Stories
Asa's Graphic shows some interesting things
- The internet is a system that is hard to measure
- It's estimated that currently there are around 1.2 Billion
people have used the Internet and there are a billion systems connected
to it.
- 10+ Billion web pages
- The internet has gone through various era's where different browsers have had the most influence
- The "Netscape" Era
- "Early Days" of the web (but the web had been around since 1989)
- tremendous amount of innovation in the types of content and improvements to usability and access to content
- The "Internet Exporer" Era
- "Monopoly" on Browsers and Control over competition
- Browsers became a "comodity"
- Tremendous number of users added; 300 Million 2001-2003
- No Interest and no "Business Case" for Microsoft to continue development
- 1000 person IE browser team disbanded and development abandon
- The transtion of Netscape code to Mozilla and the "Firefox" Era
- How many Firefox users out there?
- Netscape wanted to ensure browsers and the web would continue to develop and evolve
- Interested in trying an open source developent model and
engage developers across the internet to try and compete with Microsoft
at the peak of the browser wars
- Durning the IE Era browser developments and improvements
continued and Mozilla developers search for and waited for an
opportunity.
- 2003 Mozilla Foundation was recreate allowing for greater freedom in searching for that opportunity
- 2004 Firefox 1.0 was released and IE beset by major security problems
- CERT and other gov. and security organization stressed the importance of "having another browser" on your system.
- 2004-2005 Firefox starts amazing climb in market share
- First product to take market share from Microsoft
Mozilla Community and Firefox Users
- Who are these people and how are the connected?
- Firefox Growth is a grassroots effort.
- Now reached 230 Million people with no massive advertising campaigns
- growth has been viral - passing from developers, to bloggers, to users to more users.
- At the core there are 400 developers
- +30% of mozilla code is contributed by volunteers
- the rest contributed by full time paid contributors
- some work for companies interested in mozilla and browser
- 180 work for the mozilla corporation
- All are most importantly part of community that want to see the browser develop and improve
- Beyond "the core" their are a 1000 more that localize firefox
into over 60 lanugages and develop thousands of addons to customize
firefox and experiment with innovation. A demonstration of
how viable mozilla is as a platform.
- 10,000 help test "nightly" development releases
- 15,000 openned up their wallets to contribute $30 each for the production of a one day 2 page ad in the New York Times.
How we have built and connected all these communities
Organization Structure
- How Mozilla is unconventional, and quite different that what most people are used to
- It's a "starfish" kind of organization, not a hierarchical kind of spider organization
- Model of Spider v. Starfish organizations
- Explain characteristics
- y axis = organization attributes
- x axis = love/fun meter
- hard for most organization to move down the y axis
- and explosion of empowerment and creativity happens when you do.
- both kinds of oranizaitions have proven to be successful.
- starfish organizations can live on, and be passed on, well beyond the life of anyone company or individual
- their legacy can be great
- Auto makers as an example of spider organizations
- secretive about new models - secrets game with industry press
- seeming disconnected to customers/users/use
- interesting Business Week article (Feb. 25? Edition)
- What if automaters "openned up" maybe even just one of the many models they produce?
- Toyota Prius - kit makes the car a plugin vehicle, but voids the warranty.
- Netcom CEO example from "The Starfish and the Spider" book - Ori Buafman & Rod Beckstrom
- Who "owns" the internet story
- Mozilla principals
- just like the web, its cooperation among module owners
- meritocracy - best ideas, best contributors, best contributions survive and make the system survive
- searching for single goal - improve the web for users
Product Principals
- What things have been proven to make the browser better, and cause any release to backslide if mistakes are made.
- slide has text
So where are we in the growth and developent of the Interent and the Web
- Most powerful communication ever assembled by the human race.
- Orginal design called for it to withstand a nuclear attack and grow without bounds.
- Its growth started slowly but contines to amaze most observers
- Yet it still reaches only1/4, or 1/5 of the worlds population
- We might be only in the early or middle stages of a system that will be around for 10, 20, 30, 100, or 1000 years
- 4 systems in 1969
- first 100 commercial companies 25 years ago.
- 2.1 billion users now
- continued reach and growth to mobile devices and international users seems inevitable.
- Survey the audience
- How many web developers out there?
- How many entrepanuers investing in web technologies?
- How many IT people adding to or maintaining Internet infrastructure?
- Ask again, Who owns the web?
- You do!
- Go make it better, or get involved if you're not.
- Leave a great legacy for those that look back on these early days of the internet and the web.