Mozilla is changing, as everybody has noticed. It's not change for the sake of change, but the whole environment is changing. Here are a list of things that have changed over the past few years, from the top of my head, in no particular order:
- Competition in the browser space is now really strong, with 3 browsers with more than 20% market share.
- Microsoft releases a browser every year now (sounds crazy when you think about it!). Every version is getting better at supporting Web standards (Yay!)
- Google marketing budgets for Chrome are much larger than Mozilla's annual revenue.
- Open Web technologies are moving forward faster than ever, under the "HTML5" name (which includes all the related technologies, from the DOM to the numerous new APIs and CSS evolutions).
- JavaScript is now really fast.
- Mobile is everywhere. It's actually the new frontier. This year, the PC market will be smaller than mobile (in terms of units sold).
- Tablets are taking off as a market.
- In the mobile space, not all platforms enable the user to choose what Web browser to use. This trend may also be coming to the PC world with Chrome OS, which only runs Chrome.
- The notion of App Stores has been widely accepted by the public. The upcoming version of OS X, Lion, will be sold via the Mac App Store, without physical media.
- The general public is now becoming aware of online privacy issues, but it's still something that needs to be addressed.
- "Cloud Computing" is so common that it's now a household word.
- Social Networks are so important now that many pundits say that Google may fail for not being social enough (then Google Plus changed it all).
- Hardware is changing too. Not just the form factor (from PC to tablets and smartphones), but the processors themselves, with ARM becoming a very strong contender and multiple cores becoming the norm.
I'm sure I'm forgetting many things when describing the changes happening around Mozilla (please leave a comment below if you think I forgot something significant). Anyway, we're far from the days when IE had a monopoly, while the Web technologies where stagnating, everybody on the Web was developing for IE6 and the PC was the center of the IT world.
Basically, everything around us (Mozilla) is changing: the landscape is changing. The battlefield is growing. We need to change, to adapt.
The good news is that we've started changing already in a significant way, for example with the Rapid Release Process. The not-so-good news is that change is uncomfortable, for two reasons:
- it takes some time to get adjusted to the new situation, for some people more than others.
- we're going to make mistakes along the way (I know for a fact we've made a couple already).
We're going to fix these mistakes as much as we can, just like we're going to get used to do things in a different way. We'll have hard decisions to make. We'll have to revisit some of these decisions if they're really bad. It's not going to be all easy and fun, but the history of Mozilla has not been a walk in the park either.[1]
So change is taking place because it has to: in such a changing environment, we need to demonstrate leadership, take initiatives, or we'll become obsolete.
Although there are things that will not change. At least two things come to my mind:
- Why we[2] pursue the Mozilla mission as described in the The Mozilla Manifesto.
- How we do it: within a community, in an Open way, around Open standards, using Open source and Free software.
Some details[3] on the how part will change, or have already changed. The Rapid Release Process comes to mind, but while it's a significant change, it does not touch our principles. It certainly impacts our community, both for Add-ons developers and Enterprise users, and we're working on addressing these issues. As Mozilla evolves, we'll keep on making mistakes, because we're going to places we've never been before. It's OK: we need to learn how to take risks, make mistakes and learn from them. We also need to learn to over-communicate, as communication becomes even more important as we change. It's already happening in the add-ons world[4] and we've just announced the Mozilla Enterprise User Working Group.
So change is happening because it has to and it's uncomfortable for many of us. Maybe too uncomfortable for a few of us. We'll see a handful of people leaving the Mozilla project. It has happened before, and it was unpleasant[5]. I just don't think we should stop evolving because we're scared that people may leave.
Now as long as the course of the project is in line with our goals and values - like it is right now - you can expect me to be here, committed and working hard. I'm sure I can count on you for this too.
Notes
[1] Remember when all Netscape employees were let go in July 2003? Remember when Mozilla had decided to bet everything on Firefox and Thunderbird instead of the Mozilla Suite? I was there and I do remember, and I have no regrets. I do have scars from back then, though.
[2] the Mozilla project as a whole including paid staff, volunteers of all kinds, partners, add-on developers and the numerous enthusiasts around the world.
[3] as opposed to principles.
[4] See the add-on compatibility report and Jorge's blog post.
[5] Remember JWZ and MPT? I do. People come and go, and that's a fact of life.
14 réactions
1 De Jarno - 19/07/2011, 21:25
What about Firefox LTS, for example one time a year with a 16 month support?
Companies will need it, web software vendors too. Or some of them, especially little ones, will have to break Firefox support as they can't support Chrome yet because changes come too often.
The risk is very simple: back to IE support only!
Please be careful of that!
Jarno (great supporter of W3C standards & Firefox since Phoenix!)
2 De jor - 19/07/2011, 21:31
Changing and making mistakes is necessary to improve.
Mozilla did it in the past, I'm sure you can do it now too.
3 De Nico - 19/07/2011, 22:20
At last, it is good to hear a simple voice saying "we have to change, it might be difficult, but let's try".
I highly approve this point of view. To sum up : "it is not because things are difficult that we don't try, it is because we don't try that they seem difficult".
4 De Ewolf - 19/07/2011, 22:31
merci à Mozilla d'évoluer mais aussi d'évaluer l'évolution
toute organisation n'est pas toujours capable de se remettre en question et apparemment c'est le cas et c'est tant mieux
je reprends confiance en Mozilla alors que d'autres trucs que j'avais lu auparavant m'avaient fait très peur (notamment sur le peu de cas des entreprises alors que j'estime que la conversion de nouveaux utilisateurs va devoir obligatoirement passer par les entreprises et que de nombreuses organisation "non profits" dont les administrations veulent passer)
5 De Ronan - 19/07/2011, 22:32
Un discours construit, argumenté et clair. Très convaincant. Un vrai discours politique.
Mais qui laisse ce désagréable arrière goût de certains discours politiques, cette impression de se faire endormir (restons polis).
Alors Tristan, une question franche : approuvez-vous, dans le fond et dans la forme l'évolution de la politique de Mozilla ? Etes-vous fondamentalement à l'aise avec les discours tranchés, qui délaissent/dénigrent certains utilisateurs/usages ?
Personnellement, je me reconnais (de moins en) moins dans la politique de Mozilla. J'en arrive à douter des valeurs, tout comme je suis déçu de l'évolution technique, que je juge en retrait par rapport à l'évolution du marché.
Je n'ai pas installé Firefox 5, ni le 5.01, parce que je ne comprends pas l'arrivée de cette version majeure aussi vite, que je doute de la compatibilité des plugins, et plus simplement parce que je ne trouve pas de bénéfice dans cette démarche.
Si ce n'est pas à l'utilisateur, à qui profite la course à l’échalote ?
6 De Xbmacx - 19/07/2011, 23:09
> Ca vaut le coup que je fasse une version FR de mon billet sur le changement et Mozilla ?
Pour ma part, oh oui ! Merci, avec le temps de juillet, ce sera un plaisir de le lire sans google translate
7 De heloz - 20/07/2011, 02:00
Thanks - that's a good summary. Let's go Mozilla!
8 De Ken Saunders - 20/07/2011, 05:25
Are you starting to see any similar patterns now that occurred back in 2003?
I wasn't around Mozilla then, and I certainly don't have my finger on the pulse of all of Mozilla right now (who could), but from what I've seen on mailing lists, Mozillian's (personal) blogs, tech news and media sites, social networks, and especially in the hundreds of comments that I read on all of those, there's some pretty significant fracturing going on right now between community members/contributors, developers, add-on developers, (most importantly) end users, the media itself, and the Mozilla Foundation's and/or Corporation.
Essentially meaning that it's a fair amount of all of those groups unhappy with, confused about, concerned about, surprised by, or all of those things at once, the direction and choices made by MoFo, or MoCo. I'm not sure which. Perhaps both?
Again, from what I've read, not my own personal feelings, some people feel that there are some things, perhaps many things that are not being discussed out in the open, and instead of acting on a consensus of what the global Mozilla community members believe is a good, correct, (whatever) path for the Mozilla project, a lot of decisions and policies are being made and established by those hired on from outside of the community. And like someone recently said, they move on to other things, usually outside of Mozilla.
I do sense a few things myself.
It almost seems like at whatever the immediate cost and results, Mozilla is willing to, no, Mozilla is moving forward and either keep up with the new program, or move on.
The number of add-on developers that are no longer contributing is increasingly rapidly.
