Introducing Spectator

Spectator is finally live on AMO. Spectator is a Firefox extension that collects data about how Firefox is used. This information is used to better understand what people value in the browser.

We’ve taken a lot of time to strike a balance between helpful data and privacy. If you would like to contribute to usability at Mozilla, please give the extension a spin (only works with Fx3). All you have to do is install the add-on! It will run with out you ever even knowing it is there.

Please see our entry on wiki.mozilla.org for more details about the extension.

12 responses

  1. Pingback from Introducing Spectator | Create a Blog on :

    […] Jason Z. wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptSpectator is finally live on AMO. Spectator is a Firefox extension that collects data about how Firefox is used. This information is used to better understand what people value in the browser. We’ve taken a lot of time to strike a … […]

  2. John wrote on :

    I will protest the star…
    By installing this and bookmarking the “old” way hahahaha.

  3. damjan wrote on :

    Will you not get skewed results only from the people willing (and knowing) to install this extension?

    Anyway, my $.02:
    I really hate it when the keyboard focus is not where I want it to be.

    The worst is when it’s on the tabbar… I really never want the focus to be on the tabbar. The second worst is when it’s on the location bar, but I expect it to not be there. I’d like for ex. ESC to get the focus in the content window.

  4. AndyEd wrote on :

    Congrats! This is a huge step forward for Firefox.

  5. Trackback from Help Mozilla Figure Out What People Value in Their Browser... on :

    Help Mozilla Figure Out What People Value in Their Browser…

    Mozilla has released an add-on, Spectator, that collects data about how Firefox is used. This information is used to better understand what people value in the browser. This only works in Firefox 3, but you can help drive the next release!…

  6. Arthur Rainbow wrote on :

    on https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/6326 it is written
    “Show License Agreement”
    but it is not clear that it is the link for downloading. Usually people don’t care for licence.
    You should write, “show licence agreement and download”!

    Installed

  7. Trackback from Story added... on :

    Story added…

    This story has been submitted to fsdaily.com! If you think this story should be read by the free software community, come vote it up and discuss it here:

    http://www.fsdaily.com/EndUser/Introducing_Spectator

  8. polvi wrote on :

    Thanks! 🙂

  9. bush wrote on :

    i’m trusting mozilla and i’m using spectator.

  10. Donnie Berkholz wrote on :

    I’d love to try this, but it doesn’t want to install on 3.0_beta5.

  11. . wrote on :

    if the honest goal was to “better understand what people value in the browser,” then why not have a survey asking what we value instead of “stalking” us and transversing into privacy concerns??

    so you mean to say that the “awesome” bar does not already collect user data without our permission?

  12. B wrote on :

    ‘if the honest goal was to “better understand what people value in the browser,” then why not have a survey asking what we value instead of “stalking” us and transversing into privacy concerns??’

    ACTIONS speak louder than WORDS. Period.