Archive for May, 2007

I’m working on defining a search process for the Mozilla Foundation Executive Director. I’ve put an outline of my thinking so far in the mozilla.governance newsgroup, as that seems a better place for discussion. Take a look if you are interested in this topic.

Chris Beard’s recent post on being “knowable” helped crystallize some thoughts that have been running through my head, trying to find some form for expression.

These thoughts have been on the nature of “community” and its role in Mozilla. Sometimes I hear people talk about the Mozilla Foundation and/or the Mozilla Corporation as somehow distinct from the Mozilla community. I see things like “the Foundation and the community” or the “corporation and the community.” Even more pronounced, sometimes people tie the product – say Firefox, to either the foundation or the corporation, and then talk about the community as something different. Or they tie Firefox to the Corporation and view the Foundation and community as different, or separate, or outside of Firefox.

I think this overstates the role of legal structure and underestimates the fundamental role of community in all we do. The Mozilla community is not separate from Firefox or from any of the other activities in which Mozilla engages. The Mozilla organizations – Mozilla Foundation, Mozilla Corporation, Mozilla Europe, Mozilla Japan, Mozilla China – have special responsibilities related to the resources they manage (Mozilla name and goodwill, infrastructure, revenue). These assets need to be managed for community benefit; the responsibilities need to be fulfilled as a member of the community, with two-way input and communication. None of these organizations can be successful by operating in a traditional sense.

This brings me back to Chris Beard’s blog. (Yes, there is a tie ) Chris mentioned the problem that the word “corporation” has history and meaning that get in the way of people understanding Mozilla. People hear the word “Corporation” and then associate the Mozilla Corporation with other taxable corporations rather than thinking of the Mozilla Corporation as one of many tools for accomplishing the Mozilla vision.

This is unfortunate. We formed the Mozilla Corporation as a tool for accomplishing the Mozilla mission of an open and innovative Internet. It operates to promote the public benefit. It does not operate on standard for-profit principles. The Mozilla community (including those community members who are employees of the foundation and/or corporation) would not allow it to do so.

Our best estimates are that between 30 and 40% of the code in Firefox 2 was created by people who are not employees of any Mozilla organization. That’s a giant amount, particularly because we’ve hired a bunch of long time Mozilla contributors recently, and still the amount of code from non-employees is around a third of the product. Then there are the thousands of people who participate in related activities – testing, localizing, evangelizing – that develop and promote Firefox. There are also vibrant communities focused around other Mozilla activities, from Seamonkey to the Mozilla platform.

This set of people – volunteers and employees alike – is the heart of Mozilla, the life that makes us real and gives us impact. This community does not form to support a standard corporate endeavor. It forms to support the Mozilla mission. The legal organizations of the Mozilla world exist for the same reason. They are organizational centers to help the greater Mozilla community be more effective.

As I mentioned a while back, the Mozilla Foundation is seeking an Executive Director. I’ve included the complete job description below. The search process for the Executive Director must be open, with significant community involvement. I’ll post a proposed plan for the search activities in the next couple of days for review and comment.

Information about the search as well as the job specification can also be found at the Mozilla Foundation website.

If you have thoughts on the job description, or on the proposed search process, please post them either as comments here, or as comments in the mozilla.governance newsgroup ((available via newsreader or mailing list , or via the browser). And if you know anyone you think would be a good candidate, please contact Eunice Azzani at Eunice [dot] Azzani [at] kornferry [dot] com.

Carl Malamud has started a new organization, Public.Resource.Org, that is “dedicated to the creation of public works projects on the Internet” with an initial focus of “increasing the flow of information in both directions between the U.S. government and people.”

Carl is leaving the Mozilla Foundation Board of Directors and will be focusing his time on Public.Resource.Org. During his tenure, Carl has brought his fierce determination to benefit public access to information to the Mozilla Foundation. We are a stronger organization as a result of Carl’s involvement.

Please join me in thanking Carl for his contributions to the Mozilla world, and in wishing Carl the best with Public.Resource.Org.

The Mozilla community is unbelievably vibrant and active. There is a long history of people interested in Mozilla clumping together to make things happen – this started way back in 1999 or so and continues today. Our QA effort is one example, Firefox is another, mozdev.org is another, spreadfirefox is another. In each of these settings groups of people decided something should be done to expand the reach of Mozilla, they made something good happen, and now they are integral parts of Mozilla.

The activities underway to inaugurate Mozpad are a contemporary example of the Mozilla community. There are a group of application developers using the Mozilla platform to build applications other than the browser. These developers start with Mozilla code, add other elements, and build applications and businesses. The developers get enormous value from Mozilla code, but it often does not meet all of their needs. The unmet needs might be changes to the core Mozilla platform, packaging and installation changes, or any number of other things.

A user’s group for these developers such as Mozpad is a great idea. And not only is it a great idea, but it is happening. And it’s happening through a classic Mozilla process – people see a need, self-organize, and improve the Mozilla world. Matt has come up with a name (always helpful), and is organizing an initial meeting. All those interested are welcome to attend.

Self-organizing, “doing,” and expanding the Mozilla world is a long-standing and fundamental aspect of the Mozilla community. It’s how many new things gain traction, often leading to more effective results than would come from a centralized planning effort.

As self-organizing activities gain scale and provide new benefits to the Mozilla world, Mozilla works to provide infrastructure and supporting resources. If there are ongoing activities coming out of Mozpad, Mozilla is more than happy to provide infrastructure – newsgroups, mailing lists, discussion sites, etc. – and to help get appropriate platform development requests incorporated into the general development process.

The vitality of the Mozilla community produces an astonishing range of self-organizing groups of people who move the Mozilla vision closer to reality. It’s unbelievably energizing to be part of such a community.