I think that the Mozilla Manifesto, currently in draft version is very significant for both the Mozilla project, and the Internet as a whole. It's also a defining moment for the FLOSS movement and the Internet industry. So I'll be spending some time to publish a few posts reviewing the content of the Manifesto. I plan to have these posts queued in my wonderful blogging tool to have them published while I'm away on vacations. If things go wrong, don't worry: it's just that DotClear in currently in Beta, and it's also the first time I'll be using the delayed posting feature...

In the following posts, extracts of the Mozilla Manifesto will appear in blockquote elements. My comments will have standard styling.

Let's start with the first sentence of the introduction:

The Internet is becoming an increasingly important part of our lives.

I believe – and many of us within the Mozilla project believe – that we're just at the beginning of the Internet. I speak for myself, but I'm sure that I'm not alone thinking that the Internet, on top of being a wonderful tool, is an opportunity, an amazing promise for mankind. I often say that the importance of the Internet and the Web as inventions are similar to the invention of the printing press, as it defines how people communicate, share, and how culture and knowledge spread in the world.[1]

Readers and Mozilla contributors are invited to discuss the Mozilla Manifesto on the Mozilla.Governance mailing list / newsgroup.

Notes

[1] There are many important inventions not mentioned here. Some consider that TV is similarly important, but what I like with the Web and the Internet are their decentralized approach, where anyone can contribute, as opposed to TV. An open education system is also very important so that citizens can learn how to read and write, which is key in order to use tools such as books and the Internet.