ottodv's blog

Can the idea of community marketing that is the success of Spread Firefox be applied to other open source projects?

I think it can and for this purpose a new website has been created, called SpreadOpenSource.com . Its purpose is to help spread open source solutions like OpenOffice.org, Gimp, Linux, Ubuntu, open formats like ODF and generally promote the use of open source around the world.

The more people use open source solutions the better it is for all open source solutions, someone who tried Firefox is probably more inclined to try OpenOffice than someone who didn't, and vice-versa. Similarly to make the transition to an open source operating system like Ubuntu, it really helps if you are already using programs like Firefox and OpenOffice. And anyone who uses Ubuntu will in turn probably continue to use Firefox and OpenOffice. So I believe they all benefit from each other's success.

SpeadOpenSource.com opened just yesterday.

Otto

One of the great things that Mozilla has achieved with Firefox is that  open non-proprietary standards are now much more widely used on the Internet.

I don't think I need to explain here what the benefits of open non-proprietary standards are for the development of the Internet and software industry by removing artificial barriers to competition.

Microsoft seems to have learned something from this. They are now trying to elevate some of their proprietary standards to internationally recognized standards. However these "standards" are not truly open as Microsoft seems to holds patents on ways to implement parts of these standards. In effect this amounts to a standard which only they can legally implement. This is only one of the issues with Microsoft's proposed OOXML "Standard".

At the same time they (meaning Microsoft) have been accused of "bribing" delegations from several nations to vote in favor of OOXML at ISO.

The risk that this bad standard may get adopted next February is real. You can help prevent this by telling your country's delegation to vote NO! and signing the petition:

http://www.noooxml.org/
http://www.noooxml.org/petition

Otto

Today I saw the following message (at the bottom this page  http://otsing.delfi.ee/m.php ):

"Tutvu kaardirakenduse uue versiooniga siin (hetkel töötab ainult Firefox brauseriga)"

Now I am sure you probably only understand 1 word from that sentence, so here's the translation (more or less):

"Get acquainted with the new map implementation version here (currently only works with the Firefox browser)."

This is a popular map application here in Estonia. Ain't it cool that a version for Firefox is developed First!!! 

This really does show how far Firefox has come, that it is the easiest browser to develop for and in short that Firefox IS becoming the standard!

Otto

After reading the post on the Firefox fight song, I looked through some of the available Firefox songs and I think this one is the best Firefox song: You can be my Firefox (link through Digg)

Let's see if more people like it, you can help by voting for it on Digg if you like it too.

Otto

The Firefox Add-ons Promotion Contest ended on april 9th. In total 168 reviews entered the contest, 112 reviews were in Spanish and 56 in English. One person even entered 75 reviews.

Each jury member had to select the 10 best reviews and order them. The best one receiving 10 points, the second best 9, etc... As there were 4 jury members the maximum number of points a review could get was 40. It was a lot of work to go through all the reviews, deciding the rankings was also difficult as there were many good reviews. The points results show that the race was close.

The top 3 add-on reviewers and prize winners are:

1. Mozilla Links for his review of Forum Additive with 23 points.
2. Vikas Sah for his review of Adblock Plus with 22 points.
3. Leandro Ardissone for his review of ScrapBook with 19 points.

The winners win a Firefox T-shirt, 24 USD of music downloads or a domain name registration. Read more details and the full list of results.

Edit: The prizes have been taken up as follows:

1. Mozilla Links (Percy) gets the Firefox T-shirt offered by Ken Saunders.
2. Vikas Sah gets the 24 USD of music downloads offered by Otto de Voogd.
3. Leandro Ardissone gets the Domain name registration offered by Jackie Liu.

The end of the contest does not mean one should stop writing reviews of add-ons. We suggest that you submit links to your reviews on Jamey's new Foxiewire
service in the Mozilla Addons Category, where other users can read and vote for your reviews. You can also submit your review to Marco's list of extension reviews.

Check this out, my very own and very real Firefox Bankcard!

http://www.7is7.com/software/firefox/bankcard.html 

Otto

Edit: Digg it! 

The add-ons promotion contest has already received 149 reviews for add-ons, some of which you may never have heard of before! So take some time to read some of the reviews, you may just find that one extension you never knew existed but is exactly what you wanted. And don't forget to vote for your favorite reviews.

Right now there are only 12 days left to write an add-on review and get a chance to win one of the prizes. As the winners will be decided by a jury even late entries will have a chance to win.

Otto