nimbletoad blog

“People now understand what we stand for — the participatory and open Web…” John Lilly, CEO of Mozilla, made this statement in Wired Magazine during an interview about his Firefox strategy and how he has made a successful business out of what started as an open source project.

“Instead of relying on individual brilliance, we rely on enabling a network around the world, like Wikipedia does,” Lilly continued.

This really struck home when I read this since this is the same idea that we stand for at Nimbletoad [not to mention, our favorite internet browser is Firefox]. Integration and customization are two of the most important reasons we support the open source community – they directly effect our clients. Because of open source products, we are able to provide custom-tailored solutions, while increasing turnaround time and cost effectiveness. We fulfill our clients’ specific website needs with seamless integrations which makes for better user experience. Customization for better user experience is also a reason that John Lilly said Mozilla supports open source.

There is great controversy over the use of open source though, mainly dealing with economics. Opposition to open source says that it is damaging to the market of commercial [proprietary] software. Standish Group reports have even shown a significant drop in the proprietary software industry, estimated at $60 billion per year lost; however, what they don’t show is the creation of several new market opportunities that are the result of the open source community.

Wikipedia lists a few:

• Providing support and installation services; similar to IT Security groups, Linux Distributions, and Systems companies.
• Using the software as a stepping stone to sell a higher-end product or service; e.g., OpenOffice.org vs. StarOffice.
• Cost avoidance / cost sharing: many developers need a product, so it makes sense to share development costs (X Window System and the Apache web server)

Not only are these markets created, adding to the economic benefits of open source software, but there are also other important benefits that cannot be overlooked. Security and defects are greatly reduced by being able to see source code and having thousands of developers working towards a solution. Studies have shown that that open-source software does have a higher flaw discovery, quicker flaw discovery, and quicker turn around on patches.

Driving north from Chicago through Illinois/southern Wisconsin dairy country the word homogenization came to mind. Not because of all the cows and milk, but because we passed by one big box strip mall after another. Stores no different than the ones back home.

I was a little sad that the regional nature of america was being blended away by corporations. My mood, however, shifted when we reached Madison, a vibrant college town with a culture that could stand on it’s own next to any major city.

It was then that I saw a different side of homogenization. This time brought forth by the Internet, academia, and television. Modern media The has leveled the playing field culturally. It has opened peoples eyes to the world.

Witness Napa Valley in Madison, Wi.

What I love most about architecture is its duality between function and art. At first glance one sees a functional staircase, but under closer inspection the architect’s artistic vision comes forth. Notice how this staircase in the chicago museum of contemporary art not only serves to funnel people up the floors of the exhibit, but also serves as a frame for the koi pond below.

Website architecture is no different. Vistors to the site must first enjoy the function. Placing artistic vision first can kill a website. Anyone that has ever had to stumble through a motion filled flash site can testify to this.

At nimbletoad functionality always comes first.

Brand extensions must build off of the existing brand image. Sounds simple enough, but most extensions fail.

One that does not fail is the RL Grill in chicago. While eating lunch there today I could not help but feel I was living inside a ralph lauran ad.

From the leather chairs to the private bathrooms to the impeccable steak salad, every aspect conveys a gentrified life.

Hot time. Summer in the city…

What a neat way to cool off. More over what a cool piece of art. Art for art sake I can appreciate, but art driven by function is something truly special.

Millenium Park, Chicago.
The installation/fountain alternates between multicutural video images of faces and a lightshow waterfall.