• On TechRepublic: 10 cool USB flash drive tricks

The Open Road

Read all 'Snowl' posts in The Open Road
August 7, 2008 7:37 AM PDT

Firefox out to prove that open source can innovate

by Matt Asay
  • 1 comment
Share

When you think of browser innovation, admit it: You don't think of Internet Explorer. Netscape originally took the wheel of browser innovation, and its descendant, Mozilla's Firefox, is at the innovation wheel again, this time with two very different (and exciting) products:

Snowl, a unified messaging/browsing experience, and the second is Aurora, the next-generation Firefox browser that we, the people, will define and build at Mozilla's request.

Indeed, it's this latter innovation - true community feedback on what can and should be in the browser, and then the development process to deliver it - that I find most striking. Mozilla is asking everyone - not merely developers - to get involved. When was the last time you saw a company do that or, more importantly, provide the means to actually be able to do it?

If you answered "Never" you wouldn't be far off.

I've long complained that I, as a non-developer, can't do much to influence open-source projects. Mozilla, however, is tearing down that wall. That's true innovation, in my book.

  • prev
  • 1
  • next
advertisement

The yogurt makers of tech: Gadgets to avoid

Don't buy these one-trick ponies--unless you like gizmos that gather dust.

Google wants to unclog Net's DNS plumbing

The Net giant, ever eager for a faster Internet, debuts its Google Public DNS service. With it, Google could become even more central to the Net.

advertisement

About The Open Road

Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to the Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is general manager of the Americas division and vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.

Add this feed to your online news reader

The Open Road topics

Most Discussed



advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right