Mozilla

Mozilla Aspirations 2008

November 19th, 2007

A few weeks ago John Lilly got me to thinking — how would I describe my aspirations for Mozilla for 2008? I don’t mean how I would describe goals, or tasks, or specific things that need to be done. I mean aspirations — high level, overarching concepts that describe why we do things and what is ultimately important to accomplish.

Here’s the result — let me know what you think.

In 2008 we demonstrate to the world all the things that makes Firefox, Mozilla and the Open Web important. We tell the big picture Mozilla story effectively — what Mozilla is, what our products are, what our product and technology roadmaps are, what “open” is, how these traits result in a better Web, how people can participate, and why it matters.

We find new ways to give people greater control over their online lives — access to data, control of data, greater ability to participate beyond increased consumption. We demonstrate these characteristics through our products. We inspire others to create these characteristics. We show consumers what they should expect.

We make a compelling public case that this approach is practical, effective and innovative. We do this with Firefox 3, a great product that people love. We do it with other initiatives (not necessarily product releases) that show that Fx3 is a building block for even better things.

5 comments for “Mozilla Aspirations 2008”

  1. 1

    helyco said on November 19th, 2007 at 11:20 pm:

    Any plan about Thunderbird 3? No comment about the new “MailCo”?

    Those are, IMHO at least, two of the most relevant issue for 2008…

    Please Mitchell, could you add a few words about these topics?

    Many thanks!

  2. 2

    Majken said on November 19th, 2007 at 11:25 pm:

    This all sounds really cool. While you don’t come out and say it directly, I hope this means a real concerted effort to increase community involvement in roles other than development.

    So far there have been some efforts to give people more chances to feel involved, like the vote for which product to add to the Mozilla store. They’re still too few and far between, though, compared to what opportunities Mozilla could offer, and as Mozilla gets more successful and relies more on paid help it’s unfortunately getting harder for community members to contribute as there are people on staff that just handle it.

  3. 3

    rebron said on November 19th, 2007 at 11:33 pm:

    I’d go with a focus on longevity, Mozilla/Firefox is here to stay, here for the long haul, product is reliable, etc.

    Solidify the “foundation”, highlight the successes, and use that as a launching point. Web sites and applications that have been successful (and even those that haven’t been) owe a lot to Firefox and that should be noted too.

    That’s what I’d go with anyway.

    “Why Mozilla matters” is a story that’s played out. Mozilla/Firefox is ubiquitous.

  4. 4

    Amir E. Aharoni said on November 20th, 2007 at 3:44 am:

    Hmm.

    This is an good goal – i also think that Mozilla is important. It is really important that the web will be not only functional, but open, too.

    But there is quite a lot of criticism against Firefox on the technical level. The critics’ strongest point seem to be that Opera’s standards support and JavaScript performance are superior to those of Mozilla. I will still stick to Firefox, because Opera is not Free Software, but those technical are nevertheless valid.

    They seem to be addressed in Brendan’s proposals for the Mozilla 2 architecture. Do you consider its implementation as a goal for 2008?

  5. 5

    Mitchell Baker said on November 27th, 2007 at 2:28 pm:

    My plan is to move from aspirations to more specific items that are more concrete. The Thunderbird / mail space is one, the vitality of our technology is one, and community involvement is the foundation on which everything is based. Also working on the longevity piece.

    Majken: I absolutely agree that voting in the store is a new and good thing, but only one small piece of what makes opportunities. You didn’t mention our recent efforts to support people who want to speak up publicly about why they are involved in Mozilla. I wonder if this is because many people don’t want to speak comfortably, or if this has not been clear?

    mitchell

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