Mozilla Thunderbird seeks new home
p2pnet news | product news:- Mozilla’s open-source Thunderbird email client is on the wing, looking for a new home.
By itself.
Why? So Mozilla can focus all its attention on Firefox.
Not really, say critics. Thunderbird is getting the boot because it can’t match up to Google’s Gmail.
But, “I want to address … the idea that this decision is somehow related to Google, Google products or Google revenue,” blogs Mozilla chief Mitchell Baker, going on:
I want to be as clear as possible about the complete lack of Google involvement.
I have no idea if Google thinks the Thunderbird announcement is a good idea, bad idea, irrelevant or if they even know of it.
To be more specific:
* Google and Google products had nothing to do with this decision.
* We did not ask Google about Thunderbird product planning, Thunderbird revenue, gmail product planning or gmail revenue.
* We did not ask Google’s opinion.
* Google’s plans for gmail – whatever they are, and they are unknown to me – are irrelevant to this decision.
Now, “Are you interested in seeing something interesting and exciting happen in the mail space?” – wonders Baker, continuing:
“Believe that Thunderbird provides a much-needed option for open source email alternatives and want to see it get more attention on its own? Long to see something more innovative than Thunderbird in the mail space happen?
“So does Mozilla.
“Are you someone who could contribute to such an effort? Do you have expertise and a desire to be involved in an innovative mail effort and / or a focused Thunderbird effort? If so, Mozilla would like to hear from you.”
Baker suggests three possibilities:
- Create a entirely new non-profit offering “maximum independence for Thunderbird but is organisationally complex”
- Create a new subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation for Thunderbird, which would keep the Mozilla Foundation involved but may mean that Thunderbird continues to be neglected in favour of Firefox
- Recast Thunderbird as community project, similar to SeaMonkey, and set up a small independent services and consulting company to continue development. However, there are concerns over how the Thunderbird product, project and company would interact
How does Thunderbird developer Scott MacGregor see things?
“For the Thunderbird community to grow and flourish, we need our own mission that promotes the interests of open mail and its users, and we need an organization dedicated to supporting that mission,” he blogs.
“We (David, myself, the leaders of the Corporation and the Foundation board) all agree that it’s time to form a new organization dedicated to Thunderbird and its users.”
On Baker’s three suggestions he says, “We believe, creating a separate independent company focused on the Thunderbird mission is the best way for us to take care of our users, while having the most flexibility to grow and support our mission,” going on:
Our vision is to create an independent company responsible for developing future versions of Thunderbird, supporting our users, and providing choice and innovation in the mail space. This company would embody the same principles that make Mozilla great: dedication to open source, transparency, community involvement, and doing right by our users.
The Thunderbird project would become a Mozilla community project like Seamonkey and Camino. The code wouldn’t move, the ways in which we all interact (bugzilla, CVS, IRC) would not change. The Thunderbird community would continue to interact and collaborate with other vested mail contributors (localizers, SeaMonkey developers, Penelope developers, QA volunteers, etc.) to further innovate around the mailnews platform. The new company would be responsible for the productization of Thunderbird, similar to the Mozilla Corporation’s productization of Firefox.
These responsibilities would be funded using the following potential sources of income:
* donations from existing users, universities, corporations, etc.
* several support contracts
* other partnerships that support the Thunderbird mission
David and I are committed to finding the right solution that allows us to support our user base, grow our community, and re-energize Thunderbird development. We look forward to hearing what you think about these ideas and any other possibilities.
Stay tuned.
Also See:
blogs – Thunderbird — Google question, Again, July 26, 2007
wonders Baker – Email Call to Action, July 25, 2007
blogs – Thoughts On Thunderbird, July 25, 2007
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It’s really easy!
Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details. Download here.
July 27th, 2007 at 10:07 am
don’t get it Thunderbird is a much needed client for anyone who dose not have broadband e.g to read emails without being online.
i also after reading the terms and conditions trust Google with the indexing of my mail
why get rid of it. they should just make it easier for the opensorce community to submit improvements.
July 27th, 2007 at 11:15 am
Like she says “So Mozilla can focus all its attention on Firefox.”
July 28th, 2007 at 4:53 am
sorry meant don’t trust Google. well hope it gets a good home
August 1st, 2007 at 10:35 am
I love Thunderbird. I think it’s a shame that they aren’t going to continue to support and develop it fully. I’ll be hoping it’s new home allows it to grow and develop, as there is so much potential with this appln.