> -----Original Message----- > From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com [mailto:hardware- > boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of swzaske > Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 9:10 PM > To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com > Subject: Re: [H] firefox 3.5 > > There was a prominent news story several months back about a major > business being shown that Firefox is better than IE and the company > reps > responded that it was too expensive. After being told it was free they > still weren't interested in using it.
The product cost is quite frequently one of the least expensive components of a major project such as this. A large corporation might have hundreds or thousands of internal applications that must be tested for compatibility, and you can bet that a large portion of those will simply not work properly, necessitating either upgrading to a newer version (for purchased software) or updating the code for internally developed applications. Many of those might have teams that have been dissolved, and might require a complete re-write, or outright replacement. You'll have other applications that you simply can't replace that will lose functionality--for example, if you're an Exchange shop, then Outlook Web Access reverts to the much less robust basic mode when using a non-IE browser. (this is being addressed in Exchange 2010's OWA, however) Then there's support desk training, whole staff training, and ongoing support. There's figuring out how to do updates (this is one area where IE truly excels--Microsoft has spectacular tools in place to centrally manage updates for pretty much every major application they release), increased importance of in-house testing (it's unlikely that the Mozilla organization performs nearly the same level of regression and compatibility testing as Microsoft), and so on. I always find it amusing when people simply look at the price of the product and make what seems to be a one-point clear decision, without bothering to think through all of the things that might be required for anything more than a home network.
