it could actually make a dent in Microsoft.

There used to be a lot more players in the market in regards to windows box purchases but Dell is really a leader in the market now, and tough for Microsoft to really influence as much anymore.

Re:Same way with Netscape back in the day..

[Ucklak]

In those days, you could buy the browsers off the shelf for $40-$50 bucks (or download them for free like the rest of us).

And before DVD's hit mainstream, remember those VCD's in the computer stores? There was always that computer demo "Minds Eye" or something like that and Lawnmower Man.

my dad just bought a new dell, FF on desktop

[fiddlesticks]

Yep. Much to my surprise, my dad's new Inspiron 1300 came with Firefox on the desktop

Default home page was google uk

bookmarks were dell and a coupla other weird OEM ones.

Lying down, all right.

[dhasenan]

Microsoft's income based on IE is negligible if not negative. It costs them absolutely nothing for Dell to preinstall Firefox; the only cost is altering the Windows Update site to allow for both browsers--which they're doing anyway.

Eventually, MS might reach a deal with the Mozilla Foundation to bundle Firefox with Windows, saving them the expense of maintaining IE. Then everyone wins--the users get a better browser and a more secure OS; Microsoft's reputation improves all around; Firefox spreads further; and website designers get redesign their sites to support standards and nix ActiveX controls.

Where's the problem?

Re:Default browser?

[CarpetShark]

Agreed. It's whether it's being shipped as the default browser, maybe even with IE disabled, that matters.

I'm actually surprised that the big PC builders haven't done this before. To me, it makes absolutely no sense to sell computers to the public, have them filled with viruses in a day, and then have the users bring them back to be fixed. You can make money off a bit of that, I guess, but when it's happening on virtually every windows PC sold that connects to the net? It'd be a nightmare.

Putting firefox on there is the only sane option, and it's only the first of many fundamental flaw fixes necessary to sell Windows PCs fit for an average user.