Since day 1 Firefox has been rocking the internet world simply because it managed to kick Microsoft’s Internet Explorer square in the nuts and took a piece of the browser pie. The volunteers working on this Open Source product managed to force Microsoft back into the browser-game and have them create a safer, faster and better browser if they ever wanted to compete on the internet again. IE 8 is a direct result of that, which nicked a lot of features from the Foxy one together with it’s marketing campaign. Of course the Mozilla cru can’t compete with the amount of cold hard cash the Redmond folks are throwing against it, but they can count on a huge community of people who are willing to pimp the fox in their free time through the Spread Firefox website. Helping out can be as simple as putting a banner on your site like I did. With the WordPress plugin for it, it even detects your current browser and displays the appropriate message.
Another easy (cause that’s what we like) way to help with Firefox is joining the new Test Pilot project. All you have to do is download the Test Pilot add-on and participate in the tests. This ain’t for the paranoid I’m afraid. The idea is to collect data from actual Firefox use and use that to improve the browser. All anonymous of course, but if you’re a tad paranoid this might be too much for you. For the geeks however this offers you a chance to try out the latest and coolest user-interface tweaks to be brought upon the platform. Neato.
For the more hardcore you can also help out with coding, writing add-ons, graphic design, manuals, support, localisation, you name it. So why not help those guys out and spend a tiny amount of your time to participate in this great browsers development and make the internet a safer place. Wow. Sounds a bit zealotish doesn’t it? Now where’s my free t-shirt dammit!