Dan Warne07 May 2007, 7:37 AM
Mozilla doesn't have the many tendrils of the giant Microsoft octopus when it comes to software distribution, so it's testament to word-of-mouth marketing that Firefox has grabbed the marketshare it has. But where to from here, in terms of getting Firefox into the hands of more people? We asked Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker.
Mozilla doesn't have the many tendrils of the giant Microsoft octopus when it comes to software distribution, so it's testament to word-of-mouth marketing that Firefox has grabbed the marketshare it has. But where to from here, in terms of getting Firefox into the hands of more people? We asked Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker.
Dan Warne (APC): Last time I spoke to you I asked you about the distribution strategy for Firefox and I think it was probably around the time of Firefox 1.0 and you at the time were saying something along the lines of, "well, we're not commercial and we'd rather work with users, not corporations; we hope users take it up by themselves," which evidently they did in great numbers.
But nonetheless can you talk a bit about what is your strategy for distribution and are you are looking at deals with PC manufactures pre-installed or anything like that?
Especially now that Dell is doing Ubuntu pre-installed onto PCs... I suppose it means that Firefox goes out with every Dell PC that has Linux on it.
Mitchell Baker: One would think so!
Dan Warne (APC): So, looking at one major distributor you have - Google. What is in it for them, how they distribute Firefox and actually pay bloggers a $US1 commission every time someone downloads Firefox from a link on their blog?
Mitchell Baker: Well for the official Google rationale you need to talk to Google. I think it is some variant of the theme that Firefox is good for the world.
 Google dollars: stick a Firefox badge on your blog and Google pays $US1 for each new user who installs it based on your referral |
Dan Warne (APC): I guess a company with as much money and autonomy as Google can do that without worrying about what shareholders might say about squandering funds.
Mitchell Baker: Yeah, but I am not sure it's squandering funds.
Dan Warne (APC): Sorry, I don't mean that in an offensive way. I just mean that often, shareholders are judgemental about the way money is spent if they can't see a direct financial return to a company.
Mitchell Baker: Well it's also pretty clear that Microsoft is aiming at Google and they have said that over and over and over pretty explicitly. So it's probably hard to argue they're squandering in any sense when you think of what are the battles that Google is fighting. Microsoft seems to be on the table there.
Dan Warne (APC): What about other distribution methods... preinstalls onto PCs for example.
Mitchell Baker: We've tried other distribution alternatives and we continue to explore them. Firefox has been included on a couple of PC production runs; one in Europe I think, but those are new enough we're not sure how they're going to work out.
Actual PC distribution would be interesting, but mostly we have been very successful in distribution ourselves, driven by community word of mouth, or the marketing or whatever it is that we do that brings people to us is far and away the most effective. We keep looking at all the angles though.
Read more of the interview with Mitchell Baker: