Mozilla Creates New Internet Mail and Communications Company 135
Mozilla has announced a new initiative to overhaul email and internet communications in general. The new company, MailCo, will be given $3 million in startup capital from Mozilla to start with the Thunderbird code and work from there. MailCo will be led by David Ascher of ActiveState fame and, according to him, will be a for-profit venture without the emphasis on profit.
Profit? (Score:5, Funny)
Quick! When's the IPO?!?
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
2. ???
3. Don't profit much!
Before anyone hates (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:1)
What madness is this?! (Score:5, Funny)
Yadda yadda yadda, etc, and so forth.
Re:What madness is this?! (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:1)
Re:What madness is this?! (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It's not so much limits on how you raise money or what you can spend it on. It's more a case of accountability and visibility. In the case of most not for profit corporations your books are more open to the public, although it make take some hoop jumping to get a look at them. For prof
Re: (Score:2)
You should have been modded -5 Bullshitter who doesn't know what he is talking about. Bureaucracy comes from within the organization, not from whether it is for profit, non profit, or not for profit. The latter two require a bit more paperwork - but the amount of paperwork is i
Chance to fix email? (Score:2, Interesting)
Email should have been designed with end to end encryption from the beginning.
And I'm tired of email being seen as just another database resource to be parsed for targeted advertising.
Integrate SpamBayes! (Score:5, Insightful)
The first thing they need to do is integrate spambayes. Thunderbird's current spam filtering sucks. Spambayes works great. For the love of god, somebody please do it already!
Re: (Score:2)
I've always wondered why Thunderbird couldn't figure out that messages with both Viagra and Cialis in the subject line are SPAM.
Re: (Score:2)
I've always wondered why Thunderbird couldn't figure out that messages with both Viagra and Cialis in the subject line are SPAM.
As I always tell people, what If I am emailing my doctor about Viagra.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
As I always tell people, what If I am emailing my doctor about Viagra.
Then you should obviously spell it "v1agra" to avoid the filter, duh.
On a more serious note, doctors shouldn't communicate medical information via email since it's insecure and patient information is confidential. I think there are probably rules about that... I message my doctor (not about viagra) through my HMO's website, which coincidentally utilizes the electronic health record software my company makes.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, you could be, but then your doctor needs to set his software up so that he allows incoming mail on that topic.
It just feels like there's an over-emphasis on an elegant learning algorithm (which doesn't seem to work) when something simple that knocked out mail based on what we know SPAM to look like.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The server isn't, either.
So what does it leave us with?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1, Insightful)
Ex: I give you my email address in a file with
1) My email address
2) The encryption key
3) My passphrase *for you*
Now, when I recieve an email, I decrypt it, if the passphrase and email match my personal database, it's flagged as good, otherwise it is treated as spam.
Something like that?
Encryption is already available. (Score:2)
I can GPG encrypt my message.
The server can use TLS when connecting to the other server.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
But none of that is BUILT IN from the ground up. It's all tacked on - sometimes.
And that makes all the difference.
You do not want it "built in". (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
You want it built in so that when a flaw is found, the subsystem is replaced and everyone upgrades. And those that don't are left behind. Just like 99.99% of current email users whose current bolted on choice is no encryption, but instead it would be a relatively small number.
It's not like encryption is new or difficult to implement (and thus likely to be found flawed). It just isn't used because it isn't part of the spec.
I don't think you understand "modular". (Score:2)
There is nothing "bolted on" regarding encryption right now.
It is simple to add it. Very simple. And just as simple to change it.
You're contradicting yourself. If it is "everyone" then there is no one who is "left behind".
And that is th
Re: (Score:2)
Encryption is not standard.
It is simple to add it.
Bolt it on. It isn't hard. Very few do.
You're contradicting yourself. If it is "everyone" then there is no one who is "left behind".
"everyone" is being used as a euphemism. If you don't upgrade, and neither do your 3 friends, and you only email each other, you are left behind but can still use your software.
And that is the problem with your plan. It depends upon everyone doing something when the
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
That seems to make more money these days. And as the lead developers of the mail program, they should have an easy time bypassing any anti-spam filters built in, and include a root kit to mine for more valuable personal information.
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
Well, sure, and cure cancer and solve the halting problem while you're at it.
Bluntly, there is no simple correct fix for either of those, and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying or misinformed.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Lost Cause (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:1, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
It's currently the best well to tell everyone in a large group about some minor change in the office.
