Spread Firefox |
Spread Firefox, often abbreviated as SFX, is a community of tens of thousands of Linux and Open Source Awards 2005.
=History and development=
==Pre-SFX events==
Before the formation of SFX website, there was a series of a series of events, dubbed marketing week , loosely organized by Blake Ross and Asa Dotzler:
*July 7, 2004 ( [http://www.blakeross.com/archives/000228.html marketing week 1] ), the community was encouraged to vote on/review Firefox in CNET s Download.com, with the goal of one thousand reviews of Firefox in one week. The goal was quickly achieved, with 1369 people given Firefox a 96% approval rating, and 1220 people rated it straight fives across the board. *July 15, 2004 ( [http://www.blakeross.com/archives/000234.html marketing week 2] ), the goal was to form a team (called For the Record ) of dedicated, committed and determined individuals that can be mobilized quickly to respond to three different types of press coverage: 1) factually inaccurate or sensationally misleading press; 2) relevant stories; and 3) thoughtful stories. *July 23, 2004 ( [http://www.blakeross.com/archives/000238.html marketing week 3] ), the mission was to get fifty donations of advertising space in print or high traffic web sites. *August 2, 2004 ( [http://www.blakeross.com/archives/000241.html marketing week 4] ), the goal was to directly contact dozens of bloggers who raved about Firefox and encourage them to add Get Firefox buttons on their blogs.
Among various marketing weeks , apparently the first one was the most successful one. To help facilitate the grassroot marketing campaigns, the SFX site was created.
==Notable SFX events==
===Download.com feedbacks===
This is an on-going event that encourages SFX members to vote and review Firefox in the Download.com website, in order to boost the rating of the browser and receive more attention from Download.com visitors. This is a contentious tactic as critics view this as manipulation of fact. However, supporters argue that SFX members are never forced to give their votes and write positive reviews. They are simply encouraged to give their opinions.
===New York Times advertisement===
On October 19, 2004, a small announcement went up on the SFX homepage. It said the group was going to attempt to raise money to publish a full-page advertisement in the New York Times to announce the release of Firefox 1.0. The ad was touted as a declaration of independence from Internet Explorer, and would include as signatures the names of all the contributors to the campaign. A goal was set to reach 2,500 names. When the ten day fundraising period was over, it was announced that over 10,000 people had contributed, and raised a total of $250,000 USD, about five times as much as had been expected.
With some delays, the advertisement was [http://www.mozilla.org/press/mozilla-2004-12-15.html published] on December 16, 2004, and was two full pages — the original plan was for [http://www.spreadfirefox.com/q=node/view/8769 just one page]. At the same time, the Mozilla Foundation begun [http://www.mozillastore.com/products/stuff/nytimesfirefox/ selling a print] and released a [http://www.mozilla.org/press/nytimes-firefox-final.pdf PDF version] of the advertisement. Downloads [http://www.blakeross.com/archives/000277.html spiked 40%] after the advertisement was published and the advertisement itself became a news story in the same and other publications.
Unfortunately, there were many errors in the advertisement that ran in the paper, with many people s names mis-spelt, reversed or missed-off completely. To compensate, the Mozilla Foundation [http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.htmlarticle=5784 offered] a free, autographed poster of the corrected advertisement to those affected. However, a number of contributors whose names appeared incorrectly on the advertisement were not on the separate list used to decide who was compensated and never received their posters or had their names corrected.
===Prizes===
On .
However, due to technical issues, the coins [http://www.spreadfirefox.com/q=node/view/14149 did not arrive] at the Mozilla Foundation s office until April 21, 2005. The 25 coins were shipped and the remaining 75 coins will be given to SFX members who are self-starters and people who can lead interesting and innovative programs for putting Firefox in the hands of more users .
On , was shown in the announcement.
On October 19, 2005, Firefox has been downloaded 100 million times. SFXers are invited to take a photo of themselve with the [http://www.spreadfirefox.com/say-cheese.html 100 Million celebration page]. The top ten best pictures would win coupons to grab free yummy Mozilla Store goodies to celebrate Firefox reaching 100 million downloads.
=Current projects=
This list is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date.
==Distributed computing teams==
On clicks that users make.
==For the Record==
This is the same as the For the Record project in the pre-SFX days. The project was restarted due to an increasing number of misleading press articles.
==Defending The Fox==
[http://www.defendingthefox.com/ Defending The Fox] is a public website listing websites which do not work in Firefox, mainly due to website design that only takes Internet Explorer into consideration.
==Promotional materials==
SFX members have been creating many promotional materials, including banners, posters, slogans, icon (computing)s, avatar (virtual reality)s, computer wallpaper and standardized email templates. An organized list of promotional resources can be found in the [http://mozilla.wikicities.com/wiki/Marketing:Firefox_Materials unofficial Mozilla Community Wiki].
Several Japanese computer artists have also creating a mascot called Moezilla#Firefox-ko , as inspired by the OS-tans. She is a personification of the browser, who is usually portrayed as a Japanese fox spirit (see kitsune). Thunderbird-ko and Ã?pera-tan was also created, but they are less popular.
=Future=
There are plans to significantly [http://www.spreadfirefox.com/q=node/view/17863 change the remit of Spread Firefox] and move away from a focus on weblogs due to many projects failing under the current set up. The new site should be ready soon.
=Influence=
Given the perceived success of SFX s community-based marketing, some open source and are prominent examples. A parody [http://www.spreadinternetexplorer.com/ Spread Internet Explorer] site has also launched.
=See also=
*Mozilla Firefox
=External links=
*[http://www.spreadfirefox.com/ Spread Firefox Homepage] *[http://mozilla.wikicities.com/wiki/SFX:Projects_List SFX Project List]|
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