Library[]
Originally based on the School Network Administrator version...
English[]
Hello {Network Administrator Name},
I am writing this {letter/email} to you as a volunteer with Spread Firefox, an initiative of the non-profit Mozilla Foundation. We are promoting Firefox, a free browser (similar to Internet Explorer) built to be the most secure, stable and functional browser available.
As a part of our efforts to promote Firefox, we contact library network administrators, like yourself, and try to get them to test the browser, and, if they like its superior browsing capabilities and high level of security, to install it on their library's network.
As I wrote, Firefox is very secure. This is not just because no one has made any malicious software targeted for it, but also because Firefox was built from scratch with security as a top priority. For example, Firefox does not allow ActiveX components (plugins that can damage computers) to be run, protecting you from all existing spyware. Many other security features are available, such as an optional download whitelist, instead of the normal blacklist. If a site attempts to "send" the user a potentially dangerous file, the user is prompted to add the site to the whitelist, adding an extra layer of security against spyware and viruses.
You may be aware that the U.S. government's Computer Emergency Readiness Team, an impartial security advisor, is warning Web surfers to stop using Internet Explorer and switch to other browsers. According to them, the available security updates still leave too many security flaws and are a cause of credit card number theft. The continuous updates for Internet Explorer are often difficult and time consuming to install on many computers. Updates for Firefox are small and infrequent, and can be set to download automatically.
According to www.secunia.com, an independent security monitoring organization, Firefox currently has no outstanding security issues, out of a total of 13 security advisories in the last two years. None of these were labeled "extremely critical" and 2 were labeled "highly critical". Currently, Secunia lists 18 outstanding security issues out of 69 advisories for Internet Explorer 6.0 in the last two years, 15% of which were labeled "extremely critical" and 30%, "highly critical". If you aren't using Windows XP and haven't been able to download Service Pack 2, there are even more outstanding security issues which viruses can use to enter your network. It's no surprise The Washington Post reported, "Firefox leaves no reason to endure Internet Explorer".
According to http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp, Firefox is used for almost 20% of page views on the Internet and this is increasing almost 1.5% each month. It was downloaded 5 million times in a fortnight from www.mozilla.org and received reviews such as "the browser is an absolute joy to use — smart, fast and very user-friendly. Once you try Firefox you'll wonder why anyone uses any other web browser," from Wired Magazine. Settings can be locked on a network and proxies are easy to manage.
Features such as tabbed browsing, the search bar, pop-up blocking, mouse gestures and very fast page downloading greatly increase the efficiency of online research. I invite you to read about these and other features and try out this excellent piece of software for yourself at http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at {me@example.com}.
Best regards,
{Your name}