When I first heard of the idea for the latest community campaign to help promote Firefox, I was a little skeptical. The idea was (is) to ask for donations of $30 from people. With the money, they will buy an ad (hopefully full page) in the New York Times about the 1.0 release of Firefox (coming Nov. 9). The name of each person who contributed to the campaign will be listed in the ad.
Well, I was wrong to be skeptical. Not only is it working, but I’m finding myself strangely excited about it. There’s something really cool about the open source software community sending a bellwether through the mainstream press.
I can almost hear Gandalf in my ear saying, “I come to you now, at the turn of the tide.” My name will be on the ad. Ad yours.