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Mozillas strategy is not up to date: Chris Messina sums it up and gets bashed (by some)
By Oliver | May 14, 2007
I have seen the 50 mins of (helpful and friendly) Mozilla criticism by Chris two times now. First thing I had to do was to write a longish article for my German blog. Now its time to answer Chris’ call and comment on the reactions from some of the Mozilla guys. I agree with Chris, and I appreciate your way of starting the discussion. But some comments were really bad.
Here is the video by the way:
(Viddler is great! The integrated video comments, tags… Especially the tags helped me find a few things.)
Mozilla should not only understand itself as supporter of a (quite good) browser. It did a good job, and it is still a job that has to be done. But there is more to it. Firefox has to be mobile, and it has to move in the direction of webkit and Adobe Apollo. This is where the future will be and Mozilla has to play an important role here, too.
But the guys from Mozilla do not seem to understand this. Comments like „put your work / money where your mouth is“ or the disdainful other answers just do not hit the spot. This message is helpful. A movement or an idea is always more than the sum of its members or parts. This is not about discrediting Mozillas work or the work of the thousands of developers and testers. It is about setting the best course for the future.
I think Chris cares for Mozilla and for Firefox. The video reminded me of having children. You want to give them the best possible start in life. You hope the best for their future and try to nudge them the right way. (At least I would, if I where that far in life.) I see Chris’ message as a nudge. „Think about the future!“, „Is Firefox enough?“. How come people have to answer in this aggressive way? And how can people be so short sighted?
What I do not like about the video message is the facts. Some assumptions are not precise. I do not think that many Mozilla employees are on Google paychecks. But that is also why comments are possible. Mr. „Agent Provocateur“ is doing the right thing. (Sorry for that one Chris. I just could not help it after seeing your „old business card“. The first thought that flashed through my mind as I saw your card at the barcamplondon2 was: „I did not know he earns his living from selling underwear!“)
Topics: Web 2.0, Open Source |
May 14th, 2007 at 9:47 am
Thanks for following up on this (and watching my vlogpost twice!).
You’re right, I am concerned about the future of Mozilla — because I see the future of the open web largely dependent upon how successful Mozilla is in executing on its self-imposed mission. With these other frameworks coming out and without a clear notion of how Mozilla is going to counter their appeal (other than preaching to the choir about how important the open web is) I’m left getting might nervous about whether we can just rely on the open web to take care of itself or whether we need to proactively start construction of the next generation open web — and by that I mean mobile, media and interaction.
It’s not enough to say that we’re betting on the open web and as for tools, let them eat cake… Microsoft, Sun and Adobe all have an interest in closing down the web — and extending the reach of their vertical platforms. In my estimation, this is bad, bad, bad and I’d like to see the Mozilla folks, in lieu of their manifesto, provide some leadership for how we, as the broader web community, might take steps forward to ensure that the web stays as open, if not become more open than, it is today.