No. The best way to communicate a change to an office is clearly to hold a meeting that includes all the stakeholders, all those directly effected by the change and anyone who may at some time be directly or indirectly impacted by the change, Preferably the meeting should be held off site. Email is for inviting people to that meeting (preferably by sending 3 or four emails and an .ical with the date listed.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
It isn't like that functionality would be better implemented in a calendar application or anything like that...
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
It's sad that after decades of
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
This, of course, being said on an HTTP-based site that adds absolute nothing to the NNTP protocol and paradigm it predates.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I just find those people and shank them in a dark alley. Problem is that there are so many idiots and not enough dark alleys..
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You speak in jest (I think), but I increasingly try not to use email for anything I care about. I find XMPP (Jabber) to be much more convenient, and what with Google Talk, anybody can interface with it easily.
Re: (Score:2)
Not the worst idea to have ever been spouted off on Slashdot. Email clients have already integrated RSS and Newsgroups. Gmail treats Chat transcripts almost identically to email. Might as well make use of Facebook API and integrate Facebook messaging into the email client as well.
Eventually we'll progress beyond seeing the app as strictly email, but more as a general purpose messaging app, providing a storage mechanism and transmission mechanism for a
Don't let code rot by "employees" (Score:4, Insightful)
Look at the original Ximian. I mean, writing Evolution was the core USP of whatever Ximian became into. But somewhere on the way into building an open source email client/PIM/Outlook-killer, the Evolution codebase filled up with what I can only call "employee code" (i.e This fixes the bug now, we'll see what it breaks in QA).
I've tried hacking around there, but eventually ended up back in thunderbird land [dotgnu.info]. But on that side of the fence, some of the problems are purely due to over-engineered modularity (yes ... yes, we all love XPCOM [*cough* bonobo], but not that much). And considering I've weaned most of my relatives off Outlook Express with thunderbird, migrating them to Kmail was kinda too hard to have a point.
In short, "do it well" with hackers and don't just hack it up with code written by employees to meet deadlines. Because I sure as hell would love a email client that I could sic my sister/cousins on (she runs linux now, without any clue beyond "clicky clicky") and hack on when I get a brilliant idea once in a while (for example, a pluggable addressbook api - ala kmail's hooks [linux.com])
Start a list of requirements you'd suggest. (Score:4, Insightful)
#2. Online and live BACKUPS! No more shutting down the server to get a decent backup OR buying expensive database backup software.
#3. Shared folders / calendars.
#4. Roles / identities / aliases / whatever. So I can send email as "postmaster" without having to log out of my user account and log into the postmaster account. And so "sales" will go to the entire sales team.
Any other requirements?
Re: (Score:2)
Many businesspeople don't schedule their own meetings, handle their messages, etc. A messaging system that doesn't include support for agents is a non-starter in many businesses.
And transitive switches. (Score:2)
My user account is linked to the role account of postmaster.
I go on vacation. I use principal/agent to assign LIMITED rights to my user account to someone else while I'm out. That also, by default, allows them access to postmaster through my account. That way I don't have to dig through a bunch of roles and accounts and then remember to take them back later.
But include switches so that I can limit/deny that if I really want to. Or assign it to someone else. But the default should be the easiest.
Default colours for verified email. (Score:4, Insightful)
I want the default colour to indicate that it has passed my tests for LEGITIMATE mail. I do NOT mean that is has not FAILED to be identified as spam.
This is mostly for business users. As the email admin, I should be able to identify the servers that send us legitimate email. So I can add headers that are known only to my system.
Any message NOT containing those headers will be shown in a different colour. Even if they pass all the anti-spam tests.
This is a change from identifying what MAY be spam. This is about identifying established relationships.
Re: (Score:2)
There's something I like about your idea. Most attempts at solving our spam problems in some permanent way include having "trusted" servers. One of the problems with this is that, either you have to make it so easy to become "trusted" that spammers will be able to achieve that status, or else lots of people won't be able to get a "trusted" status. If lots of people don't get "trusted" status, then lots of legitimate e-mail will get filtered out.
However, I do like the idea of having a sort of "trusted" s
Re: (Score:2)
I just wish.... (Score:1)
Citadel might be a good start for you (Score:2)
If you are old enough to remember the heady days of BBSes in the 1980s, yes this is the same Citadel that you remember running many popular BBSes of the day (well one of them anyways--there were many clones and forks. The present Citadel originated in the mid 1980s as a port/rewrite of the original Citadel system w
Just give me.... (Score:4, Insightful)
That's all I want. Otherwise, the calendar and mail systems out there are perfectly good and well and take care of us without issue.
