OPEN SOURCE ASSIGNMENT

For this assignment, we have been asked to briefly summarize an Interview by Lenny T. Mendonca & Robert Sutton from The McKinsey Quarterly with Mitchell Baker, Chair-person and former CEO of Mozilla Firefox. It is estimated that Mozilla, the developer of the open-source Firefox Web Browser, has probably more experience in this area than many companies combined so it is interesting to hear what insights were offered on this ever increasing topic of open source innovation. Mitchell Baker has been with Mozilla from the start and shows how a Company can become more successful depending on volunteers for software coding, product development, promotion/distribution than a traditional company using just its own programmers /developers/debuggers/distributors, etc.
First, we get a quick biography on Mitchell Baker. I thought it interesting how her background in Law greatly benefits her career because in this type of business of open-sourcing, many legal areas present themselves, such as intellectual property rights, ownership, responsibility of employees/volunteers, process management, etc. Prior to working in Mozilla, Baker was in fact a software lawyer at Netscape Communications which developed the original commercial Web browser. Her effective management skills quickly put her in the position of leadership and she continued in this role when Netscape was taken over by AOL. She led the spin-off to Mozilla and over the years from her role as “chief lizard wrangler” to CEO she helped “define the legal and functional model that allows an open-source community and a corporation to share responsibility for product development while managing the project and maintaining the organization’s momentum – not to mention its financial viability.” Not an easy task, one would quickly agree!

Baker talks about the many benefits of an open internet and why the system of open-sourcing works for them. She claims they would never have been as successful without it. She goes on to say that keeping a company healthy and growing requires constant innovation, reinvention and fine-tuning of ideas. Jokingly she says that for entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs there is no need to provide open source code to the public. Jobs, who after dropping out of college, started making & selling computers, and became a multimillionaire overnight. He consistently came up with great ideas and did not have to look outside of his own brilliant mind to keep things moving forward. Baker indicates that people like Jobs are few and far between and so for most companies having to come up with entrepreneurial ideas encourages companies to let others think outside the box for them. Recognizing that everybody does things differently opens up an avenue of opportunity and availing of this opportunity has allowed Mozilla Firefox stay on the cutting edge, well able to compete with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Instead of 100 employees putting their heads together Baker says why not have thousands brainstorming and putting their pens/brains to work for your company.

Baker seems to know just the right amount of control Mozilla can afford to give up and acknowledges that keeping that delicate balance can be a challenge. Though it may not appear that there are layers of control she admits that behind the scenes there are some necessary control. In fact, she states that there is extreme discipline needed when volunteers are touching code that goes into Firefox but those disciplines are not required to the same level in most other areas, such as; building extensions/new products or fixing bugs. In fact, these areas can be quite relaxed to encourage people’s input. Apparently, most people are just so grateful to be acknowledged in bringing the company this far and are just happy to “own” the product in the emotionally committed sense, rather than in the legal or financial sense. The balance has to be right in maintaining control and letting entrepreneurial/ motivated people run with their ideas. It is important to find people who care and Baker claims it is crucial that companies are truthful about intentions and mission and that open/honest communication is critical every step of the way. It is also important to figure out what input the company actually needs and then communicates same to the public. She identifies Mozilla’s double mission of keeping the internet open and safe, and also building collaborative participation. For a browser company like Mozilla where innovations are needed to keep ahead of competition, open sourcing was the best way to go, Baker adds. And for companies deciding to work with open-sourcing Baker offers a word of advice on how to fix problems. The quicker you can get back on track the better and she condones punishments and slaps on the wrist claiming that they defeat the whole purpose and could quickly kill the collaborative community. Companies should be grateful for the volunteer’s time and effort and do not want to discourage same in any shape or form. When problems do need to be investigated/addressed, great pains are taken to get to the truth of the matter quickly and Mozilla tries very hard to attract unnecessary attention to the matter. It is clear from her interview how she believes that open-source will only work when a two-way street is in operation and how both streets are equally important. Baker acknowledges that the open source system can not work for all companies, particularly companies that need to own and control, and most often monetary endeavors on internet do not work well under open-sourcing. She also realized that many people are not cut out to work in such a see-through organization, that “life in the fishbowl” is just not for everyone.

My Thoughts on Open-Sourcing: Now that I’ve learned lots more about open-sourcing in this class, I think it is a great idea. I realize that it is not for every company/person as the Mozilla article pointed out but for those it will work for, what a smart business decision! We all know especially in the technology world how competitive it is out there and how there can only be a few great innovators but by people putting their heads together and building on one another ideas they can come up with collaborative ideas that would be inconceivable individual creations. We have often heard of the saying “Togetherness is strength” and in open sourcing it is clear to see the benefits of togetherness and collaboration. Many people just want to do the right thing and are just so happy if their ideas are acknowledged, in believing they are giving to a greater good, a greater world. If we believe in the idea of open sourcing but are not very creative technically there are other ways to contribute. Every time we choose to load and use an open source product we contribute. Every time we share information about open sourcing and make people aware of its existence and products, we contribute. By exploration, I’ve learned that the promise of open source is lower cost, improved quality, higher reliability, greater flexibility, an end to predator vendor lock-in, and the capability of producing a vibrant synergy among it’s participating community. I’m beginning to recognize open source products such as; Ubuntu, Google android operating system in T-mobile Gphone, Apache server, Open Office, Star Office, Linux programming, Mozilla Firefox Internet Browser and I’m looking forward to giving them a try. When next deciding to go on the Internet I’ll make a conscious decision to use Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. And I too will feel that I am doing my part for the greater good. I also learned that there is a shortage of open source developers and that students with these skills on their resumes have great potential in the technological market. Maybe I should look into this a little further?

Opening things up give people a sense of hope. As Mitchell Baker states in her article, thousands of people flourished at the idea of opening up the internet – they were tired of it being closed especially those that felt they had something to contribute. Hope, acknowledgement, involvement, and praise are sometimes all people want as a thank-you for their contributions. Open sourcing gives people the right to use software in any way they wish which in turns helps to improve the quality of the product and it’s functionality and again brings with it this sense of hope.