Ruth Ann S. Basnillo                                                                                                                July 28, 2008

SYSANAL

O0A

Blake Ross

Creator, Firefox

            Blake Ross and Dave Hyatt were the cofounders of Firefox. In 2005, Ross worked with his fellow Firefox developer Joe Hewitt to start Parakey.

            Initially, Firefox was just a side project developed by Ross and Hyatt while working at the Mozilla Foundation and trying to revive the struggling Netscape browser. What happened was that they got frustrated with the constraints imposed on them by the different functional areas of Netscape. That’s the time they started to work on a browser that is fast, simpler, and reliable, and that they knew they could make if they weren’t being controlled by marketing, sales, and all other influences inside Netscape.

            The only thing that bothered Firefox was the fact that Microsoft seems completely driven by competition and came back again with their Internet Explorer 7. The thing is, they have already bowed out working on and developing Internet Explorer in 2001. But competition with Firefox triggered them to come back.

            I think, people used the service because at the time, they were not happy with the browser they were using. So, when Firefox launched its web browser, they really loved its simplicity making them go crazy over tabbed browsing.

            Its impact in the history of the Internet is that it made people easily have an access to the Internet by the browser the startup offered. Netscape influenced the startup in a sense that the cofounders responded to their experience at Netscape by starting on a browser which is the Firefox. When it came out to market; Microsoft, who had abandoned their dominant browser Internet Explorer, came back with its Internet Explorer 7 to compete with them.

            What’s unique about this startup was that the company never worried about competition for financial reasons because money was just always sort of there when they did Firefox. The browser they offered was something Internet Explorer and Netscape had already done and offered before.

            The existing system before was a browser which just turned out to be no more than a vehicle to drive people to Netscape.com where search buttons and advertisements were everywhere. Aside from that, it didn’t focus on users.

            If I were in the cofounder’s shoes, I would have also ignored all those things others were saying against what were doing and just work on it. But then, I would have not, in a way, quitted what I was working with just because the stakes were low and because of our idea that Microsoft wasn’t coming back any time soon.

            I think that the startup would have not been possible in a Third World Country because there were few technology companies here working with browsers and so, they wouldn’t have any ideas how it works and how it could be created.

10 THINGS I DIDN’T KNOW:

1. After reading the case study, I learned that Blake Ross and Dave Hyatt started Firefox at the Mozilla Foundation. Before, I didn’t know anything about Blake Ross and Dave Hyatt.
2. After reading the case study, I learned that it was just initially a side project made out of frustration. Before, I didn’t know that it was just a side project.
3. After reading the case study, I learned that the initial version of Firefox was Phoenix launched in 2002. Before, I didn’t know that Firefox had an initial version.
4. After reading the case study, I learned that Internet Explorer had been disbanded by Microsoft in 2001. Before, I didn’t know that it had been disbanded.
5. After reading the case study, I learned that the name Firefox was a Chinese name for red panda. Before, I didn’t know that the Chinese name for red panda was Firefox.
6. After reading the case study, I learned that Firefox was very different from traditional startups in a sense that they didn’t worry about usual competitive threats like the ones for financial reasons. Before, I didn’t know that they didn’t worry too much about this competition.
7. After reading the case study, I learned that Firefox used an all-word-of-mouth marketing when they launched Firefox. Before, I didn’t know about all word-of-mouth marketing.
8. After reading the case study, I learned that Firefox catered to their bloggers first before their primary target audience because they knew that once they get the prominent bloggers, they could attract many connections like the intermediate press. Before, I didn’t know how important blogging was to a certain startup.
9. After reading the case study, I learned that Firefox was an open source project ran like a startup. Before, I didn’t know that it was not a startup but an open source project.
10. After reading the case study, I learned that Blake Ross started a new startup in 2005 with Joe Hewitt which is Parakey. Before, I didn’t know that Ross is now into this startup.