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The Mozilla Foundation

Posted by michael on from the mozilla-uber-alles dept.

gemal writes "We're very pleased to announce the creation of the Mozilla Foundation, a non-profit organization that will serve as the new home for mozilla.org. The Mozilla Foundation will continue mozilla.org's work of coordinating the development of the Mozilla codebase. With an independent non-profit as the legal home for Mozilla, we will also promote the distribution and adoption of Mozilla applications and technologies. In addition, we will raise funds to ensure Mozilla's long-term survival." Update: 07/15 21:47 GMT by T : Yablo writes "MozillaZine is running a blurb about how since earlier today, when the Mozilla Foundation was created, AOL has laid off all the Gecko developers. Ex-mozilla.org has a list of the casualties."

8 of 493 comments (clear)

  1. Wow by Plutor · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is nothing but a Good Thing(TM). Congrats to the Mozilla team on their (apparent) independance. In other news, check out the redesigned web page.

    Isn't it ironic that the top cells don't render the way they meant in Mozilla 1.4? They shouldn't be using tables for layout!

  2. looks like Moz is getting serious by The+Evil+Couch · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The Mozilla Foundation will also promote the distribution and adoption of our flagship applications based on that code. AOL, IBM, Sun Microsystems, Red Hat, and other companies will continue to support Mozilla through the Foundation.

    I guess Mozilla's ready to actively try to knock IE down.

    --
    The World's Worst Webcomic!
    1. Re:looks like Moz is getting serious by autechre · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I guess the question is: If you replaced their shortcut to IE with a shortcut to Mozilla that used the IE icon, would they notice? There are themes for Mozilla which are designed to make it look identical to IE. OK, so they would wonder where all the popops went, but other than that, could someone such as this tell the difference?

      (Yes, I know that there are a small percentage of sites out there that are brain-dead and REQUIRE IE, but if my parents never come across them, I'm betting many other people don't either. If you believe Jakob Nielson, users encountering such a site would just go find another one anyway, unless they needed it for work, banking, etc.)

      [And no, I didn't trick my parents like that. They're sentient enough that I can explain to them why to use Mozilla instead of IE, and they like it better anyway.]

      --
      WMBC freeform/independent online radio.
  3. Two Questions: by Skyshadow · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I have two questions:

    1. Why should I give money to Mozilla when I don't give money to and other open-source software I use? Why do they need it? What will they use it for?
    2. Would said contribution be tax-deductible (not all non-profit donations are)?

    Unfortunately for them, they're competing for my donated dollar against the EFF, the ACLU and (this year) whoever tries to unseat George Bush Jr. They need to make a lot better case for themselves if they're going to warrent a piece of that pie...

    --
    Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
  4. Re:So, no more AOL/Netscape support? by iceT · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Think of it this way:

    1) Mozilla development and advocacy becomes a non-profit organization.

    2) AOL/Time Warner contributes all the same money that they used to contribute.

    3) AOL/Time Warner now gets to write off the contribution because it's to a non-profit organization.

    --
    -- You can't idiot-proof anything, because they're always coming out with better idiots.
  5. PayPal ?? by matsh · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So, where can I donate PayPal money to this foundation?

  6. Re:free advertising! by asa · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've brought this up before, but where's the professional looking attractive banner ad graphics for Mozilla? I'd slap one of those up on my website (I've got pages that attract more than just slash-geeks) and get the word out that way...

    I'm not so artistically minded, so I don't want to create it, but I'll certainly display it!

    We will be ramping up our marketing efforts over the coming months. In the mean time you could always use plain text and link to http://www.mozilla.org/releases

    --Asa

  7. Re: Support from Microsoft Nemeses by Azureflare · · Score: 4, Interesting
    One thing that really surprises me (And I mean REALLY surprises me) is the fact that AOL Time Warner doesn't tout Mozilla more. I mean, if people knew that Firebird had excellent popup blocking and other features IE should have, people would switch in an instant! I moved my whole family over to Firebird, and they love it, even though it's still 0.6! They love the simplicity, and they especially love the popup blocking. They don't use Internet Explorer at all anymore, and I think this will continue, especially since Microsoft is going to wait until Longhorn for the next IE upgrade.

    That's another thing; there are many issues with IE, as has been noted by many people (CSS, transparent .png, etc. etc.) not to mention popups. I just can't see why people would choose IE if they knew what firebird offered.

    I can't help wondering, if people just got the word out, more people would use mozilla, and thereby mozilla would get more money in it's coffers. If mozilla can get a relatively large user base (Say, 10-20%) then I would hope they wouldn't have a problem getting funds.