webmademovies.etherworks.ca/.../satoko2.ogv

I think that is a misconception.

I don't feel anyone is thinking in terms of winning or losing.

There are many competitors in the world of browsers,

and it may be important to try to be number one and gain top share.

But, I don't think that is the main goal, or the most important thing at Mozilla.

So what is most important?

Of course, a certain level of market share is necessary to have a voice and be listened to in the industry.

That is also true for Mozilla Japan.

When we got started in 2004, IE had nearly 98% market share.

But by launching Firefox and rapidly gaining market share,

all sorts of people started to pay attention to us.

That was extremely important.

But our goal isn't to become number one.

Even if we remain the number two or three browser, there are more important things...

let me think....

In the world of technology,

there are no walls between people in different companies, groups and organizations, inside or outside of Mozilla.

In the “open web” there are no walls between companies or organizations.

When our engineers raise their views in this context, I don't think that Mozilla is at the top of their minds.

Of course, each engineer does have ambition to gain an advantage when building a product.

Naturally, we are delighted when our technology is adopted as a standard.

But I do not think winning or losing is a key word for Mozilla in the open web.

An open world requires competition as well as diverse people working together hand in hand.

The definition of open source implies working together without discrimination.

That is its stance.

So we must never take the stance that “Mozilla comes first.”

All of us at Mozilla must work hand in hand with people from other organizations to improve each technology and keep pushing the envelope.

In that context, Mozilla engineers need to keep driving the technology and creativity, and leading the way for everyone.

We also have to play this role.

It is quite simple if you ask yourself whether we would be where we are today

if Netscape hadn't opened up its source code to the public.

That is a classic example of what it means to be open.

Back in 1998, if Netscape hadn't disclosed its source code,

but had gone on losing share until not only the company but also the product and technology disappeared,

would we have a worldwide web like we have today?

We might, but I think it would have taken longer.

When Netscape opened up its various technologies to the public back then,

it enabled many people to transform them in various ways with the involvement of the users.

If the work had been continued in a closed manner,

I imagine that the corporate warfare called “the browser wars” fifteen years ago

would have continued to this day.

If it had continued that way,

the biggest player would inevitably have won.

If I asked myself whether the same level of innovation would have occurred in that case,

I would have to say no.

Originally I was one of the developers working on the browser.

Fifteen years ago, despite the incredibly barrier-free nature of the internet and browsers,

people tended to think of English as the lingua franca of the world.

There was a time when browsers could only display English properly.

The web was connecting people all over the world,

but the browser only supported English.

This was not right.

The first task that I took upon myself was to honor my national language.

I was determined to make my mother tongue render properly in the browser.

The first step in my involvement with the browser was to make sure that Japanese text could be properly read　and delivered as information on the web.

After many years of hard work,

when the source code was laid open to the public, the world had started to change as I had dreamed.

The importance of multi-language support, which had been overlooked in the beginning, started to be understood by everyone.

In 2003, when Mozilla rose again as a truly neutral foundation,

I had a gut feeling that the second wave of the internet was about to arrive.

People might say it was a ''prophesy.'

It was then that I felt a premonition that we would be able to change the world even faster.

Today's internet environment is far more advanced than ten years ago.

I felt certain that the browser and its surrounding environment would change people's lifestyles and the entire world at a speed never imagined before.

Mozilla was making its comeback in 2003-04,

I had a gut feeling that the spotlight would again be on the browser in a world fully enveloped by the internet.

As I said before, when Firefox 1.0 was launched in 2004,

it was a product created together by everyone, both engineers and users.

Engineers turned into reality people's dreams about the kind of web environment they wanted,

the things they desired to do, and the browser they were looking for.

In the future as well, it will be the role of engineers to make users' dreams come true,

realizing the world they want and the things they wish to do.

This is what is born in an “open” environment.

In the past, engineers developed the features that they wanted.

In those days, people built something because they wanted it themselves.

But now, in the open world, there are tens of thousands of people speaking up on what they want,

and also many engineers willing to build these features.

From now on, the main significance of Mozilla as an organization,

and our most important mission, is not to develop products so much as it is to continue to deliver technologies and messages

that will have an impact on various open standards, the internet, the business environment, and elsewhere.

We need to be visionaries leading the world of the internet,

and to engage in constant dialogue with users about their dreams.

Engineers need to keep coming up with interesting technology;

it is up to each user, vendor or entrepreneur to decide how to use it.

All we are doing is providing tools and means for this.

But it is really important for us to continue to do so.

Firefox is a tool to communicate our message, our aspiration, and our technological vision to the world.

It is not an end in itself.

I am sure browser technology will continue to evolve much further in many ways in the future.