[asa](http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/2007/07/thunderbird_fut.html):
Prior to my [last entry](http://www.unpluggable.com/?p=132), I had no idea that Mozilla Corporation (MoCo) still exist. Whenever I referred to Mozilla, it’s always the Foundation and not the Corporation. That’s why I got the two confused hence the statement “They seem to be acting like a for-profit organization these days.”. And when I said that, what I meant was it’s like they need to save the bottomline from sinking hence, the need to cut projects, budgets, people, whatever.
I think a good way to move forward is to break free from the Mozilla Foundation and setup an organization like what Scott [already mentioned](http://scott-macgregor.org/blog/?p=4). Thunderbird **will** survive even without the resources of Mozilla. Thunderbird is a first-class app and its more important to other (or most) people than Firefox is so let’s treat it for what its worth. The developers should be proud on what they have achieved and be proud of their product.
How many people really care about what browser they are using when viewing websites? As long as they can view the sites properly any browser is OK right? And how many people do really get pissed if their email breaks down or if their email client doesn’t preserve those important emails like business transactions and such?
Email is important to most people. Not even half of the world knows or appreciates the web as it is today. I just hope that Mozilla sorts itself and really understand their priorities and how to best support their other projects. But if TB decides to be in its own organization, then just detach from Mozilla. Let Thunderbird have its own identity and its own community. And from what I have read and see so far with the blog comments and such, I don’t think this will be a problem.
From [LorenzoC](http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/2007/07/thunderbird_fut.html#comment-1438073):
“… Nice, but it would have been nicer to know that BEFORE adopting Thunderbird as my mail client. Because, you know, my mailbox is much more critical than the browser. Maybe the mail is not part of Mozilla “mission” but I can erase the whole Firefox profile and who cares, while I would lose 5 mail accounts doing the same on Thunderbird, plus of course there are GB of sensible data stored there. Firefox is a toy, Thunderbird is a work tool and serious business for me. So it is not fun reading we were just kidding about the mail client so far.”
Filed under: software
Regardless of what organizational structure Thunderbird moves to, it’ll very likely still be funded by Mozilla so I don’t really see your point.
Also, I don’t see why people think that a more focused and better organized Thunderbird group is going to be bad for Thunderbird. I guess people would rather jump to conclusions and get all alarmist than to participate in the planning of Thunderbird’s future and actually work towards improving it.
A
PS. The Mozilla Corporation has only one shareholder and that’s the Mozilla Foundation and the Foundation doesn’t give a hoot about revenue except as it allows Mozilla to advance its goals. So, there is no “need to save the bottomline from sinking hence, the need to cut projects, budgets, people, whatever.” This Thunderbird decision has nothing to do with revenue. Mozilla could conceivably put more money into a new Thunderbird organization than it is now investing within MoCo. This is about trying to find a better structure for the people working on Thunderbird.
Oops, forgot a whole other point I was going to make. You said
“How many people really care about what browser they are using when viewing websites? As long as they can view the sites properly any browser is OK right? And how many people do really get pissed if their email breaks down or if their email client doesn’t preserve those important emails like business transactions and such?”
My answer to that is that Mozilla’s mission is to promote choice and innovation on the Internet. We are not just making software, we are making change on the Internet. Making good software is nice, but our mission is much larger than that. I do believe that the browser space, the web, needs Mozilla’s help more than any other. Without Mozilla, there won’t be an open and interoperable web. There will be one or two proprietary stacks dominated by one or two of the largest software companies in the world and they’ll control it. That’s not a world of choice and innovation and that cannot be allowed to happen. Before Firefox, IE had a 98% monopoly of web usage.
Mozilla does not produce Firefox because we think the world needs more software. We make Firefox to promote the mission of the non-profit, public benefit Mozilla Foundation.
Firefox and Thunderbird are fine pieces of software and they are important to those people who use them (about 110 million Firefox users and about 5 million Thunderbird users) but our mission, as I said, is about more than making good software. Where Firefox is moving the web forward, promoting and preserving a free and open web based on public, agreed upon, documented standards, Thunderbird is just a nice email application, one of several in a shrinking market as people move to webmail, IM, microblogging, SMS, social networks, MMORPGs, and other messaging tools.
I’m a Thunderbird user. I’ve been using Mozilla’s mail full-time and exclusively longer than even the Thunderbird developers. I contributed about 30 hours a week for two years volunteering to help make Mozilla mail better and have been an advocate and a contributor to Thunderbird since the first days when it was called Minotaur. I’m not some Thunderbird hater and I’m not planning on moving to any other solution. Thunderbird is a solid email application that suits my needs and the needs of about 5 million other people and it will continue to do that. What it won’t do is to displace the major enterprise applications or see rapid growth from consumers and because of that, it won’t change the industry — the core mission of the Mozilla Foundation.
A
asa
First of all thank you and I appreciate the time that you’re taking to respond to my posts.
Well I didn’t know that was the case. And that’s why I mentioned that I hope Mozilla will sort it out and suggested other options in case it won’t work out.
A more focused and organized Thunderbird group of course will be good for Thunderbird. I’m just wondering why this is still not the case considering the maturity of the project and the years of support from Mozilla.
And hey, if you think that i’m alarmist then I apologize. I wouldn’t have gotten your side of the story if not for those alarmist blog posts.
PS. Of course I said that bottomline thing because I didn’t know about Mozilla Corp.
Thank you for your explanation about Mozilla’s mission and vision. I understand now where it all fits in Mozilla. I really appreciate your thoughts and thank you for your clarifications. Before this I’ve always thought that Mozilla is just a caretaker of FF, TBs, and all other software in mozilla.org. Now I know that i’m wrong. Looking forward to your contributions to the web and to the industry in general and I also hope that Thunderbird will find a permanent place soon.
Cheers