Your Advertising Budget - worth it ?
Computerworld recently ran the following article. If you are one of those that profess to only 'one browser' then this might be a good read to set you back on your heels.
Why Firefox has lost its mojo
If you've tuned into MTV or prime-time football in the last few weeks, you may have seen a bizarre sight --- plenty of ads touting Firefox. This is not, as its proponents may say, good news. In fact, it's one more indication of why Firefox has lost its mojo.
Firefox has been gaining in popularity over the last few years not thanks to big-ticket marketing buys, but because it was the best browser out there. It was lean, it sported great features like tabbed browsing, and because of that, its popularity spread like wildfire.
But something has gone wrong with Firefox recently. Version 2.0 was a big disappointment. Sure, some tweaks were made, and the interface was changed a bit. But was it a 2.0 product? Certainly not.
Worse yet, in the intervening time, Internet Explorer caught up. Its tabbed browsing is now superior to Firefox's, for example, and it added plenty of new features, such as anti-phishing capabilities (which Firefox also has). Firefox is no longer the better browser; its extensions and add-ons are superior, but that's about it.
So it's no coincidence that now is the time that Firefox chose to spend megabucks on a big-time TV campaign. It can't beat IE based on features any longer, so instead it's turning to marketing hype.
Is this what open source software is all about - big bucks spent on TV ads? As open source software, Firefox depends on the good graces of those who contribute their time and effort for free. If there's extra money to be thrown around, perhaps contributors should get paid for their time. They could use the money more than TV networks.
By depending on advertising rather than great programming to increase its popularity, there's only one way for Firefox to go -- downhill. Microsoft has far bigger pockets than Firefox ever will, and if it becomes a battle of marketing and advertising, the battle is already over. Microsoft won.
Instead, Firefox should go back to its roots, building a great browser, and forgetting about big-time ad buys. Maybe then it'll get its mojo back.
Incidentally, on Monday (today if you read this daily) Firefox is reorganizing its long list of addons. Better check what you've got as it may be renamed or no longer supported.