Ok, so new ones will come along using the Add-on Builder and SDK, but there's going to be a gap between now and then and so the choices for add-ons becomes fewer, and in turn Mozilla will lose end users because for many of them, add-ons, or a particular one is all that's keeping them from jumping over to Chrome.
Mozilla can't afford that. And losing add-on developers is never a good thing. Some of them move deeper into Mozilla and go on to contribute more and do other things besides just make add-ons.
I've focused on Firefox the product because I believe it's still, Mozilla's most important asset and its primary vehicle to continue to power its mission. I'm well aware that there's more to Mozilla than just software.
Now for me personally as an end user, a Mozilla advocate, an add-on developer hobbyist, and a web developer, I'm concerned about the state of the community and Mozilla itself and it's kind of tough watching and experiencing it all. It's like watching my family deal with serious issues you know?
I understand that Mozilla will be fine. I understand that at the end of the day someone has to, and has the authority to make the tough decisions, I do. But I hope that this transformation/change, whatever is happening isn't at the expense of losing a lot of people. Mozilla is its people isn't it?
I guess moving forward, communication (as you mentioned) will be essential and perhaps has been lacking.
It's nice to see that with things like the Mozilla Enterprise User Working Group, Mozilla is now reacting positively and offering solutions to some of the concerns of its users and supporters.
I hope that we see more of this.
9 De Tony Mechelynck - 20/07/2011, 05:45
Stunning how that jwz post from 1999-03-31 still sounds relevant today. Not so much the "I give up" at the end, except, I suppose, as a warning, but the observation that "when a company becomes big and successful, it starts losing leaders driven by enthusiasm («people who want to make their company successful») and getting much larger numbers of followers landing on success as flies on honey («people who want to get into a successful company»). Also, and maybe from a partial viewpoint, it seems to me that the story from Netscape 4 to Mozilla goes on from Mozilla to Firefox (and Thunderbird), and then, by a wild inversion of destinies, from Firefox (and Thunderbird) to the community-driven SeaMonkey project…
10 De Lilian - 20/07/2011, 08:33
Glazman a très bien résumé le problème des releases rapides : http://www.glazman.org/weblog/dotcl...
Je suis un peu déçu, en tant qu'utilisateur des choix fait pour la nouvelle interface : plus d'icone RSS, plus de barre d'état, un gestionnaire de téléchargement qui ne s'affiche pas quand c'est utile, ... (je connais les addons pour contourner ces changements, mais ce n'est plus dans le produit "standard").
11 De harisson - 20/07/2011, 12:04
Tout mon soutien à Mozilla
la concurrence de Chrome (Safari & IE) est rude. Je pense que vous devriez renforcer rapidement votre présence dans les 8 derniers points que tu as énoncés (Mobile, Cloud, Firefox OS, Tablet, App Store, Privacy, Social Network, ARM).
12 De Michael - 20/07/2011, 15:42
Great post. It's nice to see acknowledgement of mistakes and pain being caused, on the way to something better in future. So far most Mozilla people seem to be denying that there were any mistakes or any pain, and rejecting complaints because they are due to people not understanding the plan. "This is bad but we have to go through it" feels much better than "This isn't bad overall, so if you think it's bad then you're wrong".
"This year, the PC market will be smaller than mobile (in terms of units sold)."
Also, I'm not saying mobile isn't a new frontier, but it seems to be overstated somewhat (not as much in your post as in some others...). Looking at sales or ownership of mobile devices and comparing to PCs doesn't seem a useful comparison. What percentage of PC users do not use a web browser? What percentage of mobile phone users do not use a web browser? I don't know the figures, but my impression is that the second is much higher than the first. There's not much point in counting mobile phones if people are only using them for calls and text messages...
13 De Marcia - 20/07/2011, 19:11
Just one nit from a historical perspective - "Remember when all Netscape employees were let go in July 2003?" is not entirely correct. While many Netscape employees were let go in July, some people such as myself survived until December of 2003.
14 De diolu - 22/07/2011, 08:59
Look at chrome: it updates when it is necessary but new releases is not the element that is promoted. The interface is very lean and clean but it is deeply configurable if you want to. It seems more responsive than Firefox. I think that Mozilla should learn from that. New release for new release is the strategy of Microsoft and Internet explorer but they are on the decline.
Now more good web browsers mean more competition and a decline of the market share. A few years firefox had no real competitor on Linux and only IE with all of its security problems on Windows.