MozillaZine

Case Study on Mozilla and Open Source

Thursday September 23rd, 2004

By Julie Blaustein

Develop an Open Source Community Field Sales force:

  • invited based on previous commitment and contribution to the community such as their involvement in newsgroups and projects
  • Modules similar to the ones for development ... divided up into the targeted selling areas including education, government, corporate and end users.
  • Ongoing online training of products would be made available to participants on Mozilla.org.
  • Target users that are not as Internet sophisticated as has been the case in the past. Consider those users when developing new software.
  • Recruit volunteers seeking real hands on experience from marketing organizations such as the Marketing Association of America and Universities
  • Opportunities to meet face-to-face with supporters and those seeking to convert.

    Solicit Contributions:

  • Target companies for contributions that have worked with and utilized the Mozilla browser, the source code, or Mozilla development tools to create applications and other products.
  • Work closely with the W3C, OSAF, OSI and other organization that have a number of members that support open source and use it in their products
  • Suggest that anytime a user downloads any product that they contribute in order to sustain the community
  • Establish a module of volunteers that will be responsible for fund raising campaigns to raise money for the Mozilla Foundation

    Grow Market Share:

  • Increase Brand recognition by requiring companies that include Mozilla applications in their products to include the Mozilla logo; similar to the Intel logo included on products that are built with its chip
  • Enter new markets such as government and enterprises with the dedication that has been established with the end users. Establish modules similar to the ones established for engineering to pursuit these new markets.
  • Educate the Internet community about Open Source Software ... Establish the important perception through education that Mozilla is the fastest, easy to use and most feature-laden browser to choose from in the marketplace.

    If you find these suggestions interesting, be sure to read the full paper.

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