Re: (Score:2)
funambol
HTH.
MS Exchange (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Perhaps this situation has changed? I haven't looked into it recently.
Also the earl
Re:Zimbra (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Here's my wishlist....
For starters: Mozilla needs to create a good client that interfaces with Outlook Web Access (like Evolution on Linux, but better), webmail providers like Gmail and Yahoo, and does all the various secured and unsecured flav
Re: (Score:1)
Brian
Re: (Score:1)
http://www.zimbra.com/ [zimbra.com]
http://www.bongo-project.org/ [bongo-project.org]
http://freshmeat.net/projects/desknow/ [freshmeat.net]
http://www.google.com/a [google.com]
The list goes on and on.
Ok, if gonna be another co with google mindset (Score:1)
Umm... (Score:1)
What's the emphasis on, the "for-" ?
Mozilla could help out this way (Score:2)
Could Mozilla create a script that can walk one through the setup of a mail server, just like setting up of Postfix is done using its configuration script.
I can tell you that without a lot of zeal to succeed, setting up a mail server can be an exercise in frustration. There are so many software versio
Re: (Score:2)
#!/bin/sh
sudo apt-get install exim4
Stop The Bus! (Score:2)
More to the point, they've got a great technical lead in there right now to commercialize their mail client some more. But at some point they'll bring in a business manager if they get good market traction with the mail product.
Then mozilla has a for-profit entity that, probably will alter the direction of the mozilla foundation. "Impossible!"
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
$3 Million is not enough (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
MailCo is only a working title (Score:2)
From the original announcement [mozilla.com]:
For-profit, not new or necessarily bad for Mozilla (Score:4, Informative)
For-profit is working for them for FireFox, they probably just figured they'd try to do a similar child company for Thunderbird.
Someone mentioned the decreased headaches of being for-profit versus legally being a non-profit, and that could very well be the case. FireFox is doing well. It seems like they know what they are doing. I am always sceptical, it's in my nature, but this doesn't seem to be a red flag. It was a red flag for me when FireFox was moved into for-profit hands, but nothing bad has happened because of it.
Re:For-profit, not new or necessarily bad for Mozi (Score:2)
The red flag for MailCo is not its for-profit status, but the combination of for-profit and no-revenue sounds like a recipe for failure.
Re:For-profit, not new or necessarily bad for Mozi (Score:2)
Yet.
lol (Score:2)
ZOMG a golden opportunity! Let me call my broker...
It's finally time to take on Outlook. (Score:2)
Only one shot (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
Mozilla is actually dumping its email client (Score:1)
In recent years Mozilla is being bankrolled by Google: The choice of Google as the default search engine in Fir
Oh, goody! (Score:1)
How about a revamp of the email system? I've not heard any good, serious ones. And they all start with "But we'll only be able to talk to part of the crowd, with this change..."
(That's how it starts, but with a multi-homed email server...)
impact on Eudora? (Score:1)
Good for them. (Score:2)
I use thunderbird exclusively for my email.
Things I'd like to see:
built-in encryption for mail stores.
ability to choose mail store format.
calendar with outlook compatibility so I can sync with my phone.
better spam filtering.
better newsreader support. (built-in encoding
My Collection of Unrelated Thoughts. . . (Score:2)
Perhaps it's a way for Thunderbird to stop playing second string to Firefox, and have a dedicated set of developers. That would be great, since there is so much potential if T-Bird gets developed independently.... it just seems like devs get burned out putting new code/features into Firefox, then Thunderbird is just an afterthought.
I would like to see some kind of P2P integration with E-Mail, so for example, my E-Mail program could try to deli
Fix/Simplify PROFILES (Score:2)
Obligatory (Score:1)
Sunbird as well (Score:2)
I hope that they can create an open source alternative to Outlook and Exchange. Heck go for the max and replace SMTP and IMAP/POP with some new protocols. Say OMD (Open Mail Delivery) and OMBR (Open MailBo
"MailCo"? (Score:2)
A mail server should never delete mail (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
And if you have a spam folder with your ISP, then the ISP needs to ensure you check your email regularly there, and/or waste storage space keeping spam.
Hardware is cheap, good hardware is still expensive, and the people needed to run large mail farms are even more expensive.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)