Introduce at least 5 people to Firefox in 2009
Mikey 24 comments
I know how hard it can be to follow through on new years resolutions, so if you want an easy one that will take some of the self-guilt away, try this on for size.
If you're a Firefox evangelist, make it your new years resolution to introduce at least 5 people to Firefox in 2009. And I don't mean simply email them a link to getfirefox.com, I mean try a hands-on approach. Install it for them and download a few add-ons you know will excite them. And if you want to go the extra mile like I have, be their support line (within reason) in the event they have any questions or can't figure something out with Firefox.
My Firefox conversion rate is 100% for 2008, but it was easy for me because I know a lot of disgruntled Internet Exploiter users.
Every time you make a conversion, come back here and leave a comment below. Or even better, get the recently converted to comment instead. You can also spread the initiative via .
Happy converting!
Jim
Wednesday 24th December 2008 | 06:42 AMI think I've already converted everybody I know, at least the computer literate people I know... My mom will never get it... Though I have to admit I'm liking Google's Chrome... I use Chrome and the wife uses FF, that way we're not logging in and out of our gmail accounts constantly. I think that's the only way to share a computer...
Wendy W
Wednesday 24th December 2008 | 09:06 AMI've converted my whole family. Now I'll have to concentrate on work.
Greg
Wednesday 24th December 2008 | 09:32 AMI don't understand al the fuss about firefox (a browser is a browser right?) but I commend you for inspiring some people to set a new years resolution. Happy holidays.
...in response to this comment by Greg. Thanks Greg - If I knew who you were you would be on my conversion hit list for 2009 :-)
Happy holidays back at ya.
Gong
Wednesday 24th December 2008 | 03:36 PMi have shown many people the light over the years.
fixing their random stupid computer woes.
setting up networks for noobs
i don't do that crap anymore
Jim
Wednesday 24th December 2008 | 07:18 PM...in response to this comment by Greg. There's looking at the internet, and then there's browsing efficiently. IE is just there, FF can let you browse much more efficiently, and you can change browser behavior. AdBlock Plus is perhaps the biggest advantage to FF. "Look Ma, no ads!"
bobtentpeg
Thursday 25th December 2008 | 12:44 AMI converted my girlfriend, and she loves me for it :P
Introduced about 10 in 2008. I will see if I can break my record in 2009.
Jaquie S
Thursday 1st January 2009 | 07:39 PMThis is something I can get behind now I'm a committed user.
Alex
Wednesday 7th January 2009 | 08:25 AMI feel like a lot of people really don't understand that they have a choice when it comes to how they browse the internet, and many who know they have a choice either don't see any difference between Internet Explorer (excuse me, that's "Exploiter") and the "alternative browsers," or reject alternatives because of slight misgivings or small bugs.
Amazingly, I have already converted someone to Firefox this year, convincing her that it was more secure and efficient (ditto Jim) than IE. I guess that would mean I have four more to go!
...in response to this comment by Alex. Nice work Alex. 4 more and you can consider yourself a Firefox Evangelist :-)
Kevin Paterson
Monday 12th January 2009 | 06:24 AMAlready done! I installed FF on 12 machines at the office where I am technical support and held their hands all week. By the end I realised there were no more questions and the staff were just using it confidently.
Kim OJ
Monday 12th January 2009 | 07:07 AM...in response to this comment by Kevin Paterson. Good job! I only have one convert yet.
Well I had this resolution for 2008 and I'm happy to say I accomplished it well. For 2009, I plan to organize a contest kind of thing in my locality(Vasai, India). I hope it will spread firefox in more rapid manner. Have no concrete plan for it as of now but if I get it going will first announce on SFX.
Alex
Tuesday 3rd February 2009 | 07:46 AMI got my brother to switch to Firefox by brute force - I set it as the default browser and broke IE (simply by renaming iexplore.exe). :D
Froginator
Tuesday 3rd February 2009 | 04:40 PM...in response to this comment by Alex. I think its better to convince someone to switch to Firefox based on the merits of the browsrer. Brute force is, ironically, very Microsoft.
Rodney
Thursday 26th February 2009 | 09:19 PM...in response to this comment by Froginator. I just implemented something that's not quite brute force; more not-so-gentle persuasion.
I completed a CMS system for a non-paying customer (work I did for a friend), so there's no obligations. When you log in, it tells you, if you're using IE, that the pages will display better in Firefox. Every single page will tell the user, in a visible - but out of the way and non-intrusive location - that the page may display better in FF, with a link to FF.
...in response to this comment by Rodney. Nice work :-)
Foshiznay
Sunday 1st March 2009 | 02:11 PMFor me it is really hard to convert people to Firefox, but the techniques you wrote in this article seem like they may work, I might try it.
I certainly agree that you need to install some addons before someone uses firefox, I had some problems with IE before, and I downloaded firefox but didn't use it for a while because I didn't like the look of it, but later I got some themes & plugins and I'm a Firefox convert.
Daniella
Tuesday 3rd March 2009 | 01:28 AM...in response to this comment by Jim. Download CookieSwap - maintains two or more users on Firefox with their own cookies - so you'll be logged into your own gmail when you swap between users. Two clicks to swap between, and you can both use FF.
:p
...in response to this comment by Daniella. Thanks Daniella. I've not heard of that one and sounds pretty handy to have in a house with multiple users and only a single computer. I know some people who will get use from that.
Horstherbert35
Wednesday 4th March 2009 | 12:10 AMI tried to convince nearly everyone i know...
12 have changed so far...
The best arguments are still the Safety and the Addons wich can give you massive improvements in easy handling and other stuff.
For example Firegestures, which makes a lot of actions easyer to acces, like e.g. the "restore closed tab funtion"
(as far as i know this funcion doesn't even exist in IE)
And the best thing about Adblock is that you can manually insert block rules for pages like google-analytics, which are storing everything you search and do on sites which are owned by google, like youtube and others...
And, of course, the applicable themes are awesome.
Alina
Tuesday 23rd December 2008 | 08:33 PMExcellent idea~! I'm already setting goals :-P