There were several important updates on the browser front this week, from Mozilla, Microsoft and Google. From where I sit, there is very healthy competition going on in the browser market right now, and if you’re a web worker who favors only one browser, there may soon be some prompts for you to switch or mix up your usage.

Die-hard Internet Explorer users will have to wait until 2009 for a final version of Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft confirmed. There won’t even be another release candidate until the first quarter. It offers malware protection and other improvements, but is taking a relatively long time in development.

Meanwhile, Google has confirmed that it will deliver Mac and Linux versions of the open source Chrome browser in the first half of next year. The company has also confirmed plans to strike deals with OEMs to put Chrome on new computers as the default browser. We discussed both pieces of news on OStatic today. The move to make Chrome the default browser on new computers is particularly significant. That’s how Internet Explorer gained its dominance.

Mozilla’s Mitchell Baker delivered a post this week in which she discussed Mozilla’s financial position, which is key to keeping Firefox popular. Google, of course, provides massive funding for Firefox, and that arrangement is in place through 2011. However, eWeek is predicting that Firefox won’t survive the proliferation of Google Chrome, because Google won’t continue to support a competing open source product.

I doubt that last point, because Google benefits from Firefox’s existence in several ways, one of which is simply that Firefox keeps Internet Explorer from having absolutely dominant market share. I use all three of the browsers discussed here, but I continue to find Firefox the best of all browsers because of the huge number of useful extensions available. I’ve been using the beta version 3.1 of Firefox and it is rocket fast, especially at JavaScript tasks.

Still, we haven’t seen so much competition and innovation going on in browsers in a long time. We’re definitely going to see this stepped up as we move into 2009.

I’ve been hearing a lot from fellow Web workers about their long-term clients who are resistant to change.

“They don’t want to start a blog,” one says.

“They are afraid of RSS feeds,” says another.

“They don’t even know about MySpace or Facebook,” declares yet another.

Are we all just too “into it” to remember that our clients are often way far away from it?

I’ve been lucky in the last year or so to have some clients who trust me implicitly to lead them down the right path toward enhancing and augmenting their online communications with social media tools. Others, however, dismiss it because it is just so far out of their realm that they would rather put off the discussion than try to understand the implications of a blog or a Twitter account to communicate their message. In some cases, I’ve been able to sneak in a few social media tools with positive results, however, I admit this isn’t very strategic.

Here are some things I’ve thought about or observed in terms of handling the reluctant social media client.

Factor in the education and handholding

If you have a great client you’ve been working with who is resistant to social media but willing to trust you, make sure you factor in the educational process you will have to go through to bring them to a more comfortable place. I’ve had to create special PowerPoint presentations and hold one-on-one sessions to help empower some of my clients so they can embrace a social media strategy instead of looking like a deer caught in headlights. From a business standpoint, you have to account for this additional time and effort and fold it into your consulting fees.

Take only clients who get it

As I look over the web sites of other consultants, I’m struck by how some of them flat out state that they only work with companies who understand that social media is an essential way to communicate online these days. They do say it more elegantly than “we won’t work with you if we have to convince you that our way is important and the smart way.” Quite frankly, while I could find this sort of “pre-selection” language a bit off-putting, I actually applaud them for going for the upper echelon of potential clients who already get it. That cuts out a lot of the convincing and cajoling.

Don’t push social media on everyone

Personally, I can find a good business reason for every company or nonprofit organization to have a blog or a social media presence, but there will always be a capacity issue that could kill any well-intentioned blogging effort. Many companies and nonprofits still don’t realize they can hire a pro-blogger or social media specialist to do the job. They cringe at any suggestion of an additional expense even though the expense is often quite reasonable and manageable or in the case of nonprofits, they could enlist volunteers perfectly willing to participate. If a company or organization is still struggling to get their e-newsletter off the ground, sometimes no amount of explaining that the blog and RSS feed is the “new” e-newsletter will convince them to ditch the old way for the new. Either suck it up and provide them the Web 1.0 service or refer them to someone reliable who is willing to do it for them instead.

Keep the conversation going

Just because you have a client reluctant to embrace social media doesn’t mean the conversation stops there. Keep the dialogue open. Send them links to articles and blog posts that provide further information to increase their understanding. Point them to campaigns you are conducting for other clients to demonstrate what you can do for them. Invite them to local presentations you give where you discuss social media topics. Convince them to just join one social network and then send them referrals through it to show them how powerful it can be for their business.

Just don’t give up.

How do you handle the client or potential client who is still stuck in…2005?

A couple days ago I posted an entry about Mozilla’s new Fashion Your Firefox add-on promotional campaign. Among the apps listed was one that I nearly overlooked, but that now strikes me as indispensable. It’s called Thumbstrips, and it’s a product of Intuit Labs, an innovative new venture by the makers of Quickbooks, popular tax software for Windows and Mac.

I recently had the opportunity to talk with two Intuit staff members to talk about Thumbstrips, Fashion Your Firefox, developing for Mozilla, and Intuit Labs.

Tara Tarapata, Group Manager for the Intuit Innovation Lab, and Scott Williamson, Software Engineer and an early developer of Thumbstrips, both gave me the impression that Intuit is an organization staffed by passionate people who are trying to shake things up in software development.

While I did not mention Thumbstrips by name in my initial overview of Fashion Your Firefox, I’ve since come to regret the omission. Since downloading the add-on, it’s become an integral part of my Firefox browsing experience.

Put simply, it allows you to view your history as a visual filmstrip of thumbnails in a pane at the bottom of your browser window. Definitely saves you time time digging for that page you forgot to bookmark when you’re involved in a deep dive and can’t be expected to keep track of every little link that might prove useful. Tara pointed out other uses, including comparison shopping, bug-testing for web developers, and as a live screenshot demo reel for giving presentations.

The add-on itself is only the beginning of the story. If you’re involved in developing apps for Mozilla, a behind the scenes peek at how Thumbstrips became one of the most-downloaded add-ons available is particularly illuminating.

Thumbstrips took its first steps in the Intuit Innovation Labs, a breeding and testing ground for promising ideas and applications in development at Intuit. The Labs allow software end-users to become an integral part of the development community. According to Tara, the purpose of the space is to make sure that the applications that end up in the hands of users has the functionality that they actually need. Using the website’s “Count Me In” feature, you can sign up to become even more involved. You’ll get access to new ideas as they arrive, interact with Intuit software engineers in the development process, and help guide the future of Intuit Labs itself.

From the labs, Scott said the next step was getting listed on the official Mozilla add-ons page. Once they were listed, download numbers skyrocketed. Eventually, Thumbstrips became so popular that the Intuit team decided to apply to become a Recommended app. Yes, that is a developer-initiated process. Thumbstrips was accepted, and now enjoys regular rotation in and out of Mozilla’s Recommended apps.

The last step, the actual inclusion of Thumbstrips in the list of apps featured on Fashion Your Firefox, came as something of a surprise to the add-on’s development team. They’d heard about the launch of the new web app, and were curious to see what was available. Scott actually discovered Thumbstrips’ inclusion when he clicked to expand the “Digital Pack Rat” category. Since its inclusion, downloads of Thumbstrips have gone up 200-300%, up to 400+ daily. Clearly Mozilla’s initiative is sparking some interest.

What’s ahead for Thumbstrips?

Tara says they unfortunately can’t devote much more of their internal team’s time to the add-on, but that’s where the beauty of the Intuit Labs community lies. They hope to open source the software soon, handing it over to interested developers so that it will continue to grow thanks to the efforts of those who helped maked it a reality to begin with. And Thumbstrips is just the beginning. Tara, Scott, and the rest of the Intuit team hope to break new ground in allowing as much of their catalogue as possible to become open source once in-house development stops. With the help of the Intuit Labs community, this could ensure that applications live on, evolving to meet user needs well beyond the lifespan of traditional, privately developed software.

Thumbstrips is available as a free download here. To learn more about or become a part of Intuit Labs, visit intuitlabs.com.

The annual Thanksgiving holiday in the US is coming up next week - and a lot of web workers are preparing to take some downtime away from their computers as a result. Before you go, though, why not take a few minutes to participate in our annual thread of thanks?

There’s been a lot of doom and gloom recently in the news, but for at least some of us, web working remains a bright spot in the landscape. I’m certainly thankful that my own work allows me to skip the daily commute (and not even venture outside on days when the weather is below freezing), and that I have the chance to work with interesting people worldwide on a daily basis.

What about you? What makes you thankful about web work? Share your highlights in the comments!

When our grandparents said that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, they were referring to the fruit, not the computer.  But it’s not far-fetched that the same thing could be said about teleworking.  By opting to telework, employees and freelancers have a better chance of keeping themselves physically healthy.

How does this happen and to what extent is it valid?

Less stress - in an ideal situation, at least. Too much stress is something that should be avoided, whether you’re a teleworker or not.  It reduces the efficency of your immune system and also makes you prone to allergies.

