Mozilla creates start-up to recruit email developers
Thunderbird is go
Customer Success Testimonial: Recovery is Everything
Mozilla plans to replicate the success of its Firefox web browser in the email and communication market with the creation of a new firm.
The as-yet-unnamed business will develop internet communications software based on the Thunderbird product, code, and brand. The new initiative aims to nurture an open source developer community, in the tradition of the Firefox web browser, but focused on email and communication clients. Whether this development work will include the creation of instant messaging software and the like isn't immediately clear.
Mozilla is injecting $3m in seed funding to kickstart the business.
Dr David Ascher, currently CTO and VP engineering of ActiveState, will join Mozilla to establish a new mail-focused company. Ascher has a long history of involvement with the Mozilla Project and the open source community more generally, most notably as a director of the Python Software Foundation and a lead developer in Mozilla's Komodo project.
Thunderbird, the email client companion of Firefox, has never enjoyed the profile or success of its more popular older sibling. Mozilla has been consulting its community about how to turn this around since July. After this consultation, the Mozilla Foundation board approved the creation of a distinct new Mozilla Foundation subsidiary dedicated to developing, innovating, and improving internet mail and communication software. Instead of proceeding as a subsidiary Mozilla has decided to create a new firm with a distinct identity.
More on the initiative in a statement from Mozilla here. ®
COMMENTS
Thunderbird not up to it
I look forward to a replacement of T'bird and its add-ons - have you ever tried the British English dictionary? It's embarrassing. I offer the incorrectly spelled word 'beleiveing' as a test case...
Thunderbird not up to it
I look forward to a replacement of T'bird and its add-ons - have you ever tried the British English dictionary? It's embarrassing. I offer the incorrectly spelled word 'beleiveing' as a test case...
Thunderbird
I love FF, I'm using it right now.
Thunderbird, by contrast, is a clunky amateurish bug-ridden POS which I won't even consider reinstalling on a test machine until they sort out the myriad problems and fixes that would elevate it to the level of being a very badly implemented Outlook Express clone.
Spinning it off to an arms-length company won't make a blind bit of difference, they need to redevelop it from scratch and throw away every last line of code that came in from Netscape Communicator.
And please don't mention the 'Add-Ons' I can download to implement what should be core functionality - a pig with lipstick on is still a pig. I've got many many better things to do with my life than spend ages searching for a plug-in which will handle Usenet with any degree of basic intelligence for example.
IT infrastructure monitoring strategies
What you need to know about cloud backup
Enabling efficient data center monitoring
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Top 10 SIEM Implementer’s Checklist
