Enterprise Firefox Can Live Happily With IE

Emergent Value in Firefox
Firefox is emerging as a:

• Developer Platform
• Extensions for the Web Developer like Firebug, LiveHTTP Headers, WebDev Toolbar etc are ideal for the Web2.0 developer of any organization.
• The Browser itself can be enhanced through Addons. Integration with other desktop components and the potential there has barely been tapped.
• Productivity Platform
• Knowledge Workers spend significant amount of time interacting with web-based information. The niceties of Firefox tabs, bookmarks, integrated search, and all the other things we already recognize as award-winning implementations within the browser keep us productive. The next opportunity is in Extensions that focus on creating efficiencies and improving productivity for busy people in a busy work environment. These will create significant value for Enterprises. Large firms are willing to pay for such things too...

IE in the Enterprise
In my humble opinion, Internet Explorer is a more mature Enterprise-scale Browser because:

• Microsoft invests in Enterprise features such as
• GPO settings management
• Centrally managed Active-X whitelisting capabilities to control what Addons are allowed to live in IE
• Microsoft is familiar and accessible
  
• The patch process is well understood by engineers and is consistent with other Microsoft products that are as incumbent in large firms
  
• Support - you can open cases with Microsoft around enterprise issues and someone is paid to address your inquery
• Microsoft reaches out to large firms and asks how they can improve their product
• Efforts around IE have been revitalized and they've begun to really listen
  
• They have the resources to not just listen
• They dealt with enterprise customers regularly and hence they understand the requirements
  
• They are also a very friendly and brilliant group of people

"So what?" you say. "Firefox is still a better browser!" you say. "Look at IE7!!". "Who cares about Enterprise anyway?".

It pays to be Enterprise-friendly

• Large firms train people on how to use the tools made available to them in their workplace because the work force needs to be proficient and hence efficient, and productive. For non-techies, ease of use is directly related to familiarity. Product A may be 10x better than Product B but if I'm proficient with Product B I will install and use Product B at home.
  
  Enterprise Users are influenced by Enterprise Software when choosing how to be Home Users. The choice does not always exist when moving in the reverse direction. This is not because Corporate IT is evil but because most User-preferred software simply does not meet the criteria for firm-wide deployment and is hence too much of a risk for pocket deployments as well. See my post entitled "Why Vendors don't get Enterprise 2.0" for a more in-depth discussion on what it means to be Enterprise-friendly.
• Developing with the Enterprise in mind forces you to make better Architecture and Design decisions. Simply put, you wind up with a more robust, more secure, and a more flexible, manageable product. Home Users can appreciate this too.
• Enterprise is a dependable source of revenue. Open Source is no exception. There is vast opportunity in offering support, training, and consulting services to large firms who, more than ever, are in a buy-vs-build mode.
• The "large Firm" world is a different world and will innovate around a product in very unpredictable and oftentimes very valuable ways.

Firefox in the Enterprise
Most Fortune 500 companies don't have much experience dealing with Open Source software vendors. Mozilla Corp is especially interesting because like Google, money to pay for a staff of 80-something people (correct me if I'm wrong) comes from online ad revenue referrals via the integrated search feature. Home Users, due to sheer volume, generate significant revenue from this source. Mozilla Corp is not in the business of selling software. On one hand, it can be argued that the evolution of the project itself is revolutionary and that it is what it is today because of it. On the other hand, it itches to ask if the story around adoption for Enterprise customers would have been a rosier one if Mozilla did make money from Licensing or Support fees. In short, there's a disconnect between revenue and product and hence a lack of accountability for the components that big firms demand and are used to paying for.

Free comes with a price. I would imagine that this makes Fortune 500s uneasy.

It is completely understandable that in the last few years Mozilla has been preparing for the Firefox 2 release in competition with IE7. This competition happens on a Home User's playground. For Mozilla Corp, user base is directly related to revenue. For Microsoft, Enterprise licensing fees make up a significant portion of revenue, plus they are the incumbent player - they can afford to add value in areas that Mozilla has not gotten around to yet.

These areas are:

• Enterprise Settings Management -
  
• How do we flip a setting on every Desktop in the event of a vulnerability?
• How do we prevent users from altering settings that are deemed risky?
• How can we enable and lock Security Zone-like implementation in Firefox?
• Granular Addon Management -
  
• How can we prevent a user from installing or uninstalling an extension without having to compile extensions into the browser itself?
• How do we internalize extension repositories so we can "Bless" extensions before our users get to them?
• How can we disable an extension or plugin on all desktops in the event of an emergency?
• Patch management -
  
• How do we not have to recompile and repackage Firefox every single time a critical vulnerability is released? (For large firms with a 3-6 month turnaround time for patches, aggressive patch releases by the vendor is not always a good thing!)
• Can Firefox installations take advantage of self-repair (an MSI feature)?
• Can we get MSI installers?
  
• Maintenance, Support
• We're on our own --
  

The truth is that those of use dealing with Enterprise deployment challenges are verbalizing the following: "How can we get Firefox's enterprise capabilities to be on par with those of IE?"

Sympathetic Souls
Firefox is the embodiment of Wikinomics-driven success. All this moaning and complaining is out of love, really.

The Enterprise Work Group around Firefox being shaped is a real thing. Community Incubation of Firefox is already a success story - now we just need to collectively learn how to involve the true Enterprise players.

Bring Enterprise to Firefox
One of the goals of the Enterprise Work Group is to create a resource, a support network, an Enterprise-level Community Incubator, really, for Firefox and the Enterprise-scale firms that recognize the aforementioned emergent benefits. It is also being established to apply unified pressure on Mozilla to rally around Enterprise needs. To be fair, there is no reason for Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera to not be on the discussion table. "Enterprise Browsers Work Group" is really where I think we should end up but as with most things, progress comes from taking baby steps.

As was mentioned in my previous post (and Mike Kaply's post), we want this effort to be organic and inclusive and hence anonymous. We want to break down the walls that have historically prevented the firms that have the potential to be most influential in shaping core products from participating in community-driven projects. If you choose to participate, please help us respect the anonymity of participants -- at least until we all harmoniously come to a point where even this wall is no longer necessary.

Bring Firefox to Enterprise
The aforementioned benefits are very powerful motivators for decision makers in large firms to consider bringing Firefox into their environment. In fact, today most proposals will be driven by the Development Platform point. I personally don't like this selling point because I don't believe that it is solid enough to penetrate beyond IT pockets within an organization nor strong enough to solicit the required attention to the Enterprise features.

Bring Firefox in as a Contingency Browser
In software and infrastructure development and planning, the word "Enterprise" usually implies that availability, fail-over, and redundancy have been considered. Business-critical systems and processes demand it.

If the Web/Enterprise 2.0 revolution is taking place (and it is) and the most tangible evidence is in the proliferation - or migration from Desktop apps to - Rich Internet Applications, why are large Enterprises satisfied with a single browser?

For every IE installation on a Desktop there should be an installation of Firefox for those rare occasions when a critical vulnerability to an ActiveX control turns RSS-syndicated-to-millions-of-hackers-exploit with attack vectors sold on Ebay or traded on MySpace and you're forced to push out a policy that at best disables that ActiveX control bringng down a business process that your most prolific business unit depends on or at worst forces you to prevent IE from launching, period. Ask around, it happens.

I prefer to simply fail over to Firefox.