Comment 36 for bug 600779

Revision history for this message
In , Nick (morrownr) wrote :

Regarding comment #30. I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding of the message in comment #29.

If product market share does not matter then disregard rest.

My story is far from unique as I have found out while researching the issue: The tech support department at the university where I am an instructor has been a heavy recommender of Firefox to students who have had problems accessing university online resources (including online classes.) This changed in January of this year as the difficulties associated with Firefox due to the lack of ipsCA support made it more work than alternatives. University tech support folks generally go for the low hanging fruit. They could care less about the issues behind the scenes.

In researching this issue I have found ipsCA offers certificates to educational institutions for free. Further research seems to indicate they have a sizable market share with educational institutions. As I found evidence that educational institutions were using ipsCA, I wrote down the size of the student bodies. I stopped when the number went over one million. ipsCA appears to be a major player in an area where Firefox likely gains significant market share...or looses market share given bad decisions.

Further research and testing shows that Chrome does support the new ipsCA certificates and it appears to have matured enough for me to switch which browser I recommend to my students. I'll be working on my syllabi for fall over the next couple of weeks. Which browser will I recommend? It is really up to whether this issue is fixed.

Over the years I've been a big fan and supporter of Firefox. I'm at a decision point. Help me to help you.

Is the point now clear?