Firefox needs momentum

When Firefox 1.0 was released last November, it was accompanied by a massive wave of publicity that helped establish it as a Really Big Deal.

First and formost, it was a great web browser that brought a level of simplicity, security, elegance, and functionality to the table. It was fast and worked well. It was refreshing.

Second, it was a gleaming example of open source software at its best. It was a real product, actually shipping, and it appealed to virtually every type of computer user- not just the geeks who made it.

Finally, it was a direct assault on Microsoft. If Microsoft was content to let Internet Exporer snore and drool for years because it thought it could afford to neglect the browser market, fine- the open source community was taking matters into its own hands.

Firefox 1.0 was a Really Big Deal.

Eight months later, much of that Big Deal is fading. Firefox is still a great browser, and work continues on subsequent versions. It's market share has grown. But the excitement has receeded. Its mindshare momentum has stalled.

Microsoft has announced a new version of Internet Explorer that is surely a direct response to Firefox's threat. Only time will tell how good IE 7 will be, but Microsoft has been stirred into action and the response will gather mindshare.

From a software perspective, Firefox did well last year. From a phenomenon perspective, however, its lack of follow-through makes it seem like it has the makings of a one hit wonder. And if the name of the game is rebellion against Microsoft and its "old world" view of software, the phenomenon needs to keep on blazing.

Firefox 1.0 was "good enough" in most ways and "better than" in some- a great start. But we need fresh software that continues being "better than", and we need it soon. Apple's been very good about keeping mindshare up by continuing to release new versions of it software- its rapid-fire release schedule for OS X makes Microsoft's Windows stagnation seem even worse.

Firefox needs to relentlessly innovate and release new software- if it doesn't, it's going to fade back beneath the mass market crust it broke through last year.