Comments on: The Danger of Mediocrity http://morgamic.com/2006/02/10/the-danger-of-mediocrity/ stuff and things, according to Mike Morgan Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:59:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: rebron.org » Firefox Extensions part 2 http://morgamic.com/2006/02/10/the-danger-of-mediocrity/comment-page-1/#comment-13316 rebron.org » Firefox Extensions part 2 Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:18:31 +0000 http://morgamic.com/?p=90#comment-13316 [...] Other must reads: dbaron’s thoughts on Extensions concerning quality and morgamic’s thoughts on Extensions concerning breaking out of the mediocrity [...] [...] Other must reads: dbaron’s thoughts on Extensions concerning quality and morgamic’s thoughts on Extensions concerning breaking out of the mediocrity [...]

]]> By: Mozilla News http://morgamic.com/2006/02/10/the-danger-of-mediocrity/comment-page-1/#comment-1098 Mozilla News Sat, 15 Apr 2006 05:16:15 +0000 http://morgamic.com/?p=90#comment-1098 [...] A bigger part of what I’m going to be working on, though, is what my favourite MBA calls “the extensions space” (my favourite trapeze artist would call it “the extensions piece”, I think). Working tirelessly, though again with an energetic and powerful community, Mike Morgan has been driving addons.mozilla.org through growing pains and scaling demands — popular stuff is hard! — and policy grey areas and likely some fire-breathing sharks or something too. He thinks deeply about the risks and hard decisions that we face as we try to make extensions — or, more broadly, a personalized web experience — attractive and appropriate for a broader portion of our users, and the users we don’t yet have. Working out a strategy for how to fit extensions into our product plans, how to help extension developers be even more productive and successful and happy, and how to maximally leverage the power of our platform, community, and brand to the benefit of the Web at large is an enormous and, I admit, somewhat daunting challenge. I look forward to drawing on my Mozilla knowledge, impeccable taste, and, especially, the experience and wisdom of people like morgamic to improve this part of our world materially. And I look forward to doing it very soon: while there are definitely long-term projects that deserve our attention, I’m starting to believe that there are some small (hopefully!) but significant changes that can make a positive change in the rather near future. [...] [...] A bigger part of what I’m going to be working on, though, is what my favourite MBA calls “the extensions space” (my favourite trapeze artist would call it “the extensions piece”, I think). Working tirelessly, though again with an energetic and powerful community, Mike Morgan has been driving addons.mozilla.org through growing pains and scaling demands — popular stuff is hard! — and policy grey areas and likely some fire-breathing sharks or something too. He thinks deeply about the risks and hard decisions that we face as we try to make extensions — or, more broadly, a personalized web experience — attractive and appropriate for a broader portion of our users, and the users we don’t yet have. Working out a strategy for how to fit extensions into our product plans, how to help extension developers be even more productive and successful and happy, and how to maximally leverage the power of our platform, community, and brand to the benefit of the Web at large is an enormous and, I admit, somewhat daunting challenge. I look forward to drawing on my Mozilla knowledge, impeccable taste, and, especially, the experience and wisdom of people like morgamic to improve this part of our world materially. And I look forward to doing it very soon: while there are definitely long-term projects that deserve our attention, I’m starting to believe that there are some small (hopefully!) but significant changes that can make a positive change in the rather near future. [...]

]]> By: VanillaMozilla http://morgamic.com/2006/02/10/the-danger-of-mediocrity/comment-page-1/#comment-651 VanillaMozilla Tue, 14 Feb 2006 16:45:33 +0000 http://morgamic.com/?p=90#comment-651 Tomm Eriksen wrote: "I can’t find a single word about this on addons.mozilla.org…" Actually, there is one word -- "beta" (see if you can find it). And virtually no one sees it or pays any heed. I'm now telling people that extensions are beta or alpha software, that they will not necessarily work with future versions or with each other -- not to mention possible security risks. The Support Forum is filled with loud complaints from people who glibly alter Firefox with extensions and themes, but who are offended, or at least disillusioned, by having to troubleshoot. It's foolish not to inform people of possible quality problems. There's another risk that hasn't even been mentioned yet. Extensions are the only third-party software that can evade firewalls by default. They not only have all the potential power of virtually any malware, but they can also phone home with the explicit permission of the user. They have the potential for being the irresistable trojan. I don't know what the actual risk is, but it will only take one to do serious damage. As for GreaseMonkey, this time the white hats found the problem first. We can't count on always being so fortunate. Tomm Eriksen wrote:
“I can’t find a single word about this on addons.mozilla.org…”

Actually, there is one word — “beta” (see if you can find it). And virtually no one sees it or pays any heed. I’m now telling people that extensions are beta or alpha software, that they will not necessarily work with future versions or with each other — not to mention possible security risks.

The Support Forum is filled with loud complaints from people who glibly alter Firefox with extensions and themes, but who are offended, or at least disillusioned, by having to troubleshoot. It’s foolish not to inform people of possible quality problems.

There’s another risk that hasn’t even been mentioned yet. Extensions are the only third-party software that can evade firewalls by default. They not only have all the potential power of virtually any malware, but they can also phone home with the explicit permission of the user. They have the potential for being the irresistable trojan. I don’t know what the actual risk is, but it will only take one to do serious damage.

As for GreaseMonkey, this time the white hats found the problem first. We can’t count on always being so fortunate.

]]> By: Abdul-Rahim http://morgamic.com/2006/02/10/the-danger-of-mediocrity/comment-page-1/#comment-649 Abdul-Rahim Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:56:51 +0000 http://morgamic.com/?p=90#comment-649 Hello, My computer crashed and I lost everything, only days after installing Firefox. That was in November and it has taken me until now, February, to come back to Firefox, to trust it enough (plus I trust that Windows XP is more secure). So i'm now beginning to wonder if it wasn't one of the extensions that messed my computer up. I dunno, but I think that the extensions do need a better review process to protect users. Thankyou and thankyou to all the developers and reviewers that work so hard. Hello,
My computer crashed and I lost everything, only days after installing Firefox. That was in November and it has taken me until now, February, to come back to Firefox, to trust it enough (plus I trust that Windows XP is more secure). So i’m now beginning to wonder if it wasn’t one of the extensions that messed my computer up. I dunno, but I think that the extensions do need a better review process to protect users. Thankyou and thankyou to all the developers and reviewers that work so hard.

]]> By: Peer Pressure http://morgamic.com/2006/02/10/the-danger-of-mediocrity/comment-page-1/#comment-648 Peer Pressure Mon, 13 Feb 2006 14:39:52 +0000 http://morgamic.com/?p=90#comment-648 <strong>Embracing Extensions</strong> "Give them enough rope," runs one of our more morbid proverbs, "and they'll hang themselves." Nowhere is this more true than in the world of Firefox extensions, as noted recently by Mozillian David Baron. Frustrated that quality issues with extens... Embracing Extensions

“Give them enough rope,” runs one of our more morbid proverbs, “and they’ll hang themselves.” Nowhere is this more true than in the world of Firefox extensions, as noted recently by Mozillian David Baron. Frustrated that quality issues with extens…

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