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Press release
New Website

Subject: The Mozilla Foundation
From: brendan@meer.net (Brendan Eich)
Date: 15 Jul 2003 15:59:15 GMT
To: mozilla-announce@mozilla.org, mozilla-general@mozilla.org, mozilla-seamonkey@mozilla.org
Newsgroups: netscape.public.mozilla.announce,netscape.public.mozilla.general,netscape.public.mozilla.seamonkey

We're very pleased to announce the creation of the Mozilla Foundation, a non-profit organization that will serve as the new home for mozilla.org. The Mozilla Foundation will continue mozilla.org's work of coordinating the development of the Mozilla codebase. With an independent non-profit as the legal home for Mozilla, we will also promote the distribution and adoption of Mozilla applications and technologies. In addition, we will raise funds to ensure Mozilla's long-term survival.

We have always wanted an independent organization for Mozilla, and those of us who've been on staff@mozilla.org have conducted Mozilla business according to what we judged was good for Mozilla, not what was good for any one corporate contributor. It has not always been easy to wear two hats; conflicts have come and gone, but we're better off for our experience running the project as an open source meritocracy. There was never any other way to go.

Now that the Mozilla Foundation has been launched, we believe the time is ripe to move aggressively toward new distribution channels, new end-user markets, and better incorporation of developer-driven innovations from the whole Mozilla community.

Whenever a project shifts footing or changes focus, there is tension between old and new. We are sensitive to this tension, and we do not plan any abrupt changes. Mozilla.org staff will continue to manage the project. Three members of staff will be on the Board of Directors of the Mozilla Foundation -- Mitchell Baker, Brendan Eich, and Chris Blizzard -- so the governing body of the Mozilla Foundation is congruent with long-term project leadership. The Board's role is to provide general oversight. The role of mozilla.org staff, drivers, reviewers, and module owners will continue as before.

We're fortunate to start with significant seed funding, and we expect to spend the bulk of it on salaries for key staff members and technical contributors. We will continue our focus on technical excellence in our on-going quest for standards compliance, portability, performance, and innovative end-user features.

Mozilla has won numerous awards and acclaim lately. The Mozilla Foundation is great news for all members of the Mozilla community. We hope you'll join us in working with mozilla.org to make Mozilla an even greater success in the future.

Mitchell Baker and Brendan Eich

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1105, old post ID:9596

This is great news. Hopefully this will mean that mozilla will survive regardless of what AOL decides to do in the future.

btw, 1.4 is out.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1105, old post ID:9597

Sweet! That's great. I was sort of scared that a bad change would take place. I would of kept this version for ever (1.3) but it's still nice to know they will keep enhancing it. I'll have to upgrade soon. Just waiting till the whole beta phase is over even though it's probably more reliable in beta than windows is in release after patches.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1105, old post ID:9598

I am totally confused.

I prefer the look of the old Web page. I am not someone that adapts to change easily. This is shocking, and I still can't comprehend all that's going on.


Good news? Bad news? I don't know...

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1105, old post ID:9600

Okay. People at Mozillazine Forums seem not to like this. I am totally confused, and I don't know if I would be jumping for joy or feel sad over the loss of something great.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1105, old post ID:9601

Red Squirrel wrote: Sweet! That's great.  I was sort of scared that a bad change would take place.  I would of kept this version for ever (1.3) but it's still nice to know they will keep enhancing it.  I'll have to upgrade soon.  Just waiting till the whole beta phase is over even though it's probably more reliable in beta than windows is in release after patches.

What do you mean? 1.4 has been out of beta for quite some time now. It's just as stable as 1.3. A lot of time has been spent on making it stable and shaking out the bugs since it is the last of its kind, so you will probably be happier with it.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1105, old post ID:9602

takahita_tsukino wrote: Good news? Bad news? I don't know...

I can see what your saying, and what the pople are mozillazine are too. It is kind of a convenient way for AOL to ditch mozilla
etscape. But they were going to do it anyway, it was just a matter of time. AOL saves face by making it look like a spin-off than the dropping of dead weight. On the plus side though, AOL is still giving them a nice chunk of money, and hopefully with the extra cash from Sun and Red Hat along with the non-profit status, they'll be able to keep things running just as smoothly.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1105, old post ID:9604

takahita_tsukino wrote:

Red Squirrel wrote: Sweet! That's great.  I was sort of scared that a bad change would take place.  I would of kept this version for ever (1.3) but it's still nice to know they will keep enhancing it.  I'll have to upgrade soon.  Just waiting till the whole beta phase is over even though it's probably more reliable in beta than windows is in release after patches.

What do you mean? 1.4 has been out of beta for quite some time now. It's just as stable as 1.3. A lot of time has been spent on making it stable and shaking out the bugs since it is the last of its kind, so you will probably be happier with it.

Oh I did not know it was out of beta. I'll have to go download it when I get a chance. I hope java will work better now.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1105, old post ID:9605