Without the stress that comes with commuting and rushing to the office, there’s a general consensus among surveys that for most people, web working is less stressful.  Still, it’s important to remember that some teleworkers (in one survey, 10% of respondents) experienced more or the same amount of stress while working from home.  In other words, while web working gives employees more opportunities to lower their stress levels, it doesn’t always happen.

Avoids the spread of diseases in the office. Traditional offices generally have several people working near each other for 8 hours each day.  This makes airborne illnesses spread easily from one employee to another.  Web workers rarely have to worry about this, even in co-working setups where only a few people work in the same office.

“…the relatively close confines of most workplaces are ideal for spreading respiratory infections like flu – and that workers who are not in that environment have less risk of catching flu, or if they are sick themselves, less risk of infecting their coworkers.”
Source: “Telework and Health”, from The Clean Air Campaign

Fewer chances of getting infected by outdoor pollution. Working from home reduces the outdoor pollutants you encounter.  No more smog, engine exhaust, or second-hand cigarette smoke for you to inhale.

“By reducing smog in the summer months and reducing the risk of respiratory infections in the winter months, telework programs provide benefits throughout the year. “
Source: “Telework and Health”, from The Clean Air Campaign

With that said, we should also remember that there’s indoor pollution for us to worry about, even if it might be a smaller issue in a home office compared to a traditional office.  In a report by the Environmental Protection Agency, they noted that printers emit hydrocarbons and ozone.  Computer terminals also released low quantities of ozone and volatile organic compounds (VOC).

Modifiable work environment. Since we’re not forced into one particular office or cubicle everyday, we can have better control of our working environments.  The air conditioning in the office might be better than the smog outside, but it has its own problems.

“…up to 80 percent of air conditioning samples he sees are contaminated with mold. And keep in mind there are no federal standards for indoor air quality, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.”
Source: “Battling a Sick Office” by Gerri Willis

Even if your home air conditioning units have problems, they are under your control.  You can get them repaired, cleaned, and maintained without making requests to upper management. In fact, you might not want air conditioning at all.  Since I don’t live in a highly populated area, I don’t mind working in my garden to get some fresh air.

It’s not just about the air, either.  Your furniture, lighting levels, room temperature, and surroundings can also be altered if you want to consider your health.  You don’t always get that kind of freedom when working in a traditional office.

While web working seems to have several health advantages, it’s important to note that these advantages require work and planning.  The decision to telework won’t automatically make you healthier.  You need to be aware of your stress levels, your diet, the quality of air you breathe, and the safety of your home office and equipment.  The good news is that the average teleworker can control these factors, since he works under his own roof.

How has web working affected your health?  Did your health improve or did web working cause more problems?

Image Credit: Photo by Sanja Gjenero from sxc.hu

In case you haven’t tried it yet, the recently released OpenOffice 3.0 suite of free, open source productivity applications has a lot of improvements over previous versions, especially for Mac users. Recently, I’ve been working with the free, online-hosted versions of the applications available through Ulteo. Many users of Zoho’s and Google’s online hosted applications should look into these, as the features are different, and in some cases go beyond what Google and Zoho provide.

Ulteo offers tiered subscriptions for using the applications but there is a free option that comes with 1GB of online storage space for your documents, spreadsheets, presentations and more.

I signed up for an Ulteo account in less than two minutes, and was able to work right away in Writer, which is OpenOffice 3’s word processor. In addition to Writer, you can work with spreadhseets, databases, presentations and more. You can also easily collaborate with remote users within the applications.

OpenOffice’s spreadsheet Calc, in particular, is much more robust than Google’s and Zoho’s spreadsheet offerings. It adheres closely to Office software standards in its interface, and works online in Ulteo just as it does in the offline version. You’ll find many features found in Excel, and good graphics capabilities.

Performance is reasonably snappy in the applications, although I’d reach for an offline word processor before an online one for a bit of added speed. Still, online collaboration may be attractive enough to you to go with slightly less speed than you get offline.

Ulteo isn’t the only player delivering OpenOffice online. Zooos is pursuing a similar strategy, as covered here. However, Zooos’ applications are previews for now.

Ulteo also has a new offering out, which I’m planning to try, and Kristin covered it here on OStatic today.  It’s called the Open Virtual Desktop. Kristin says: “Instead of existing in Ulteo’s server environment and under Ulteo’s control, this software can be installed on a company’s server, customized to the company’s needs, and integrated with Active Directory/LDAP so that employees can access their online desktops from anywhere. There isn’t any client software required.” With it, users can take advantage of Windows and Linux desktops in tandem. I plan to do a review of it shortly, but in the meantime check out Kristin’s thoughts.