State Department Begs Clinton to Switch to Firefox

Paul Lilly — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:50:38 -0500

Mozilla's Firefox browser has at least one proponent in the Department of State, and likely many more, according to a recent question-and-answer session hosted by Secretary Hillary Clinton and Under Secretary Patrick Kennedy last week. New State Department employee Jim Finkle brought the matter to attention, saying he was surprised the State Department doesn't yet allow the use of Firefox, while the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (Finkle's previous place of employment) does.

Clinton admitted "there's a lot of support" for Finkle's suggestion, but according to Kennedy, the issue comes down to cost. Finkle pointed out that Firefox is free-- which drew laughter from the room -- but that's not the kind of cost Kennedy was referring to.

"It's a question of the resources to manage multiple systems," Kennedy explained. "It has to be administered, the patches have to be loaded. It may seem small, but when you're running a worldwide operation and trying to push, as the secretary rightly said, out fobs and other devices, you're caught in the terrible bind of triage trying to get the most out that you can, but knowing you can't do everything at once.."

But it wasn't all bad news for Finkle and other Firefox fans. Kennedy noted that allowing Firefox is something the State Department is looking at, while also acknowledging "a significant increase in the 2010 budget request that's pending." Should the budget go through -- which would be used to fund information technology operations -- Kennedy said they would be able to add multiple programs.

Keep fighting the good fight, Finkle.

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State Department Begs Clinton to Switch to Firefox