Only a couple of years ago, Firefox was the little browser that
could — an open-source program created by thousands of
contributors around the world without the benefit of a giant company
like Microsoft to finance it.
Since then, Firefox, which has
prospered under the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation, has grown to be the
largest rival to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, with 15 to 20
percent of the browser market worldwide and higher percentages in
Europe and among technology devotees. It is the most popular
alternative browser since Netscape, with about three times as many
users as Apple’s Safari.
Part of Firefox’s appeal was its origins as a nonprofit venture,
a people-powered revolution involving the most basic Internet
technology, the Web browser. Also, because the core code was open,
Firefox could tap into developers’ creativity; they are
encouraged to soup up the browser, whether by blocking ads from
commercial Web sites, a popular add-on, or by creating
“skins” to customize the browser’s appearance.
in trying to build on this success, the Mozilla Foundation has come to
resemble an investor-backed Silicon Valley start-up more than a scrappy
collaborative underdog. Siobhan O’Mahony, an assistant professor
at the School of Management of the University of California.
Powered by ScribeFire.
No comments:
Post a Comment