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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/tr/html4/strict.dtd">
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<title>fear and loathing on the merger trail</title>
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<p class="important">You are currently viewing a snapshot of www.mozilla.org taken on April 21, 2008. Most of this content is
highly out of date (some pages haven't been updated since the project began in 1998) and exists for historical purposes only. If
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href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Websites&component=www.mozilla.org">file a bug</a>.</p>
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<h1>fear and loathing on the merger trail</h1>
<p>By <a href="mailto:jwz@mozilla.org">Jamie Zawinski</a>
(23-<abbr title="November">Nov</abbr>-98)
<p><strong><a href="./">mozilla.org</a></strong> is a strange thing. Mozilla is
an open source project that sprung fully formed from the belly of the
<a href="http://www.netscape.com/">beast</a>. Today, we're hearing the
grunting and shuffling of the mating dance, as that lumbering beast
joins with <a href="http://www.aol.com/">another</a>. And many people
are worried whether our little lizard is going to get trampled
underneath.
<p>The thing to keep in mind here is that mozilla.org is not Netscape,
and never has been. This is something that many people don't
understand, or don't believe, but as we described in our original
<a href="mission.html">mission statement</a>, the Mozilla Organization
has a different agenda from Netscape. We were chartered to guide the
open development of the Mozilla browser, and that is what we have done.
<p>But we have realized that there is something about the nature of
mozilla.org that many people miss: mozilla.org is actually a very small
number of people. We are three full time staff, and a handful of
volunteers. And we mostly do not code. There are hundreds of people
doing coding work on Mozilla: but those people do not work for
mozilla.org. Most of those people work for Netscape, though a growing
number of them work for other companies, or contribute on their own
time (for example, the Autoconf and
<a href="unix/">GTK-FE</a> projects were almost entirely done by
non-Netscape employees, and the <a href="xpfe/">XPFE</a> effort has a
huge amount of outside involvement, to name just a few.)
<p><a href="./about/roles.html">We few</a> at mozilla.org are guides;
<a href="get-involved.html">you hackers</a> are many, and <em>your</em>
decisions are what really count. We at mozilla.org try to provide
guidance, mediation, and infrastructure, but the fact is that the real
direction of the Mozilla project is dictated by the people who are
actually coding it. That's all that matters: when the rubber hits the
road, what does the program do? It does what the hackers working on it
have <em>made</em> it do.
<p>Some people have the impression that the Mozilla agenda is set by
Netscape, and to some extent that is true: because Netscape is paying
more than a hundred people full-time salaries to work on the Mozilla
code base -- and to give their code away.
<p>In addition, Netscape is funding mozilla.org, those of us providing
management and infrastructure and tools to this large, distributed
software project.
<p>So, with Netscape being acquired, what does that mean to
mozilla.org? Hopefully, it will mean nothing: hopefully, AOL didn't
buy Netscape with the intention of turning Netscape into something that
it is not; it's hard to imagine that they would spend $4 billion
dollars on Netscape just to throw away the client.
<p>So, assuming that they still want to have a Netscape Navigator, it
is not unreasonable to assume that they will adopt the same attitude
that Netscape has: that open source works, and that the best way to
have a top-of-the-line web browser is to keep it open.
<p>But let's think about some worst-case scenarios. Let's think about
the nightmares. What if AOL hates "open source"? What if they want to
undo everything we've done, and make Mozilla be evil and proprietary
again? What if they just think that browsers are a waste of time, and
that they should just use MSIE forevermore?
<p>Well, they simply cannot undo what has been done. The Mozilla code
is out there, and it cannot be recalled. It has been distributed under
an open source license, and nobody can ever take that away from you.
Ever.
<p>If AOL hated open source, or didn't want to build their own
browser, what they <em>could</em> do is fail to contribute to Mozilla in
the future. They could stop paying those hundred-plus full-time
salaries, and they could stop funding those of us who are mozilla.org's
full-time employees.
<p>But be clear on this: the agenda of Mozilla is set by those who
contribute to it. If you believe that mozilla.org is just a
smokescreen, that the organization exists only to swindle you out of
your hard work for the benefit of some shambling inhuman beast of a
corporation, then don't contribute to it. Take the source code, and
build your own browser based on it. Fork the tree. Do what's right.
<p>That has always been your prerogative, since the day the source was
released.
<p>And it hasn't happened yet -- because mozilla.org has
played straight with you. We have done what we said we were doing, and
we have managed this project as a real cooperative effort, like other
successful open source projects.
<p>Netscape realized that this is how it had to work. That is why
Netscape gave us the permission to charter mozilla.org the way we did,
and why Netscape has continued to give mozilla.org an unprecedented
level of autonomy.
