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Seth's Blog: Firefox is missing the point

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Re: Seth's Blog: Firefox is missing the point

#21

Post by froo »

trezor wrote: post #10

Seth's Blog: If there's a point here, you will miss it. Anyone care to explain what on hell he was arguing for?

I'm a devoted FF user, and have been forever. But the response to Chrome shouldn't be to launch new features.

So, Firefox needs to add functionality that makes the surfing experience better for all users when more users use Firefox.

There are many ways to do this

Ok, so checklist for all you budding developers out there. 1) No additional features allowed. 2) Add new functionality that doesn't exist yet. 3) Come up with several solutions to achieve this.

Got it? Good.

Re: Seth's Blog: Firefox is missing the point

#22

Post by froo »

baha_man wrote: post #2

'I'm a devoted FF user, and have been forever.' That's interesting, as according to Wikipedia version 1.0 of Firefox was released in February 2004. [1] 'But the response to Chrome shouldn't be to launch new features.' Which new features are these? 'Here's the problem/challenge: when your friends switch to Firefox, your life doesn't get better.' No, but when you switch to Firefox your life gets better. How many produc…

How many products or services are sold on the basis of making other people's lives better? Exactly one - charities

+Christmas, it's all about The Spirit of Consumerism... oops I mean giving - It's only 4 months til Christmas, make sure you've bought all those presents for everyone otherwise a magical fat man won't climb down your chimney and leave boxes full of non-biodegradable plastic wrapped in non-recyclable coloured paper under your tacky dead disco tree.

... I think the earlier it starts every year, the more of cynical I become.

Re: Seth's Blog: Firefox is missing the point

#23

Post by fallentimes »

netcan wrote: post #17
fallentimes wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it's just me and the people I know, but the real value of firefox - other than the obvious advantages over IE - is the plugin functionality. So when Google Chrome came out, I immediately thought of it as a IE killer - not a Firefox killer. I'm almost scared for them to start providing plugin support/features/etc as it could just end up being Firefox. Have you ever blogged about Halo's Law?

This is off topic, but I'll bite. Chrome isn't an IE killer, its a Firefox killer. Why? because Chrome (like IE) is a chosen browser. IE is a default. Most Firefox users have chosen to use it. Downloaded it. Installed it. Tried it & use it. Most IE users have not.* Once someone is making a choice, you can reach her. Say 'but wait there's more.' IE users aren't even going to know about Chrome. They won't ever be consc…

Wow great points. I don't know this with any certainty (I'm not a Google insider or anything), but I'm willing to bet that Chrome is going to become more of a default browser. Google didn't market Firefox near as aggressively as they could of. And with Android coming out, Google will decide the default browser. There's a lot more mobile devices out there than PCs.

Re: Seth's Blog: Firefox is missing the point

#24

Post by netcan »

fallentimes wrote: post #23
netcan wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is off topic, but I'll bite. Chrome isn't an IE killer, its a Firefox killer. Why? because Chrome (like IE) is a chosen browser. IE is a default. Most Firefox users have chosen to use it. Downloaded it. Installed it. Tried it & use it. Most IE users have not.* Once someone is making a choice, you can reach her. Say 'but wait there's more.' IE users aren't even going to know about Chrome. They won't ever be consc…

Wow great points. I don't know this with any certainty (I'm not a Google insider or anything), but I'm willing to bet that Chrome is going to become more of a default browser. Google didn't market Firefox near as aggressively as they could of. And with Android coming out, Google will decide the default browser. There's a lot more mobile devices out there than PCs.

That's what I was thinking as I wrote it.

Re: Seth's Blog: Firefox is missing the point

#25

Post by halo »

fallentimes wrote: post #11
halo wrote: post #3

No. That's missing the point. It's got to stop. Social features are great for some things. Social features are not great if you shoe-horn them in a totally inappropriate way that doesn't add value. Life is better for me and the vast majority of its users if FireFox doesn't add pointless social features that I won't use anyway. I don't want to see people's ratings for sites, see grouped recommendations or communicate…

Maybe it's just me and the people I know, but the real value of firefox - other than the obvious advantages over IE - is the plugin functionality. So when Google Chrome came out, I immediately thought of it as a IE killer - not a Firefox killer. I'm almost scared for them to start providing plugin support/features/etc as it could just end up being Firefox. Have you ever blogged about Halo's Law?

