First, Bush won. Well I kind of expected that and I don’t have much more to say but that the Democrats have to buck up and re-invent themselves.
Next, I was asked to uninstall Firefox from my computer. I kind of expected that too. After debating with the IT staff about IE’s security issues, how easy it was to use Firefox with tabbed browsing, zoom-in text and popup blockers, the answer was still: It’s policy. And besides, at least Micro$oft is fixing bugs. Who’s to guarantee that freeware like Firefox will have the same support?
Someone’s gone and de-linked me from his site because I write too much about US politics, OS X and soccer. Well actually that’s not a disaster. But I thought it would be nice to have at least three points in this post.
I’m not thinking any more.
Comments
firefox certainly fixes bugs because there are lots of people using it instead!!! sympathy sent your way.
The IT staff at your company must have been living in isolation all these time.
The argument that “at least Microsoft is fixing bug” is completely a proof that they have got no clue.
Sure MS is fixing bug, but how long? With Firefox, bugs can be fixed quickly by anyone in the community.
Too bad fighting stupid policy can be such a wasted time and effort.
I would seriously consider quitting…
…if I was faced with the same ignorant IT staff as Vanessa Tan was. The least I would do would be to question their qualifications and demand their immediate replacement. Next, I was asked to uninstall Firefox from my computer. I kind of expected tha…
They forgot one thing: Internet Explorer IS freeware! Why should Microsoft spend time fixing it?
Hello Vanessa,
I have the same problem. My company is IE only too and I can’t install Firefox or any other browser.
It’s annoying and terrible!!
Bye!
unfortunately, as hard as it sounds…policy is policy. if it wasn’t enforced, it wouldn’t be effective. there’s usually no point arguing with the staff who are simply carrying out the policy enforcement…a change needs to come from the top. “selling it to the management”, so to speak (and not in terms of “firefox is better”, but possibly playing the diversity and choice angle).
incidentally, does the company have a policy on USB pen/keychain drives? if they’re allowed, you could always have firefox running from the drive, rather than installing it locally on the machine (if that was the actual part of the policy infringement).
Hi Vanessa, i have not really tried this before, but its worth a try.
If you have those flash thumbdrive, you can install it inside. Plug it into PC that you want to use Firefox as browser.
I believe they may produce some errors but you may still can surf the web that way. I hope that will give ya some new idea. 🙂
Well, it’s never easy to do standardisation without putting some people off, be it browser related or not. When you work in an organisation, you just have to sacrifice some personal preference for the greater good.
Of course, you could argue that using Firefox IS for the greater good .. well, if all standardisation decisions are made only by technically competent engineers, do you think Windows servers would have made so much inroads into organisations? 🙂
ls
About USB Keys and Firefox, I have the same problem at my company (IE and generally MS products are Policy – I had to fight hard to get Dreamweaver for web development !).
Problem is : Firefox runs perfectly from my USB key at home, but from within the company it doesn’t work – the Firewall won’t let me through !!
Hi all, for those who wants to get Firefox to work in a USB key, here’s a link to the thread that teaches you how – http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=81759
Sorry for the double post, i have stumbled upon this link on page 28 of the thread i mentioned previously that leads you to a “portable Firefox” project. 🙂
http://johnhaller.com/jh/mozilla/portable_firefox/
Thanks guys for the tips/commiseration!
No firefox, poor thing !
I do understand that there are some companies has the policy , which not allow employees install software by themselves.