<p>Hopefully those who hold the purse strings in the future will take
an equally enlightened view. It is in their best interest to do so,
and we must hope that they realize that.
<p>There are some vocal contingents on the net who hold a lot of
animosity toward AOL for one reason or another. There are other
contingents who hold similar animosity toward Netscape; perhaps for
similar reasons, perhaps for different. But in the end, what does it
matter? Either you get a good open source web browser out of the deal,
or you don't. Why should it matter who does the work? The work should
speak for itself, and be judged on its own merits. Anyone who is
willing to contribute to the Mozilla project should be welcomed with
open arms.
<p>mozilla.org is not Netscape. And it is not now, nor will it ever
be, AOL.
<h2 id="update">Update: 24-<abbr>Nov</abbr>-98<br>The Day After.</h2>
<p>My main point in writing the above was to point out to people that
the Mozilla project is bigger than Netscape, and the destinies of the two
are no longer inextricably tied together. To illustrate this, I talked
about worst-case scenarios, in an attempt to show that they really weren't
as bad as some people might expect them to be.
<p>In case I wasn't clear enough, I didn't really expect this to be a
worst-case scenario. And thankfully, today, we have some statements from
Netscape and AOL executives to back that up!
<ul>
<li>
<p>In <a href="http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,16466,00.html">Mozilla
Stomps Ahead Under AOL</a>, from Wired News, you can read the following:
<blockquote cite="http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,16466,00.html">
<p>Netscape will continue to support its quirky open-source browser
development program after the sale of the company to AOL, a Netscape
executive said this morning.
<p>...
<p>Netcenter chief Mike Homer said that the company would continue the
program, and that the volunteer Mozilla team has already contributed
changes to the Netscape's core Communicator browser.
<p>...
<p><q>We are committed to maintaining continuity at Netscape</q>, [AOL's]
Case said. <q>Netscape will remain in separate headquarters, operating
in Mountain View, California.</q>
<q>Of course, we will continue to develop and promote Netscape's
browser -- especially in context of [the Netcenter]
portal,</q> Case added.
<address><a href="http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,16466,00.html">Mozilla
Stomps Ahead Under AOL</a></address>
</blockquote>
<p>(But who are you calling <q>quirky?</q>)
<li>
<p>In <a href="http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,16477,00.html">Mozilla.org:
We Are Not Netscape</a>, from Wired News, this page is quoted, along with
more from Mike Homer:
<blockquote cite="http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,16477,00.html">
<p>When Netscape's Homer was asked for further comment, he said that while
he had not read Zawinski's remarks, he agreed with his characterization
of Mozilla's mission.
<p><q>Mozilla is larger than Netscape, and that was its intention,</q>
Homer said. <q>[Mozilla] is essentially a collaborative project that was
sponsored by a commercial entity.</q>
<p><q>The people that staff Mozilla.org are Netscape employees,</q> he
added. <q>The code that was contributed was code previously owned by
Netscape. However, it's also true that that code base will take on
life of its own someday.</q>
<address><a href="http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,16477,00.html">Mozilla.org:
We Are Not Netscape</a></address>
</blockquote>
<p>(Um, <q>someday?</q> I guess we need to show Mike some more recent
demos!)
<li>
<p>In <a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1023-218397.html">AOL to keep
Netscape browser wrapped</a>, from C/NET, we see some
speculation about AOL and MSIE, but also this important detail:
<blockquote cite="http://news.com.com/2100-1023-218397.html">
<p>Communicator's development and distribution efforts are likely to
remain relatively unchanged, according to executives. AOL will
continue to promote the Netscape browser through Netscape's Netcenter
portal site. Netscape's mozilla.org organization --
responsible for shepherding the worldwide community development effort
of Communicator's open source code -- will continue
operating as it does today, the executives added.
<address><a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1023-218397.html">AOL to keep
Netscape browser wrapped</a></address>
</blockquote>
<li>
<p>And finally, in
<a href="http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,16434,00.html">Thanks,
Mozilla</a>, also from Wired News, you can read a nice, nostalgic look
back at Mozilla's roots.
</ul>
<h2 id="update-2">Update: 25-Nov-98</h2>
<ul>
<li>I received an encouraging email from Steve Case, founder
and CEO of AOL. <a href="stevecase.html">Read what he had to say
about mozilla.org.</a>
</ul>
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<span>Last modified September 15, 2004</span>
<span><a href="http://bonsai-www.mozilla.org/cvslog.cgi?file=mozilla-org/html/fear.html&rev=&root=/www/">Document History</a></span>
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