I think extensions could be a great way of extending an existing business, indirectly. Let's say you make an extension that works with your site to let your users create some custom themes for it, really powerful stuff that you couldn't integrate into your own site because it's way too heavy. Then once all the theme is designed they can upload it to your site and use it. I'm thinking such a fun feature indirectly helps your business by giving your fans something to chew on and actually making something productive that can benefit your other users. (You'd perhaps have to review the designs and approve them before one can be shared with others because you don't want a theme that obscures important messages and such).
I think it's hard to come with a good business model for browser extensions that do not require the users to register/sign up.
The author also mentions the idea to capitalize AdBlockPlus. Well I think that is a kind of extension that you shouldn't capitalize. When you do business, you have to do marketing and one way to do it is by advertising. Isn't that irony for you to advertise a product that blocks ads?
Yes. Look at all the photoshop/dreamweaver/other plugins etc. if you want examples. If you build something useful that people value, then you can build a business on it be it a shop, a website, or software like an extension/plugin.
Well, I did say they were like "ephemeral" extensions.
If I can reuse the formula in many spreadsheets, it becomes more like an extension.
Once upon a time, I couldn't imagine something in the browser like the interface for Yahoo Pipes. But once Javascript becomes capable enough, some programmer thinks of it sometime later, and here it is! So how is that not extending the functionality of the browser? The fact that the code has to be reloaded for each site just isn't a big deal for the end user until download times become a pain in the butt.
Yes, it seems basic. All software "extends" the computer. That is what's so fundamentally great about software!
