Operation Firefox
Look, you’re a loser if you don’t know what Firefox is man. No, no, these are not fighting words, but more of a call to action to help you discover what you’ve been missing out on for many years now. You’re now offended. I understand. Let me brief you on what Mozilla is, to help explain Firefox.
Some history on Mozilla and Firefox
Firefox is a product of the non-profit organization, Mozilla Foundation. Mozilla Foundation was created way, way back when Netscape was a big-time web browser (ah, that great helm icon). The goal of Mozilla Foundation (actually, Mozilla Organization before 2003) was to create a suite of Internet related products that could help make your online life manageable -web browser, email, newsgroups, etc all in one nifty gift!
Well, needless to say, it was not a huge mainstream success and was quite ahead of it’s time. Furthermore, the Netscape market began to fall at the turn of the century and the Mozilla Foundation needed to make a break into it’s own entity to survive. Thus, when Netscape became a subsidiary of AOL, Mozilla Organization formed to create Mozilla Foundation in 2003. From that point their focus was on two products: the Firefox browser and Thunderbird email client.
In 2005, Mozilla Foundation created, yes another Mozilla name… Mozilla Corporation. This was a for-profit subsidiary of Mozilla Foundation which would release, market and distribute Firefox and Thunderbird. On November 9th, 2004, Mozilla (forget about the entity names already!) released Firefox 1.0. One year later, Firefox 1.5 was released, bringing us a much more refined and stable browser. Now, almost three years later we have Firefox 2.0, which just so happens to be a very fine product.
Why Firefox?
The freedom to surf the Internet galaxy without Mr. Gates or Jobs telling you how to surf the Internet is why I use it (software independence). Additionally, it’s the power to use the software anywhere you want, on whatever operating system you choose. Firefox is not platform specific, so you can use it on Windows, Mac or Linux and it will have all the same functionalities. Myself, being both Mac and PC, love this idea.
Finally, I use Firefox because Mozilla supports the idea that one company, such as Microsoft or Apple, should not be able to monopolize on every part of your computing experience. Separating the browsing experience from your operating system experience will ensure that you get a solid product for browsing the Internet. This is something Microsoft got lazy about with Internet Explorer 6 – one of the longest-running, crappiest browsers ever, in my opinion.
Where to start with Firefox
If you are new to Firefox, do not be scared. If you know how to open up Internet Explorer or Safari web browsers, Firefox is pretty much a seamless transition. Just download Firefox from the official website, install it, and you’re ready to start browsing. Firefox even let’s you transfer your bookmarks from your existing browser when you first install the software.
Conclusion: Support the free world!
Mozilla has some great ideas, chiefly coming up with thier open source, independent software. Secondly, being Mozilla’s community-driven, grassroots style of advertising and marketing. Check out their latest strategy to advertise Firefox by visiting Operation Firefox. The idea is simple: plaster 3.5 foot stickers all around town to gain brand awareness. Some other methods they have used in the past include printing flyers, joining a campus crusade on Facebook, making pencils, and my favorite Fire Flicks user-submitted videos ads.
