Launch Day - Firefox results

"Thanks to your support there were over 8 million downloads of Firefox 3 in 24 hours! Please be patient while our judges and Guinness validate our record attempt." (Yes, the target was a mere 5 million downloads. )

In some small way, we contributed to this global wave. (You missed out? Do it now.)

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a small step. We have now taken that first step.

We need to be sure we are all moving forward - in lock-step, as a group.
To ensure that, and to set ourself measurable standards, we will have a process audit for each step as we go forward.
A small but very important activity, to be led by Richa.

The Open World has much more to offer beyond a faster, better, freer browser.

Get ready for the next wave, coming soon.

Regards,
Surajit Basu

www.ibexi.com
Reflecting on the future

"Be the change you want to see"
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Launch Day today

Hi !

For the OpenWorld launch, we pick the most popular area: the browser. The preferred software for this is Mozilla Firefox.
Internet Explorer will also be allowed, as it is needed for specific applications (notably INGENIUM), and is currently license-free.
No other browsers on IBEXI machines, please. If you have / ever want to install some other browser, write to Richa (richa_priyanka@ibexi.com).
Many of you use Firefox, and there is nothing much to using it, or moving to it. Millions of people round the world use it.
If you need help, write to our Change Champion Nitin Ghope ( nitin@ibexi.com); he will try to help you out. He is already on Firefox 3.0.

Yes, hours ago, Firefox 3.0 has been launched. And it's going for the Guinness World Record for the "most software downloaded in 24 hours."
You can get Firefox 3 from the official "Download Day" site: http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord/
Firefox's servers crashed because of the enormous demand for the browser update. They have been restored.
In 10 hours of launch 1,687,332 had pledged to download Firefox. "We think 5 million downloads is imminently doable," John Lilly, CEO of Mozilla Corp., said.

The article in Time.com (http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1815363,00.html?imw=Y) says:
"It has a number of new features that make it worth the minute or so it takes to download and install it. The most obvious improvement (there are more than 15,000 improvements is the "awesome bar," its update to the location bar). The new version is also faster and more secure, with pop-ups warning users if they're visiting sites that have been flagged for phishing or malware. The best part of Firefox 3, though, is how easy it is to customize, with more than 5,000 free add-ons that change everything from how the browser looks to how it behaves."

So download away. And be a part of the greatest attempt ever for the "most software downloaded in 24 hours."
FAQ: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=software&articleId=9097918&taxonomyId=18&intsrc=kc_feat
Mozilla: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Let's launch our new browsers today :-)

--
Regards,
Surajit Basu

www.ibexi.com
Reflecting on the future

"Be the change you want to see"
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

An Open World - kick-off

Hi !

In the spirit of open-source, I asked for volunteers to help us in this transition.
Many of you have volunteered. Thanks for the support. We will need all of you - and more.
( Do note that volunteer work is outside your office work.)

As I wrote in my opening email on this, we will have to manage this change carefully across the company with minimal disruption and maximum continuity.

Our immediate plan is to establish a software baseline, and make a plan for step-by-step change.

The baselining work will be led by Richa (Process Auditor) with support from several of you.
We will collect all the relevant information i.e. the software on all the IBEXI PCs and laptops.
We will continue to conduct this "software audit" periodically to ensure that we are moving forward on our path.
Please help her complete this by the end of this week.

We will select some specific areas and move - as a group - to the identified software.
First, each area's software will be selected, and tested by the volunteers in parallel with other software.
Key considerations will be long-term reliability, usability, features & interoperability with a variety of proprietary or open-source software.
Having selected the software, we will announce the software, the site to download it from/ person to get from, and also a person who will support the transition.
There will also be some named people who will have - at least for a while - permission to use multiple software solutions, as a potential back-up.

Let's get ready to move to an open world.

--
Regards,
Surajit Basu

www.ibexi.com
Reflecting on the future

"Be the change you want to see"
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

An Open World

Hi !

As we look at our current growth - our 2 new offices last year, and the increasing number of IBEXIans, and our future growth, and related infrastructure, it is time to look how we can better manage our internal processes.

Over the next few months, we will take up an ambitious programme to change and improve these.
One of these is to look at the software we are using in our offices, and those we plan to use.

• The open-source model has a lot to offer the business world. It's a way that many companies and individuals can collaborate on a product that none of them could achieve alone. It's the rapid bug-fixes and the changes that the user asks for, done to the user's own schedule.
• The open-source model also means increased security; because code is in the public view it will be exposed to extreme scrutiny, with problems being found and fixed instead of being kept secret until the wrong person discovers them.
• Another issue is increased reliability. Think about how closed sources made the Year 2000 problem worse .. and how when developers have to show the entire code to the end-users around the world, and to their peers, how quality is forced to improve.
• And a fundamental one is Freedom from Legal Entanglements. Using most commercial software involves software licenses, and tracking software copies and usage. This demands record keeping, and legal exposure. Both raise costs. Thus, juggling software licenses and copies is a source of costs to businesses, and legal risk to businesses and individuals. In many (most? all?) businesses, such tracking is imperfect, sometimes intentionally, usually not. Any such imperfection exposes the company to legal actions (fines, litigation, arrest) due to breaking laws and violating copyrights; an intellectual property quagmire. Most/all open source software can be freely copied and used. There are no licenses to track and thus no related costs, or legal risks.

This translates into not just lower costs, but also higher availability of tools to do your work. Look around you, and you will see in many companies absurd restrictions - on adding email ids, providing access to project management software, absence of tools for automation, for design management, ... for CRM.

If the tools were available to you, you could do your work faster, better, freer.
That is what we seek to achieve, as we move to an open world, using open source solutions.

We will have to manage this change carefully across the company with minimal disruption and maximum continuity.
We need to ensure we can continue to interact with everyone - customers, prospects, using a variety of proprietary or open-source software.
In the spirit of open-source, I am asking for volunteers to help us in this transition. To sign-up, write to me.

Welcome to an open world, coming soon to IBEXI.

--
Regards,
Surajit Basu

www.ibexi.com
Reflecting on the future

Related documents:

• MITRE REPORT: "A Business Case Study of Open Source Software".

• "Your Open Source Plan" from CIO magazine.