Mozilla Launches New Initiative for Internet Mail & Communications
IT News Online Staff
2007-09-18
Mozilla has announced a new initiative to stimulate innovation in Internet mail and communications. The company plans to develop Internet communications software based on the Thunderbird product, code and brand.
The new initiative also aims to nurture a robust developer ecosystem in order to drive improvements through open source and community innovation, in the tradition of the Firefox Web browser.
Dr. David Ascher, currently CTO and VP Engineering of ActiveState, will join Mozilla to establish a new company focused on mail. Ascher has been an active member of the Mozilla community since 2000, initially as the lead of Komodo, a Mozilla-based integrated development environment (IDE). He is an established leader in the open source community, including his role as a director of the Python Software Foundation.
"Innovating in mail and communications advances our vision of choice across the spectrum of Internet software," said Mitchell Baker, Chair, Mozilla Foundation. "David has been a respected member of the Mozilla community for many years and we're excited that he is joining Mozilla to lead this important effort."
In July 2007, Baker delivered a call to action soliciting community feedback about the future of Thunderbird. After an active public discussion, the Mozilla Foundation board approved the creation of a distinct new Mozilla Foundation unit dedicated to developing, innovating and improving Internet mail and communication software.
Mozilla said it will provide $3 million seed funding to establish this new company.
The company said nothing would change for the millions of people around the world who currently rely on Thunderbird as their primary mail application. Mozilla will continue to provide Thunderbird users with regular security and stability updates as it establishes its new initiative, and remains committed to the needs of Thunderbird users.
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