Mozilla To Let Thunderbird Go
Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker, has announced on her blog that the company is considering letting go of its email client, Thunderbird. The free email client was updated to version 2.0.0.5 last week. Stating that Firefox will always be the company’s priority, Baker mentioned three possible scenarios for its email client.
- The first option is to create a non-profit organization similar to the Mozilla foundation to foucus on the development of Thunderbird.
- The second option is to create a new subsidiary of the Mozilla foundation focused solely on the email client.
- The third and last option is to release Thunderbird as a community project.
Baker further stated,
We don’t know the best answer yet. And we don’t expect to without a broad public discussion and involvement, which we hope this message will trigger.
What do you guys think is the best option?
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July 28th, 2007 04:08
Well - I use Tbird and LOVE it! It is a feed reader and email client (and more).
I am not really sure what I want to happen - as long as it is still around and more and more programs can work with it. I also want to make sure that there is still great support for it. I don’t want to switch back to Outlook.
July 28th, 2007 04:11
@Brooke:
I wouldn’t want to use Outlook either hehe.
July 28th, 2007 04:22
[…] I read it at first at: http://www.brownbaron.com/blog/2007/07/28/mozilla-to-let-thunderbird-go/ […]
July 28th, 2007 08:10
I used Thunderbird only here and there but was always happy with it. This news brings sadness. Hopefully Mozilla will find a way to keep hope alive!
July 28th, 2007 08:17
I’ve never actually tried Thunderbird. Perhaps I should. But by what they said and how they’re approaching this, it doesn’t really look like they’re going to let it die completely. More that they want to open up a dialog with users and the public to see where to go with it. I like that approach. Users should have more input on products and services than they do, IMHO.
Personally, I’d go with option 2 at this point. I guess we’ll see! But in the meantime, I’m gonna give Thunderbird a whirl and see how well it flies with me.
Shine on,
Aaron
July 28th, 2007 09:17
Though I do not use Thunderbird (Kontact/K-Mail for me), I have recommended it to many people who now use it reguarly. All I can hope is that its development is continued in some way.
July 28th, 2007 12:31
@Bush:
I hope they do too.
@Aaron:
That post by Mitchell sparked a long discussion on her blog. Users are really concerned about Thunderbird’s future. It might end up as a community project.
@Jake:
I agree. I think that Mozilla was disappointed that Thunderbird couldn’t compete with the more popular email clients.
July 29th, 2007 15:32
Then there is the Penelope project:
http://wiki.mozilla.org/Penelope
An open source version of Eudora. I am a thunderbird user and have stayed with it during my switch from Windows to Mac. I have also used Eudora in the past so will be interested to see what Penelope looks like.
July 30th, 2007 01:25
I use Thunderbird and wish Mozilla reconsider their decision. I want to see more feature added in it.
July 30th, 2007 01:41
@Coach:
That sounds interesting. I should take a look at that.
@Haris:
There are quite a lot of people wondering about that too.
July 30th, 2007 07:01
I haven’t really used Thunderbird much. I have give a try couple of times though. I like the name. In the give option, I would vote for #3
July 30th, 2007 09:42
I’ve used Thunderbird for well over two years now and definitely would not be able to use another client. However, I haven’t upgraded to version 2.0 as I think that 1.5 does everything I need it to do - sorting my messages, a good junk filter, aggregate a few RSS feeds.
I think it will wind up being a community project since there is such a great community of users already out there, even if a lot of us just say to use it instead of being active in the development and improvement of it.
Sephyroth
http://www.sephyroth.net
July 30th, 2007 11:46
@Benedict:
I think the third option would be best too.
@Sephyroth:
I think it will end up as a community project. It might even turn out better
August 3rd, 2007 07:16
Ah me…just when you think it’s safe to stick with an email client you actually like and works well.
I’ve been using Thunderbird for about a year now and I’d hate for it to go into development purgatory and I couldn’t even begin to ponder going back to Outlook Express.
So my opinion is strictly subjective (and most likely selfish as well)–As long as TB continues to be properly developed and improved upon, “all the above” is fine with me.
August 3rd, 2007 12:28
@Kirk M:
I have a feeling most people feel that way too
September 19th, 2007 00:34
[…] announcing that it was considering letting Thunderbird go, Mozilla has now chosen to create a new subsidiary with $3 million startup money to focus on the […]