Mozilla Kicks Off "Extend Firefox" Competition

[apcmiller]

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - Nov. 3, 2005 -- Mozilla Corporation today announced the Extend Firefox Contest to encourage development of extensions to the award-winning Firefox Web browser. Extensions are small add-ons that add new functionality to Firefox. They can be anything from a toolbar button to a completely new feature. The contest is expected to generate hundreds of new extensions for Firefox, allowing people to further personalize their Web browsing experience and to make surfing the Web even more fun and convenient.

Developers can tap into the Mozilla Developer Center (MDC), which will be hosting the contest, to find resources and pointers to help create extensions for Firefox. The contest also coincides with the launch of Firefox 1.5 – expected later this year – and developers are encouraged to take advantage of Firefox 1.5's new features.

"We're eager to see what our developer community has in store for Firefox users with this call for the next wave of extensions," said Christopher Beard, head of products and marketing at Mozilla Corp. "We, and most importantly, our users, have been very pleased with the extensions that have been developed over the last year – the breadth and depth of the Firefox Extensions currently available is a testament to the strength of Firefox as a platform for innovation."

Mozilla, with the support of Alienware and O'Reilly & Associates, has a great set of prizes in store for the contest winners. Alienware has stepped up to supply the Grand Prize, their award-winning, high-end desktop systems that will be customized with Firefox graphics. To determine the winners, Mozilla has confirmed an impressive list of industry notables to judge the contest when it concludes on Jan. 6, 2006.

Contest Judges:

Aaron Boodman, software engineer and creator of GreaseMonkey, Google

Amber MacArthur, co-host and co-producer, Call for Help on G4TechTV

Brendan Eich, CTO, Mozilla Corporation

Chris Shipley, executive producer, Demo Conference

Jeremy Zawodny, technical lead, Yahoo!

Omar Wasow, executive director, BlackPlanet.com

Robert O'Callahan, software engineer and long-time Mozilla contributor, Novell

Categories and Prizes:

Grand Prizes: Three winners each receive an Alienware Aurora 7500 Firefox Edition PC and a Firefox 1.5 Prize Pack which includes a T-shirt, cap, and laptop bag.

Overall Best Extension (New/Upgraded)

Overall Best Use of the New Firefox 1.5 Features (i.e. Canvas support)

Best in Class: Eight total winners each receive an Apple iPod Nano, O'Reilly books, and a Firefox 1.5 Prize Pack which includes a T-shirt, cap, and laptop bag.

Most Innovative (New/Upgraded)

Most Useful (New/Upgraded)

Best User Experience (New/Upgraded)

Best Integration with a Web Service (New/Upgraded)

For complete details on the Extend Firefox contest and official rules, see http://www.extendfirefox.com

Mozilla Press