What others think, say, and do is what the mass media used to be about. Nowadays there’s a bunch of splinter media that can be monitored in places like Google Trends. This is beginning to be referred to as “the global consciousness”. Our goal ultimately is to influence this. Ford was all over Google Trends the morning after the Knight Rider pilot, for instance. In the short term, early adopters will have very brief exclusivity relative to how early they got in and how fast the bandwagon gains momentum. I submit that it’s foggy, so we don’t really know much about the hill, other than it is there, and very little effort should be needed to get the bandwagon rolling.
While the instant credibility these heavy hitters can lend FF is desirable, they are mentioned only as candidates for an open-source license. I personally favor the collegial collaboration model that software had back in the Day, when Microsoft was still known (to some geeks, anyway) as a place that wrote interpreters and assemblers.
No way, no how, do I advocate letting any one corporation other than LPP controlling FF, and I apologize if I ever did give the impression that I do.
What we have to sell is a device (concept, actually) that can help real people solve real problems while the scientific and engineering challenges are being minimized, which may turn out to be never. By offering blueprints with the license, the early adopters can raise the bar on green vs. greenwashing.
Its all about separating the dreamers from the doers.