Mozilla celebrates a decade!

March 31, 1998 is the date of birth of the Mozilla project. On this day, Mozilla's publicly available codes were posted online. On the same day, the Mozilla Organization began its work. I would like to briefly look back over the past ten years and look a bit over the next ten years.



Ten years ago, the idea in the air took shape. The idea was to give the Internet community the free technologies and the freedom of choice that commercial projects could not give. The idea gained a name under the name Mozilla Organization.
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Mozilla was not the first who decided to give freedom of choice. At that time, GNU / Linux and BSD systems had already proven that servers on it could work just as well, and even better than commercial solutions. Apache also showed itself from a very good side, withstanding strong competition with commercial code. All this pushed for the realization of the idea with Mozilla, confirming that the project can be competitive and alive.

What was Mozilla right from the start?

1. open source browser;
2. enthusiasts ready to waste time and energy on the project;
3. a huge number of people supported us, gave advice and recommendations, helped - this was the necessary support for us;
4. open source code licenses allowed Mozilla code to be used for their own purposes;
5. Web site;
6. and this is a miracle ;

For ten years we have proven the power of our idea. And in the next ten years, we will be innovators of Internet technologies.

What could we achieve?

1. closed and secret software creation process, we made open, attractive and understandable;
2. it may very well be that Mozilla is the largest community based around open source software;
3. developed technology;
4. A large number of developed projects for the convenience of millions of people are Firefox, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, Camino, Bugzilla, Calendar;
5. the opportunity to become a software developer with an audience of 170 million people;
6. localization in dozens of world languages;
7. our products are used at the state level;
8. creating software based on Mozilla, which in some cases can compete with Mozilla;
9. The public work of the Mozilla Organization is as transparent as possible;
10. reputation that people trust;
11. developed work mechanisms that allow you to make a profit Mozilla Organization;
12. you can easily help the development of projects;
13. clearly described the mission of our organization;
14. promotion of development for the Mozilla Organization;
15. huge communities of great intellectual value have been created.

This is not all that we want to do. The next ten years now throw challenges to us, however, they provide new opportunities. The Internet is already tightly embedded in everyday life, and this interweaving will only grow stronger over time. There are no barriers and guarantees against the negative impact of the Network.

Mozilla has to assume this role. But not as a guarantor, but as a tool. A tool backed by millions of people who have chosen our products, thousands of developers who make our products better.

We want to see the Internet an open platform with rich technological capabilities, accessible both to professionals and beginners. Singles and developer groups. Choosing Mozilla is the first step to such an Internet.

Ten years ago, most Web users thought that a place open to commercial products was, perhaps, in a fantastic comic. However, we have refuted this opinion. We did the impossible. And now the situation is qualitatively different from the one that was ten years ago.

Modern Network throws us calls that simply can not be called simple. But there are disproportionately more opportunities! We have experience, there are people, there are means and strength. This is our world. Let's make it great!

Cross post from my blog .