Monday, November 29, 2004The two articles about Mozilla Firefox that I mentioned below are here and here. Not a lot of surprises. Indeed, the major focus was on security issues, of which Mozilla has fewer. The article suggests that Internet Explorer's dominance makes it the logical target for hackers - is there a Willie Sutton joke somewhere in here? - but does not address whether Firefox would become just as big a target if it gained dominance.Probably the most striking thing to come through - especially in the second article - was not so much the passion for Mozilla, though it is there, but hatred for Microsoft. This, to me, is in the same category as hatred for Wal-Mart. Microsoft, for all its flaws, made reasonably powerful computing accessible to people of relatively ordinary means in the same way Wal-Mart made lifestyle items accessible to people in the lower economic strata. Why this engenders such animosity eludes me, unless the elites are that insecure about the bumpkins catching up (do the techno-snobs of geekdom have that much in common with the urban professional of liberal sensibilities? - it seems, yes, they both look down on everyone else and disparage those who help others get what they have). Let's hope Mozilla man (from the second article) and others finally latch on to the real truth of this: Microsoft dominated because it made the best product for people of ordinary means. Mozilla Firefox is gaining because it is making a product well suited for people of ordinary means. It is not open source versus locked up code, non-profit versus money-grubbing capitalism, love of computing versus love of shareholders. What makes the difference is whether your product benefits consumers. May the growth of Firefox lead to a Mozilla-Microsoft showdown of the best kind - in the market place. That would be the best outcome for us all. 
posted by gbarto at 11:01 PM |
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