Mozilla Foundation Created

Tuesday July 15th, 2003

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.

We have always wanted an independent organization for Mozilla, and those of us who've been on staff@mozilla.org have conducted Mozilla business according to what we judged was good for Mozilla, not what was good for any one corporate contributor. It has not always been easy to wear two hats; conflicts have come and gone, but we're better off for our experience running the project as an open source meritocracy. There was never any other way to go.

Now that the Mozilla Foundation has been launched, we believe the time is ripe to move aggressively toward new distribution channels, new end-user markets, and better incorporation of developer-driven innovations from the whole Mozilla community.

Whenever a project shifts footing or changes focus, there is tension between old and new. We are sensitive to this tension, and we do not plan any abrupt changes. mozilla.org staff will continue to manage the project. Three members of staff will be on the Board of Directors of the Mozilla Foundation — Mitchell Baker, Brendan Eich, and Chris Blizzard — so the governing body of the Mozilla Foundation is congruent with long-term project leadership. The Board's role is to provide general oversight. The role of mozilla.org staff, drivers, reviewers, and module owners will continue as before.

We're fortunate to start with significant seed funding, and we expect to spend the bulk of it on salaries for key staff members and technical contributors. We will continue our focus on technical excellence in our on-going quest for standards compliance, portability, performance, and innovative end-user features.

Mozilla has won numerous awards and acclaim lately. The Mozilla Foundation is great news for all members of the Mozilla community. We hope you'll join us in working with mozilla.org to make Mozilla an even greater success in the future.

Mitchell Baker and Brendan Eich

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