Publications
Publications
- July 2006 (Revised August 2007)
- HBS Case Collection
The Mozilla Foundation: Launching Firefox 1.0 (A)
Abstract
Explores the Mozilla Foundation's decisions leading up to the launch of Firefox 1.0, including its default browser, managing corporate partnerships, managing product development, and moving toward a revenue-based model. Mitchell Baker, president of the Mozilla Foundation, is faced with a crucial question in the impending hours of the Firefox 1.0 launch. Firefox, the reincarnation of the Netscape Mozilla browser, has had tremendous success despite Mozilla's loss of the Browser Wars to Internet Explorer years before. After AOL acquired Netscape, the Mozilla team had been unsure of their future, but they recently gained their independence with a new independent, nonprofit foundation. What partners should Firefox include as their default search partners? Should this relationship be commercial?
Keywords
Business Model; Commercialization; Open Source Distribution; Partners and Partnerships; Information Technology; Social Entrepreneurship; Applications and Software; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology Industry; United States
Citation
O'Mahony, Siobhan, and Nikhil Raj. "The Mozilla Foundation: Launching Firefox 1.0 (A)." Harvard Business School Case 907-015, July 2006. (Revised August 2007.)