Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Firefox release cycle hits warp factor 8

-Too fast for corporate use:

By releasing small, focused updates more often, we are able to deliver improved security and stability even as we introduce new features, which is better for our users, and for the Web.

We recognize that this shift may not be compatible with a large organization's IT policy and understand that it is challenging to organizations that have effort-intensive certification polices [But] tying Firefox product development to an organizational process we do not control would make it difficult for us to continue to innovate for our users and the betterment of the Web.

Kev Needham, Mozilla's channel manager, on computerworld.com.

Asa Dotzler, director of Firefox, puts it more bluntly:
I don't care about making Firefox enterprise-friendly.
computerworld.com again.

How will this affect corporate uptake of FOSS?
Mozilla has basically said that they aren't interested, at all, in corporate deployments. Oh good, a medium-sized business investigating a switch to FOSS now has a strong disincentive to make the switch. Mozilla's rejection of corporate deployments almost certainly hurts other FOSS projects, most notably Linux.
dasein, writing on the Debian forum.

What about Debian users? Squeeze came with Firefox 3.5- by the time Wheezy arrives, Mozilla could have issued Firefox 12. Well, Debian users can get the latest release from the Debian Mozilla team, as mentioned in a previous post.

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