Sticker image from Cafe Press
Firefox is moving beyond “open source” to declared itself “organic software.” Makes sense to me. I’ve always used the analogy that DIY media is like organic gardening when compared to industrial mass media, which is akin to industrial farming. Maybe the main thing that makes open source “organic” is the self-organizing aspects of it that are part of nature’s normal emergent systems.
You can read an interview with Paul Kim, Mozilla VP, who explains what they mean:
Mozilla Firefox Goes ‘Organic’ : TreeHugger:
Paul Kim, Mozilla VP: I think for people in the open source movement, the term ‘organic’ is a lot clearer and immediately graspable. I think in the broader culture, and again I’m speaking of the US, the word ‘free’ gets filtered through a consumer lens. So yes, it’s a terminology issue for end users - trying to communicate clearly what practitioners already grok.
As software companies go, we’re a little unusual. We use the term ‘organic software’ to sum up the various ways we’re different from the other guys:
Our most well-known product, Firefox, is created by an international movement of thousands, only a small percentage of whom are actual employees.
We’re motivated by our mission of promoting openness, innovation and opportunity on the web rather than business concerns like profits or the price of our stock (guess what: we don’t even have stock).
And as a non-profit, public benefit organization, we define success in terms of building communities and enriching people’s lives. We believe in the power and potential of the Internet and want to see it thrive for everyone, everywhere.
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