Lessons Learned from the Development and Marketing of Mozilla Firefox Browser

摘要

Open source software projects have succeeded by attracting a community of developers and end users. Typically end users are the largest and least influential group in the community. In recent years, it is becoming apparent that a large and engaged user base is a critical asset for the success of an open source project. This case study identifies the factors that may have contributed to the initial success of the Firefox browser launch. First, the Firefox developers tended the usability needs of non technical users; Second, the community created mechanisms to recognize and reward end users for their contributions other than writing code, such as project marketing. The lessons learned may benefit other OSS projects that intend to target non technical users.