Standards Battles in Open Source Software The Case of Firefox Huibert de Vries, Henk de Vries and Ilan Oshri Standards Battles in Open Source Software This page intentionally left blank Standards Battles in Open Source Software The Case of Firefox Huibert de Vries Henk de Vries and Ilan Oshri © Huibert de Vries, Henk de Vries and Ilan Oshri 2008 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2008978-0-230-22072-0 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors has asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2008 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin's Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-30618-3 ISBN 978-0-230-59509-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230595095 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Vries, Huibert de. Standards battles in open source software : the case of Firefox / Huibert de Vries, Henk de Vries, and Ilan Oshri. p. cm. 1. Open source software – Standards. 2. Browsers (Computer programs) 3. Firefox. I. Vries, Henk J. de. II. Oshri, Ilan. III. Title. QA76.76.S46V75 2008 005.7(cid:2)1376—dc22 2008029951 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge Proverbs 1:7a This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Figures viii List of Tables ix Preface x Acknowledgments xi 1 Introduction 1 2 Open Source Software 6 3 Standards and Standards-Setting 20 4 Standardization Battles in OSS: A Theoretical Framework 35 5 Industry Background 47 6 Browser War I (1995–1999): Microsoft Versus Netscape 68 7 Browser War II (2003–2008): Mozilla Versus Microsoft 84 8 Standard-Setting Mechanisms in Open Source Software 120 9 What can be Learnt from these Browser Wars 135 Appendix: Worldwide Market Share 147 Notes 151 References 168 Index 187 vii List of Figures 3.1 Standards-setting attributes 25 4.1 Basic structure of the theoretical framework 36 4.2 Theoretical framework 38 4.3 Continuums for OSS issues 42 4.4 Potential direct influences/interlinkages 44 5.1 Transformation of the PC industry 48 5.2 Structure of the IT industry 49 5.3 Web browser market share 55 5.4 Worldwide market share 56 5.5 O verview of market share of main web browsers 1994–2005 56 6.1 OSS characteristics of IE in Browser War I until 1997, IE 3.0 80 6.2 Overview of characteristics of IE in Browser War I 83 7.1 OSS characteristics of Mozilla Firefox (Browser War II): competition versus cooperation 113 7.2 Overview of characteristics of Firefox in Browser War II 119 viii List of Tables 2.1 Overview of software licenses 11 3.1 Openness in different phases 28 5.1 Downloads of Firefox 1.0.x from Mozilla website 67 6.1 Browser War I timeline (1994–1999) 69 6.2 Standards-setting attributes: collaboration – competition 79 6.3 Seven key assets of Shapiro and Varian (1999a); IE relative to Netscape 82 7.1 Browser War II timeline (2001–2007) 86 7.2 Overview of product/standard characteristics of Mozilla Firefox 99 7.3 Standards-setting attributes: collaboration – competition 112 7.4 Openness in different phases 114 7.5 Seven key assets of Shapiro and Varian (1999a): Firefox relative to IE 118 8.1 Key influencers explaining the adoption of IE 121 8.2 Key influencers explaining the adoption of Firefox 126 A1 W eb browser market shares in percentages of visits, World Index 148 A2 W eb browser market shares in percentages, June 2007 149 A3 Web browser market shares in percentages, 2002–2007 149 A4 Web browser market shares in percentages, September 2005–September 2006 149 A5 Web browser market shares in percentages, September 2006–March 2008 150 ix