SHOW:
|
|
- or go back to the newest paste.
| 1 | Hello Mozillians: | |
| 2 | ||
| 3 | On Monday Mitchell Baker will be posting on the future of Thunderbird. | |
| 4 | We'd like you to be aware of it before it goes public. However, this | |
| 5 | is *confidential* until the post is pushed live Monday afternoon PDT. | |
| 6 | Please don't tweet, blog or discuss on public mailing lists before | |
| 7 | then. | |
| 8 | ||
| 9 | In summary, we've been focusing efforts towards important web and | |
| 10 | mobile projects, such as B2G, while Thunderbird remains a pure | |
| 11 | desktop-only email client. We have come to the conclusion that | |
| 12 | continued innovation on Thunderbird is not the best use of our | |
| 13 | resources given our ambitious organizational goals. The most critical | |
| 14 | needs for the product are on-going security and stability for our 20+ | |
| 15 | millions users. | |
| 16 | ||
| 17 | However, Thunderbird is one of the very few truly free and open source | |
| 18 | multi-platform email applications available today and we want to | |
| 19 | defend these values. We're not "stopping" Thunderbird, but proposing | |
| 20 | we adapt the Thunderbird release and governance model in a way that | |
| 21 | allows both ongoing security and stability maintenance, as well as | |
| 22 | community-driven innovation and development for the product. This will | |
| 23 | mean an eventual shift in how we staff Thunderbird at Mozilla | |
| 24 | Corporation - we are still working out details, but some people will | |
| 25 | likely end up on other Mozilla projects. | |
| 26 | ||
| 27 | We are going to open this plan for public discussion to individuals | |
| 28 | and organizations interested in maintaining and advancing Thunderbird | |
| 29 | in the future on Monday. We are looking for your feedback, comments | |
| 30 | and suggestions to refine and adapt the plan in the best possible way | |
| 31 | throughout the summer so we can share a final plan of action in early | |
| 32 | September 2012. | |
| 33 | ||
| 34 | If you have any questions prior to Monday please reach out to me | |
| 35 | [jb@mozilla.com] or Mitchell [mitchell@mozilla.org]. Again, this | |
| 36 | information is for Mozillians-only until Mitchell's post goes live. | |
| 37 | ||
| 38 | Regards, | |
| 39 | ||
| 40 | Jb Piacintino | |
| 41 | Thunderbird Managing Director | |
| 42 | ||
| 43 | ||
| 44 | Additional information: | |
| 45 | ||
| 46 | New release and governance model for Thunderbird will be available | |
| 47 | here concurrently to Mitchell's post: | |
| 48 | https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/Proposal:_New_Release_and_Governance_Model | |
| 49 | ||
| 50 | Info on Modules and Thunderbird owners: | |
| 51 | https://wiki.mozilla.org/Modules | |
| 52 | ||
| 53 | ||
| 54 | You're receiving this email because you're a registered | |
| 55 | Mozillian. We'll send you timely and occasional organizational | |
| 56 | news and updates - meant just for Mozillians. If you do not | |
| 57 | wish to receive these updates, please unsubscribe here. Read | |
| 58 | the Mozilla Privacy Policy. | |
| 59 | ||
| 60 | Mozilla | |
| 61 | 650 Castro Street, Suite 300 | |
| 62 | Mountain View, CA 94041-2021 | |
| 63 | (650)903-0800 | |
| 64 | ||
| 65 | ##################### A Comment From the Paster ###################### | |
| 66 | ||
| 67 | Oh, you'd like to repudiate the headline? Not necessarily because it's | |
| 68 | inaccurate, but because, well... it just hasn't been massaged into the | |
| 69 | right form, has it? | |
| 70 | ||
| 71 | This: | |
| 72 | We're not "stopping" Thunderbird, but proposing we adapt the | |
| 73 | Thunderbird release and governance model in a way that allows both | |
| 74 | ongoing security and stability maintenance, as well as | |
| 75 | community-driven innovation and development for the product. This | |
| 76 | will mean an eventual shift in how we staff Thunderbird at Mozilla | |
| 77 | Corporation - we are still working out details, but some people | |
| 78 | will likely end up on other Mozilla projects. | |
| 79 | ||
| 80 | Means this: | |
| 81 | The Thunderbird team at the Mozilla Corporation (the one absorbed | |
| 82 | from Mozilla Messaging) will be essentially dissolved. A few will | |
| 83 | be allowed to continue development as their primary "assignment", | |
| 84 | in a token gesture. Others *will* continue to work on | |
| 85 | Thunderbird, of course, but it will be in their free time. In | |
| 86 | that sense, they could just as well be spending their time | |
| 87 | analyzing the history of East Asian pottery glazing techniques, | |
| 88 | but with this, we'll be able to point to them and say "Look! | |
| 89 | See? They're-- C'mon, they're still there. See?" | |
| 90 | ||
| 91 | This will happen in a half-sincere* hope that a "community-driven" | |
| 92 | model will come up and take over, leaving unpaid volunteers and | |
| 93 | contemporary open source companies to fill the gaps. | |
| 94 | ||
| 95 | (*) Whether or not this is successful is not really much a | |
| 96 | concern. | |
| 97 | ||
| 98 | And a more broadly focused post script that won't necessarily make | |
| 99 | sense to those outside Mozilla (or even a good chunk of those within): | |
| 100 | ||
| 101 | The fact that this message was marked "confidential" is part of a | |
| 102 | deeply, deeply troubling trend. The biggest irony? Uninitiated | |
| 103 | employees--those being discussed in .governance right now, and who | |
| 104 | feel that there's actually quite a lot at Mozilla that shouldn't | |
| 105 | happen in the public--will point to this incident to try to make their | |
| 106 | point, in a tremendous display of Not Fucking Getting It. | |
| 107 | ||
| 108 | - | Let's rewind a year or three, MoCo. |
| 108 | + | Let's rewind a year or three, |
