A recent issue (December 2005--yes, I'm that far behind) of Business 2.0 had an interesting set of "Golden Rules" from well-known figures in business and technology. I especially liked Blake Ross's statement (Blake is co-creator of Firefox):
When Firefox began, the browser market was "dead," client software was "outdated," and many entrepreneurs were working on podcasting tools for goldfish and other "next big things." We focus on the everyday problems that nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to go around without imagining new ones.
If innovation stopped on old products where the market was "decided," I think the consumer would really lose out. Do we really want to be using the same e-mail clients now that we did 10 years ago? Do we really want to be using the same one in another 10 years? I hope that we never give up on supposedly "decided" markets, lest we get stuck with inferior or outdated technology. Specifically, I'm thinking of a product that begins with an I and has a second word that begins with an E. Thanks Blake!
The question is, then, is open source development like that done on Firefox fast enough to never become outdated? Will Firefox stagnate? Will its competitor come out of nowhere, or will it be IE?
I see your point completly, but for arguments sake... You can still use the same software, just a newer version. So it's not that I need a different product, I just need one product that evolves with technology.
Instead of switching from windows 3.11 to linux, just upgrade to win 95.
or instead of switching from IE 5 to Firefox, just upgrade to IE 6. JK about that ;-)
It is always nice to have choice though, and new ideas to existing software are always welcome. And you know for sure that any popular feature will eventually lead its way into the mainstream software.