Using Firefox Day 5 Review

< Last | Blog | Next >Meadow Hill / Blog / June 28

You know that feeling, when you’re walking around the office, and nobody wants to make eyeâ€“contact with you? When you’ve been relieved of all the heavy responsibilities? When they’re about to fire your sorry butt?

Behold, Firefox.

I am, honestly, trying to figure out some value that the openâ€“source browser provides. I’m not talking about the interface changes, or the security tricks. I’m talking about making my life more useful â€” Firefox’s Unique Selling Point.

Is it the zillions of extensions? Definitely not. It’s not all those Greasemonkey scripts, either. It isn’t the browser’s standards compliance, and it isn’t its compatibility. The USP for Firefox is that it isn’t Internet Explorer.

I have something like that, it’s called Safari.

Aside on the Unique Selling Point

The unique selling point (USP) is what sets your product apart from others in the same category. It can be a phrase, a look, or a way of doing things. It needs to tell your consumers what you’re doing is going to benefit them in a way nothing else will.

I’m not kidding when I say Firefox’s USP is that it’s not Internet Explorer. Since the beginning of this century, there has been no greater threat to security than this browser. When what would become the Firefox project was conceived, nobody expected it to be such a hit. That’s because the USP the Firefox folks were selling was one a lot of people were buying.

The midâ€“00s saw a battle between virtually only those two browsers. Any of the other browsers we use still don’t have the mindâ€“ or marketâ€“share of either one. That’s still the case, and even with the additions of Safari on Windows and the crossâ€“platform development of Opera, we’ve still got this agesâ€“old Coke/Pepsi thing goin’ on.

Here’s a sample of what those two products USP could be:

Internet Explorer: “It’s the thing that came on your PC!”
Firefox: “We’re not Internet Explorer”

Maybe a touch offâ€“base, but I’m sticking with Safari. There’s been no pitch to me that has offered anything different that the “I’m not Internet Explorer” line. Call me crazy, but widgets do not a browser make.

That’s about as much as I could add to that.