Master's Thesis Registration RC 1

Having been occupied with commercial work, this thesis has been on hold until now. The direction is similar to my preliminary thoughts. The first candidate for Thesis Registration follows below.

THE COMPETITIVENESS OF MOZILLA FIREFOX AND ITS PRESERVATION AND ELEVATION OF THE INTERNET AS AN OPEN PLATFORM
- a cross sectional study of the Mozilla Firefox web-browser -

Keywords: Open Source; Open Standards; Dominant designs; Hyper-Competition; Technological Innovation; Network Effects; The Internet, The World-Wide-Web.

What is the topic

A new browser war has emerged between proprietary Microsoft and open source Mozilla Corporation. It is a battle of Microsoft veteran Internet Explorer (IE) versus Mozilla Firefox. The situation is not unfamiliar to conglomerate Microsoft Corporation as this battle closely resembles previous struggles with pioneering Netscape Navigator – though the main difference being that Mozilla Firefox is open source, has an effective Application Program Interface (API), and most importantly a profitable business model.

This is a cross sectional study of the Mozilla Firefox web browser. First and foremost the question “What drives dispersion of Firefox?” is raised. In order to answer this, a historical review is conducted followed by a contemporary description of the competitive environment. Secondly, an online questionnaire survey addresses the relevance of product innovation, ideological views, and open standards with regard to the dispersion and success of Firefox.

Specifically the main research question can be broken up into three principal questions:

1. What drove the first cycle of dispersion?
2. Are there signs that indicate a decrease in dispersion?
3. Will the next cycle of innovation increase dispersion?

Each of these equally separates into a subset of questions that contain one or more operationalized hypotheses. In particular, the importance of technological innovation is assessed, the influence of savvy internet users, ideological views, and general propagation barriers are examined.

Why is it relevant

The web is changing. A multitude of new emerging websites are often cited as being Web 2.0 websites, a hypothetical versioning of web development that entails usage of new standardized technology, in particular asynchronous JavaScript calls also known as AJAX. In addition, the Web 2.0 definition goes beyond technological advances including new ways of structuring online communication, specifically with blogs, increased user interaction and customization, and XML-structured data services - the world-wide-web is changing. The technology behind, the web standards, the perception of the web are evolving. Reawakened, following several years of solitude – some would say that Microsoft is to blame – the internet is becoming a viable platform for development of increasingly sophisticated software applications.

The rapid dissemination of Mozilla Firefox is totalling at an average market share of 16% as of writing and has a trend signalling further growth. Mozilla Firefox is and will be an influential player in the development of an open and increasingly powerful world-wide-web.

Firefox is a platform for development on two levels: (1) it is an application that can be extended with third-party software modules. It is possible to develop software that runs on Firefox in similar ways that, for instance, Microsoft Word runs on Windows XP; (2) it is a platform for development and execution of websites.

In the next development phase of Firefox, version 3.0, Mozilla is striving to combine these two development paradigms so that interaction between web applications and the web browser are improved and generally closer connected. This opens new possibilities for offline execution of web applications. A practical example would be Google Spreadsheets: a web application that allows for entering, editing, and manipulation of structured tabular data. The spreadsheet is saved on Google’s servers and can only be retrieved and updated with an online connection to the internet. With version 3.0 of Firefox, Google Spreadsheets would be able to save spreadsheet input and configuration on the local computer, thus enabling offline usage.

These new guidelines for the future of Firefox and the Internet as an open platform are reliant on the continued dispersion of Firefox. It is therefore interesting to investigate the dynamics that control dispersion of Firefox, both from an academic perspective with regard to the importance of technological innovation and emergence of dominant designs, but also from a human point of view with regard to a free and open Internet.

How will I tackle it

The research strategy utilized includes both primary and secondary data. The latter has been conducted using a classic desktop research approach – primarily consisting of scholarly articles, writings of industry specialists, and key notes from online article and forum discussions. Primary data is collected through two separate sources. First, statistical data concerning historical web browser market shares are collected. Secondly, a quantitative online questionnaire survey is conducted.

The survey process is composed of several steps that may be iterated or circumvented in any order. However, the initial sequence follows this path: (1) a focus group of roughly 20 people is set to discuss the topic in a private internet forum. (2) Pilot testing of the questionnaire is conducted, first with 10-20 subjects who have no prior knowledge about the survey, and afterwards with the focus group. (3) Questionnaire data collection is executed through word-of-mouth marketing and website advertisement. An attempt to get this survey on the main website of Mozilla Firefox will also be made. (4) Analysis and interpretation of data: Summaries are developed, patterns identified, and statistical techniques applied. (5) Results are discussed with focus group – Are the results really showing what I think they are showing?

Combining these research approaches should result in a reliable conclusion that may guide the Mozilla Corporation or evidently suggest areas of research that may need more investigation and focus.