Response: It’s My Project, No Competition Allowed

Filed Under (Waste Basket) by Mysk on 24-01-2006

So, I just received a response from MyCroft explaining why the affiliate search plugin was removed. Their reason? They’re only allowing affiliate search boxes that fund their pockets. I am really, really curious about what other people think of this.

First of all, the Firefox browser links directly to this plugin repository. As such, this makes the plugin repository the official place to get search plugins for the browser.

Apparently, being at the MozDev web site doesn’t make it “offical” or directly related to the browser. Up ’till now, this was the impression that I was under. You still have the situation where the Firefox site links to this plugin repository to get more plugins, however, so it’s still essentially in the same situation in my opinion. Perhaps what we need are links to numerous other repositories.

Firefox is now being used by millions of people. Think about that. Millions of people. It is quickly becoming today’s Internet Explorer in so far as popularity is concerned.

Firefox has always been an open project, encouraging the community to get involved in any way that it can. This is no doubt one of the major reasons, if not the reason, for its popularity.

Is it right, then, that the official this database - the primary database by most of us for plugins - is actually a closed system? Certainly you can start your own website for plugins with any rules that you want, but seeing as how Firefox is linked almost directly to this particular system, is blocking competition within this system the right thing to do?

Obviously my view on this is very negative, but I would love to see what the public has to say about this.

update: This post has been updated with more accurate information. I don’t want to give incorrect information despite my personal opinion.

~Mysk

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2 Responses to “Response: It’s My Project, No Competition Allowed”

  1. John Leavitt on 30 Jan 2006 at Jan 30, 06 | 12:38 pm #

    I just discovered this as well, when I submitted several plugins for useful stores (including a couple that were on their request list!). Quite annoying.

    Actually, if they had stated up front that they don’t accept affiliate links, I probably would have been fine with it. But (a) they don’t say it and (b) they accept THEIR affiliate links (as you say). If the idea is to provide a useful directory to the general public, then they should be inclusive. It is not like they had plugins for the stores I wrote plugins for.

    I am considering starting a new database, which obviously will not be near their size, but will provide plugins for hundreds of stores. Then, I’ll provide a plugin to search my plugin database. :-)

    -John.

  2. Mysk on 30 Jan 2006 at Jan 30, 06 | 7:24 pm #

    Hello John,

    My reaction would have been considerably different if the site was more upfront, as well. I would have to say that I echo your thoughts exactly, and also, I still don’t think that it’s right for one person to have such exclusive rights in that database.

    I considered starting my own database as well but the only code that I know is plain old fashioned HTML. So I don’t know how I would go about launching a site like that.

    Certainly let me know if you do. :D

    ~Mysk