Last week we launched the Mozilla Open Source Support Program (MOSS) – an award program specifically focused on supporting open source and free software. The first track within MOSS is a support for open source and free software projects that Mozilla uses or relies on. Our goal is to identify up to 10 such projects that we can fund in a thoughtful, meaningful way by December 12th.
We received positive feedback about the program, and a few ideas to improve and refine the offering. We have collected your feedback and answered questions – the MOSS wiki page has been updated to reflect those additions.
Today we are opening the application process.
Applications must be submitted by project leads in collaboration with a Mozilla champion – an established Mozillian who knows the project concerned and is willing to vouch for and support the application. If you are seeking a champion for your project, the best thing to do is investigate how Mozilla uses your code and ask the people most closely involved – those who integrated it, or who have patched it, or who maintain installations of it. If they can’t champion your grant, they may be able to suggest someone who can.
The deadline for applications which wish to be considered for the initial batch of MOSS grants is 11:59pm Pacific Time on Sunday November 23rd. However, we think it’s unlikely that the initial round of grants will exhaust the money available and so, after that date, MOSS applications will continue to be accepted, and will be considered when time permits.
You can read more about our draft selection criteria and committee in newly-posted information on the wiki. We invite you to take a look and share comments and feedback for one week.
We plan to hold a brown bag with David Bryant on ‘Building a Community around MOSS’ some time in the week beginning November 9th. Please join us if you are interested in becoming a champion for an open source project Mozilla currently uses, and if you would like to help us build a strong community. Timing will be published on the mailing list in the next few days.
If you want to be kept informed of Mozilla Open Source Support Program (MOSS) updates please join the public mailing list.
We look forward to considering the applications.