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[[Image:Mozillaheadquarters.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Mountain View office shared by the Mozilla Foundation and the Mozilla Corporation]]
[[Image:Mozillaheadquarters.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Mountain View office shared by the Mozilla Foundation and the Mozilla Corporation]]
The '''Mozilla Corporation''' is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the [[Mozilla Foundation]] that coordinates and integrates the development of [[Internet]]-related [[application software|application]]s such as the [[Mozilla Firefox]] [[web browser]] and the [[Mozilla Thunderbird]] [[email client]] by the growing global community of open-source developers, only some of whom are employed by the corporation itself. The corporation also distributes and promotes these products. Unlike the [[non-profit organization|non-profit]] Mozilla Foundation, the Mozilla Corporation is a [[tax]]able entity. In contrast to most commercial organizations, the Mozilla Corporation is not motivated by a desire for [[profit]], reinvesting all profits back into the Mozilla projects. The Mozilla Corporation aims to work towards the Mozilla Foundation's [[public benefit]] goals of "preserving choice and innovation on the Internet."
The '''Mozilla Corporation''' is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the [[Mozilla Foundation]] that coordinates and integrates the development of [[Internet]]-related [[application software|application]]s such as the [[Mozilla Firefox]] [[web browser]] and the [[Mozilla Thunderbird]] [[email client]] by the growing global community of open-source developers, only some of whom are employed by the corporation itself. The corporation also distributes and promotes these products. Unlike the [[non-profit organization|non-profit]] Mozilla Foundation, the Mozilla Corporation is a [[tax]]able entity. In contrast to most commercial organizations, the Mozilla Corporation is not motivated by a desire for [[profit]], reinvesting all profits back into the Mozilla projects. The Mozilla Corporation aims to work towards the Mozilla Foundation's [[public benefit]] goals of "preserving choice and innovation on the Internet." {{citation needed}}


As explained in a [http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=7085 MozillaZine article]:
As explained in a [http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=7085 MozillaZine article]:

Revision as of 22:07, 27 March 2008

Mozilla Corporation
Company typePrivate
FoundedMountain View, California (2005)
Headquarters
Mountain View, CA
,
USA
Key people
John Lilly, CEO
ProductsMozilla Firefox
Mozilla Thunderbird
more...
Number of employees
100+
Websitemozilla.com
The Mountain View office shared by the Mozilla Foundation and the Mozilla Corporation

The Mozilla Corporation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation that coordinates and integrates the development of Internet-related applications such as the Mozilla Firefox web browser and the Mozilla Thunderbird email client by the growing global community of open-source developers, only some of whom are employed by the corporation itself. The corporation also distributes and promotes these products. Unlike the non-profit Mozilla Foundation, the Mozilla Corporation is a taxable entity. In contrast to most commercial organizations, the Mozilla Corporation is not motivated by a desire for profit, reinvesting all profits back into the Mozilla projects. The Mozilla Corporation aims to work towards the Mozilla Foundation's public benefit goals of "preserving choice and innovation on the Internet." [citation needed]

As explained in a MozillaZine article: "The Mozilla Foundation will ultimately control the activities of the Mozilla Corporation and will retain its 100 percent ownership of the new subsidiary. Any profits made by the Mozilla Corporation will be invested back into the Mozilla project. There will be no shareholders, no stock options will be issued and no dividends will be paid. The Mozilla Corporation will not be floating on the stock market and it will be impossible for any company to take over or buy a stake in the subsidiary. The Mozilla Foundation will continue to own the Mozilla trademarks and other intellectual property and will license them to the Mozilla Corporation. The Foundation will also continue to govern the source code repository and control who is allowed to check in."

Establishment

The Mozilla Corporation was established on August 3, 2005 to handle the revenue-related operations of the Mozilla Foundation. As a non-profit, the Mozilla Foundation is limited in terms of the types and amounts of revenue. The Mozilla Corporation, as a taxable organization (essentially, a commercial operation), does not have to comply with such strict rules. Upon its creation, the Mozilla Corporation took over several areas from the Mozilla Foundation, including coordination and integration of the development of Firefox and Thunderbird (by the global free software community) and the management of relationships with businesses.

With the creation of the Mozilla Corporation, the rest of the Mozilla Foundation narrowed its focus to concentrate on the Mozilla project's governance and policy issues. In November 2005, with the release of Mozilla Firefox 1.5, the Mozilla Corporation's website at mozilla.com was unveiled as the new home of the Firefox and Thunderbird products online.

Notable events

In March 2006, Weblogs, Inc. founder Jason Calacanis reported a rumor on his blog that Mozilla Corporation gained $72M during the previous year, mainly thanks to the Google search box in the Firefox browser.[1] The rumor was later addressed by Christopher Blizzard, a member of the Mozilla board, who wrote on his blog that "it’s not correct, though not off by an order of magnitude".[2]

In August 2006, Microsoft posted a letter on Mozilla newsgroups[3] and offered to open up a new open-source facility at its headquarters in Redmond, Wash., to Mozilla software engineers. Mozilla responded by accepting the offer.[4]

On September 6, 2006 the Mozilla Corporation hired Window Snyder, former security strategist at Microsoft.[5]

On October 25, 2006 Mozilla released the latest version of Firefox 2.0 which included changes to the graphical interface, the addition of an anti-phishing filter, inline spell checking, live titles, and session restore.

People

The Mozilla Corporation Board of Directors is appointed by and responsible to the Mozilla Foundation Board of Directors:

The Mozilla Corporation management team includes:

Other notable employees include (in alphabetical order):

At the time of the Mozilla Corporation's creation, most of the Mozilla Foundation employees were transferred to the new organization.

See also

References

  • "Mozilla Foundation Forms New Organization to Further the Creation of Free, Open Source Internet Software, Including the Award-Winning Mozilla Firefox Browser". Mozilla Press Center. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  • "Mozilla Foundation Announces Creation of Mozilla Corporation". MozillaZine. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)