AOL backs Mozilla with $2mn donation

Dom · Jul 17, 2003, 01:23 PM

The future of the open source Mozilla Web browser - and its Firebird and Camino derivatives - appears assured for the foreseeable future with the news that AOL has made a $2mn donation to the new Mozilla Foundation.

The foundation has been established to 'promote the distribution and adoption' of Mozilla-based applications, which include the Thunderbird email client as well as the aforementioned browsers.

Sun Microsystems and Red hat Linux will also continue to add their support.

The Mozilla Foundation will be chaired by Mitch Kapor, the designer of Lotus 1-2-3, the spreadsheet application credited with driving the adoption of the PC in business world in the 1980s. Kapor will donate $300,000 of his own money.

'As an independent organisation, the Mozilla project will have even more freedom to innovate and provide meaningful choice to users on all computer environments,' said Kapor. 'A competitive, standards-compliant browser suite is vitally important to maintaining freedom and innovation on the Internet, so I'm delighted to make a contribution.'

AOL owns the Netscape browser, which is based on and almost identical to Mozilla. It laid off 50 Netscape staff this week - less than 10 per cent of the workforce - but says that it remains committed to the software.

'Netscape remains a key part of our multibrand strategy,' said AOL spokesman Andrew Weinstein. 'We will continue to support the browser and the portal.'

AOL's decision to continue supporting Mozilla is welcome news in the wake of the company's recent settlement with Microsoft that gives it a seven-year, royalty-free licence to use Internet Explorer. The agreement raised fears that AOL would revert to using IE in its Internet access package, abandoning Netscape and Mozilla in the process.

Mozilla has celebrated the launch of the foundation with a redesign of its website - www.mozilla.org. The new layout makes it much easier to locate the various projects and download the latest software releases for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Mozilla Foundation can be found at www.mozillafoundation.com/.

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Source: PCPro

Jul 17, 2003, 01:23 PM	#1
Dom DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 12,940 Rep Power: 0	AOL backs Mozilla with $2mn donation The future of the open source Mozilla Web browser - and its Firebird and Camino derivatives - appears assured for the foreseeable future with the news that AOL has made a $2mn donation to the new Mozilla Foundation. The foundation has been established to 'promote the distribution and adoption' of Mozilla-based applications, which include the Thunderbird email client as well as the aforementioned browsers. Sun Microsystems and Red hat Linux will also continue to add their support. The Mozilla Foundation will be chaired by Mitch Kapor, the designer of Lotus 1-2-3, the spreadsheet application credited with driving the adoption of the PC in business world in the 1980s. Kapor will donate $300,000 of his own money. 'As an independent organisation, the Mozilla project will have even more freedom to innovate and provide meaningful choice to users on all computer environments,' said Kapor. 'A competitive, standards-compliant browser suite is vitally important to maintaining freedom and innovation on the Internet, so I'm delighted to make a contribution.' AOL owns the Netscape browser, which is based on and almost identical to Mozilla. It laid off 50 Netscape staff this week - less than 10 per cent of the workforce - but says that it remains committed to the software. 'Netscape remains a key part of our multibrand strategy,' said AOL spokesman Andrew Weinstein. 'We will continue to support the browser and the portal.' AOL's decision to continue supporting Mozilla is welcome news in the wake of the company's recent settlement with Microsoft that gives it a seven-year, royalty-free licence to use Internet Explorer. The agreement raised fears that AOL would revert to using IE in its Internet access package, abandoning Netscape and Mozilla in the process. Mozilla has celebrated the launch of the foundation with a redesign of its website - www.mozilla.org. The new layout makes it much easier to locate the various projects and download the latest software releases for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Mozilla Foundation can be found at www.mozillafoundation.com/. ___________________ Source: PCPro