Let me start by saying that I LOVE Firefox. I use it exclusively for all my web-browsing needs. Further, I’ve been using it for a long, long time. Since the 0.4 release. And, as long as I’ve been using Firefox I’ve also been pushing everybody I know to use it.
The problem is this whole Mozilla Foundation/ Mozilla Corporation confusing/ annoying thing. I’d think the people that make Firefox (is it the corp or the foundation) would want this to be as simple and basic as possible. Instead, there are all these confusing companies that do various things. And now, instead of going to mozilla.org, they want you to go to mozilla.com. In my opinion they’re making the process more confusing for the average computer user (think mom that doesn’t know this from that).
I know that I want to use Firefox. I know that it works better then IE. I know that Firefox is more secure then IE. And I know that no matter where it comes from it’s Firefox. BUT… will all these changes confuse the average guy?
I’m not sure when the structure of Mozilla changed, but I just listened to the FLOSS podcast with Ben Goodger and he pretty much said he was confused on the subject, too. NOTE: Listen to the podcast for his exact quote. The point is that he was confused.
Firefox (and other Mozilla stuff) is great, free and open technology with wide adoption and liberal licensing.
Unless you plan on doing business development with some Firefox related technology, who cares how Mozilla is structured from a corporate sense? Let them worry about the tax structures and other mindless business shenanigans, just enjoy the benefits and tech!
– Don
Howdy Don,
Thanks for dropping by.
I agree Firefox and the other Mozilla stuff IS great. I think it’s so good that everyone should be using it, over IE. I’m just annoyed by the confusing way they are promoting it. I understand what’s going on, but I’m afraid that if I sent my mom to download Firefox she would get confused. I think that if they made it REAL easy to find and install Firefox it could really gain some serious market share. Not that it hasn’t put a nice dent in IE’s space, but with Vista being delayed again I think there is even more room to gain market share.
Erik
Erik,
From what I’ve heard, the whole reason that the Mozilla Coporation came into existence is because the Mozilla Foundation was making to much money to qualify as a non-profit. In case you didn’t know, every time you use the built-in google search feature of Firefox and you click on an ad, google pays the Mozilla Corporation.
Last year, they made something in the neighboorhood of 26 million. While I think this is great since it allows the project to move forward on a number of initiatives, it does raise some interesting questions about the future of the browser.