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An Open Source Pitfall? Mozilla Labs Closed, Quietly

Posted by timothy on from the same-people-are-still-smart dept.

mikejuk writes with this excerpt: When Google Labs closed there was an outcry. How could an organization just pull the rug from under so many projects? At least Google announced what it was doing. Mozilla, it seems since there is no official record, just quietly tiptoes away — leaving the lights on since the Mozilla Labs Website is still accessible. It is accessible but when you start to explore the website you notice it is moribund with the last blog post being December 2013 with the penultimate one being September 2013. The fact that it is gone is confirmed by recent blog posts and by the redeployment of the people who used to run it. The projects that survived have been moved to their own websites. It isn't clear what has happened to the Hatchery -the incubator that invited new ideas from all and sundry. One of the big advantages of open source is the ease with which a project can be started. One of the big disadvantages of open source is the ease with which projects can be allowed to die — often without any clear cut time of death. It seems Mozilla applies this to groups and initiatives as much as projects. This isn't good. The same is true at companies that aren't open source centric, though, too, isn't it?

4 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. Pitfall! by Ultra64 · · Score: 4, Funny

    And here I was expecting an Open Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitfall!. How disappointing.

  2. Re:what is this even talking about? by alvinrod · · Score: 5, Funny

    By contrast, if you wanted to resurrect, say, WinCE? Well, good luck with that.

    Which just goes to show that sometimes closed-source is truly for the best.

  3. Re:what is this even talking about? by Dragonslicer · · Score: 4, Funny

    By contrast, if you wanted to resurrect, say, WinCE?

    Have you ever considered a career pitching horror movies to Hollywood studios?

  4. Re:what is this even talking about? by Wraithlyn · · Score: 4, Funny

    "The revenant's eyes were a deep, cold blue. As it shambled ever closer, he could smell the rot of outdated drivers and decaying DLLs. As its cold unfeeling fingers closed around his throat, he could just make out the secret truth written inside those dead blue eyes..."

    "A fatal exception OE has occurred at 0028:C02A0948 IN VXD VWIN32. The current application will be terminated."

    --
    "Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson