|
|
|
|
|
|
who we are
The members of mozilla.org are employees of Netscape
Communications Corporation. We are some of the people who wrote Netscape
Communicator. We are the people who know the code best, since (until March
31st) we were among the very small set of people who have ever seen it.
As time goes by, it will no longer be the case that the people who know
the code best are necessarily people who are also employed by Netscape
Communications Corporation; we intend to delegate authority over the various
modules to the people most qualified to make decisions about them. We intend
to operate as a meritocracy: the more good code you contribute, the more
responsibility you will be given. We believe that to be the only way to
continue to remain relevant, and to do the greatest good for the greatest
number.
The Getting Involved page
goes into more detail about how we expect this to work.
Netscape's Role
Netscape is paying our salaries, and providing hardware and bandwidth in
the hope of making mozilla.org a success.
Other than that, Netscape's role is the same as yours: Netscape writes
code, and makes use of code written by others. Netscape will contribute new
code back to the public just as others will.
Netscape will also continue to provide an executable-only release of
Mozilla that bears the "Netscape" brand (e.g., the name "Netscape
Communicator." These executable releases will differ from random
executables built from the public source in two ways:
First, they will bear the Netscape brand name, which brings with it a
certain expectation of quality. This is the version that Netscape tests,
endorses, and certifies as being "good."
Second, the Netscape releases may contain code and functionality that
has not been released to the public; for example, code that Netscape has
licensed from other companies, or that Netscape does not have permission to
distribute in source form (such as Sun's Java implementation, or
cryptographic code.)
These executable releases will come from Netscape, not from mozilla.org;
mozilla.org's product is source code, and its customers/partners are
developers. Those developers (of whom Netscape is but one) are the ones
who create executables, and whose customers are end users.
Dramatis Personae
Currently, the full time staff of mozilla.org isn't very numerous.
This doesn't tell the whole story, however, since there are scores of
people helping out in ways large and small. The mozilla.org project has
also (so far) proved capable of sneaking lots of cycles from other people.
- Brendan Eich
([email protected])
- Brendan is responsible for architecture and technical direction of
Mozilla. He is charged with maintaining the list of module owners and with
owning architectural issues of the source base. He's writing the "browser
roadmap" that encompasses future HTML layout work, source modularity, and
hooks up to stuff like the OJI and new plugins docs.
Brendan created JavaScript, did the work through Navigator 4.0, and
helped carry it through international standardization. Before Netscape, he
wrote operating system and network code for SGI; and at MicroUnity, wrote
micro-kernel and DSP code, and did the first MIPS R4K port of gcc, the GNU
C compiler.
- Daniel (Leaf) Nunes
([email protected])
-
Leaf is the newest member of mozilla.org. He recently graduated from
the Baskin School of Engineering
at UC Santa Cruz and used to work for a company named
Fabrik,
doing database hacking. He joins Chris Yeh on
the development process team (read: "Tree Deputy").
- Terry Weissman
([email protected])
-
Terry writes and maintains various tools used in the operation of
mozilla.org. Most noticably, he's been involved in
Bugzilla, Bonsai, and
Tinderbox.
Terry looks around for things that need doing and tries to do them.
Terry wrote the one-third of the initial version of Netscape Mail
and News (in Navigator 2.0 and 3.0) that Jamie didn't do. He also
worked on Mail and News in Communicator 4.0, and has worked on
Netscape's internal bug-tracking and CVS tools. He's had previous
experience in free software: he wrote xmh, a free mail reader, and
worked on the original Xt toolkit and Athena widgets.
- Chris Yeh
([email protected])
-
Chris was recently abducted by a strange group of people with pointy
hair. He was returned safely but isn't quite the same as
he used to be. He now uses phrases such as "action item" and
"paradigm" with disturbing regularity. Most recently
he has been seen using a calendaring program to schedule meetings.
Despite this recent tragedy, flashes of his old self can be seen. He
can be best catagorized as "mozilla.org sympathizer" and "occasional hacker
of the build system".
- Jamie Zawinski
([email protected])
- Jamie is best characterized as "jwz." It's hard to characterize
responsibility for content and soul of an application and overall
environment, but that's what Jamie does. So he's evangelist,
gestaltmeister, representative of the net, and lately he's been pitching in
as webmaster; he created the mozilla.org website. Jamie likes to
think of his role as "loose cannon."
Jamie wrote the Unix-specific parts of Mozilla from the first release
through 1.1. Later, he wrote half of the initial version of Netscape Mail
and News (in Navigator 2.0 and 3.0) and worked on S/MIME in Communicator 4.0.
Before Netscape, he was responsible for Lucid Emacs (currently known as
XEmacs), and many other free software
projects.
- Mike Shaver
([email protected])
- shaver is the token Canadian. By day, he hacks JavaScript and
related things, and by night he grumbles and whines and generally
makes a fuss around the mozilla.org campsite. When things break,
Mike will sometimes fix them, but usually he just pouts until
someone else makes it all better.
Mike is a veteran of the free software (especially Linux) scene,
and is a loud and persistent champion of free software within
Netscape. Before Netscape, Mike played CTO for a little Canadian
consulting company called Ingenia
(now a part of Software Kinetics).
|
|
|