>Have you ever blogged about Halo's Law?

I don't have a blog - it's more of a recurring joke than anything else.

Re: Seth's Blog: Firefox is missing the point

#26

Post by netcan »

_b8r0 wrote: post #7
maurycy wrote: post #4

Actually I think that Seth misses the point as well. I don't care whether other people wear the same clothes as me. I recommend because I like. Firefox's response to Chrome should be not adding new features but removing existing ones, or, at least, redesigning them to make the UI even easier.

Actually I think that Seth routinely misses the point. He's a great marketeer, but he's not a product manager anymore than a usability specialist.

He riffs & makes big statements. Unless you're superman that means your going to be wrong a lot (I think he is wrong here too). But the other consequence is that sometimes right in a very powerful way.

For example his baseline stuff, going back years about the advertising, marketing, & consumer-attention complex is right in a powerful way. It means big things: 'It will probably never be possible to create another Coca-Cola or Colgate in the same way again.'

Re: Seth's Blog: Firefox is missing the point

#27

Post by unalone »

froo wrote: post #20
unalone wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. He's shown that he can take anything, even crap, and figure out how to sell it better. I think that this example WOULD sell Firefox, for instance. However, I find that a lot of his stuff IS crap, and marketing doesn't fix that. Squidoo, for instance, is terrible and pointless, even if it IS on the Alexa 500 (and I'll never know WHY it is, for that matter). Frankly, I'd prefer Firefox NOT market itself and foc…

If you've ever looked at some of these 3rd string Internet marketers (the ones that mostly sell ebooks or talk about adsense arbitrage) you'll eventually see some non-expert talking about SEO and one of the first things they'll mention is Squidoo. I think it is because Squidoo gives people a platform to put whatever contextual text they want in, with outbound links that provide link-juice to whatever site/affiliate l…

That's an opinion that I share. Squidoo really does have a skeevy feel to it. And after a year of reading Seth's blog, I had to unsubscribe because his writing had the same skeevy feel. I want to get users because I've got the best product out there, not because I'm marketing myself the best.

Re: Seth's Blog: Firefox is missing the point

#28

Post by froo »

unalone wrote: post #27
froo wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you've ever looked at some of these 3rd string Internet marketers (the ones that mostly sell ebooks or talk about adsense arbitrage) you'll eventually see some non-expert talking about SEO and one of the first things they'll mention is Squidoo. I think it is because Squidoo gives people a platform to put whatever contextual text they want in, with outbound links that provide link-juice to whatever site/affiliate l…

That's an opinion that I share. Squidoo really does have a skeevy feel to it. And after a year of reading Seth's blog, I had to unsubscribe because his writing had the same skeevy feel. I want to get users because I've got the best product out there, not because I'm marketing myself the best.

Well I've never met Seth so my opinion of him is based only what I've read, but I'm not entirely sure I can pin down what it is about him that perplexes me...

Sometimes he seems to have fairly interesting advice and insight on various topics and at other times I've considered that these are the ramblings of a delusional man. I really don't think I can make an apt judgement of him, so perhaps that is why I keep reading? Maybe he is a genius in disguise.

That being said, he reminds me of someone I know and if he is anything like this person, then I think we all have something to be worried about.

Re: Seth's Blog: Firefox is missing the point

#29

Post by unalone »

froo wrote: post #28
unalone wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an opinion that I share. Squidoo really does have a skeevy feel to it. And after a year of reading Seth's blog, I had to unsubscribe because his writing had the same skeevy feel. I want to get users because I've got the best product out there, not because I'm marketing myself the best.

Well I've never met Seth so my opinion of him is based only what I've read, but I'm not entirely sure I can pin down what it is about him that perplexes me... Sometimes he seems to have fairly interesting advice and insight on various topics and at other times I've considered that these are the ramblings of a delusional man. I really don't think I can make an apt judgement of him, so perhaps that is why I keep readin…

Nah. He's no genius. Genius is controversial and abrupt. Seth Godin is almost certainly bright, but that's about it.
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