Mozilla Firefox : Why businesses and users should adopt it for better ...

I’m a proven big-time fan of Mozilla Firefox and in this post I’d like to enlighten you about the same. So starting this post with a couple of things which I’d like to accomplish and what’s already accomplished in your minds :





Firstly, something about me :

I’m an IT enthusiast with more than 15 years of desktop experience at home. I do not convince people or prove things to them with statistics, pie-diagrams, charts, POC (proof-of-concept), etc which can literally be made understood with a simple blog post !


What I would like to prove with Firefox :

• It’s ready and meant for businesses. Can be deployed on a Corporate Network without any concerns.

• With speed and ease comes productivity and hence acceptance.

• Browser is not just about surfing across web-pages in this generation but beyond everybody!

• The per-user settings can be replicated onto another location or platform (i.e. OS).

• Requires the same amount of RAM as all of the prominent browsers today (I won't take names) varying across threaded and non-threaded applications.

The fallacies about Firefox :

• It’s not business ready. Cannot be deployed on a Corporate Network.

• It’s moreover a fancy browser and not meant for productive business.

• Requires a lot of RAM.

• We’ve seen it running only on Windows.

What do you gain personally if you use Firefox :

• The best possible web experience with the best possible speed.

• With the above, follows productivity and hence profit.

• Experience the innovation, flexibility and ease brought about by AddOns/Personas/Plugins developed on the most widely accepted platform.

• Searching your required data was never difficult with integrated Search Box with auto-suggestion.

So start your voyage my readers …


Starting with Corporate Networks, it’s moreover Internet Explorer because of the ease of deployment/availability (inherent with the OS), file/registry/profile virtualization across the organization and ease in update/hotfixes being pushed through your LAN by your IT Administrator. Add to it, a majority of service driven companies are supporting legacy applications of their clients on Internet Explorer 6 and they obviously cannot let these projects go. Now this makes them handicapped to look for other options. My take on this ..

• Regarding deployment, Firefox’s binary size is 8 MB (50% less than any prominent browsers existing now) and IT Administrators can pre-bundle it in their system-images/ghost-images.

• Regarding updates, it’s a one-way solution. Firefox doesn’t support push-updates across the network but supports direct updates via Internet from Firefox dedicated servers.

• If you feel you still cannot do without Internet Explorer browser on Windows platform then relax, I’ve got a solution for this in the form of AddOn. How about emulating IE’s page rendering in Firefox. (Read below regarding the same)

Features of Mozilla Firefox :

•  Fastest rendering of pages with a high-performance and optimized JavaScript engine. Smart tabs, design and options.

    >>> The only way you can convince yourself is by tasting it !

•  Inherent support for Add-Ons, plug-ins, download manager, bookmark organization, etc.

    >>> There are myriad of AddOns for all types of users. Check out the complete library Here. I'll put light on some must-have AddOns :

For developers/designers Here

For Yahoo/Gmail/MSN/POP3 E-Mail users Here

For Facebook users Here

For Twitter users Here

To run macros or automate your work Here

And the most-awaited one : For die-hard IE users, running IE on Firefox Here

•  Inherent support for Google/Yahoo/Wikipedia search with auto suggestion and query caching.  

    >>> Press Ctrl+E, type your search query and hit ENTER. For a subjective search on Wikipedia/Answers/Amazon/eBay, select the search provider right from the search box and hit ENTER.

•  Best possible rendering of HTML and xHTML. All standards compliant (including HTML5 and CSS3).

    >>> I do a bit of Web development & designing and you can take my word on this.

•  Available and runs flawlessly on all platforms (including Windows, Macintosh, Linux) since it's written in Python and Ruby.

    >>> Deploy per-user Bookmarks (also portable) on any PC in the organization with the advent of file/registry virtualization.

•  Smallest size of the Binary – 8MB.  

    >>> 50% less than any prominent browsers existing now.

•  Themes, known as Personas in Firefox hits your eyes well and thus making a lavish surfing experience.  

    >>> Myriad of Personas are available (Firefox 3.6 onwards). Check the entire library Here.

•  Shortcut keys on Firefox make life easier to the maximum possible extent.

    >>> Move over Ctrl+T (Open new Tab) and Ctrl+W (Close the current tab), there are many more. Ctrl + Shift + T – Open a recently closed Tab. Ctrl + U – To view the source code of the current page. And so on ...

•  All major parameters in Firefox are ' tweakable ' via its Advanced Settings (by default hidden).  

>>> Type ' about:config ' in the address bar and hit ENTER. Check out all the parameters.

Toggle browser.search.openintab – To open your search results in a new tab.


Toggle browser.tabs.closeWindowsWithLastTab – To keep Firefox running even when the last tab is closed.


Toggle browser.tabs.warnonclose – To make Firefox avoid asking for a confirmation when it is closed with many tabs running.


Toggle plugins.hide_infobar_for_missing_plugins – To avoid getting the irritating drop-down pop-up asking for a new plugin installation.


Type chrome://browser/content/hiddenWindow.xul in the address bar and hit ENTER  – To get an entire Firefox browser running under a tab.



Now having said about the ease-of-use and features which Firefox has, it obviously makes sense for all users and businesses to use Mozilla Firefox and leverage its power.

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Try Mozilla Firefox now :

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