I'm confident that Mozilla is not going to invest to expand Thunderbird by making any kind of server edition.
On Thu, Dec 10, 2015 at 2:54 AM Paul Fernhout <pdfernh...@kurtz-fernhout.com> wrote: > On Tuesday, December 1, 2015 at 7:47:58 AM UTC-5, Andrew Sutherland wrote: > > The problem with Thunderbird is not that it is a mail user agent or that > > user agency in messaging is unimportant. The problem is that > > Thunderbird has had a serious technical debt problem since the day its > > code-base transitioned from Netscape. Its low-level integration with > > Gecko has been a maintenance burden for Thunderbird developers and > > To deal with this technical debt, I propose Mozilla fund a "skunkworks" > team of seven people for a year to create a new server version of > Thunderbird (called "Thunderbird Server") that runs initially as a Node.js > app providing a single-page JavaScript/TypeScript webapp for email handling > and other peer-to-peer communications using local storage. Thunderbird > Server would assume Firefox as its primary client; Firefox would access > Thunderbird Server just like any other (local) web server using web > standards. The most significant Thunderbird Desktop plugins (based on > downloads or other metrics) would be ported by the team to this new > Thunderbird Server platform (ideally, aided by a custom tool for such > porting). This Thunderbird Server platform would, through plugins, > eventually become a social semantic desktop that would change the nature of > the web as we know it. > > This is a feasible way to deal with the technical debt Andrew talks about > while still being true to the idea of distributed data and peer-to-peer > communications which is at the core of the Thunderbird vision. Sadly, > Thunderbird Desktop itself would then be left to technical bankruptcy (or > self-serve fixes) once the Thunderbird Server version proved stable and > popular and the migration path was clear and easy. However, Firefox itself > might benefit a lot from this effort via indirect means as it grew to meet > new challenges posed by an expanding Thunderbird Server platform. > > I'd be happy to either help lead such a Thunderbird Server project myself > or just help out with it full-time under another developer's leadership. I > just applied as a "Mozilla Growth Engineer" suggesting something in this > direction. At the link below is a manifesto I just wrote today about this > idea with more detail on such a plan and a lot more reasons as to why > Mozilla should fund this effort. But in short, the big issue here is, as > Andrew points out, not messaging. The deeper issues is local data and > peer-to-peer communications versus central data and client-to-shared-server > communications and related privacy, security, and reliability concerns. > > Mark Surman said the Mozilla Foundation offered a modest amount of money > to pay for contractors to help develop options for the technical future of > Thunderbird. > In a couple of months, building on the FOSS system I've already written > called NarraFirma, I'm confident could produce a proof of concept of this > Thunderbird Server idea even just working by myself. > > You can find the "ThunderbirdS are Grow!" manifesto here: > http://pdfernhout.net/thunderbirds-are-grow-manifesto.html > > --Paul Fernhout > http://www.pdfernhout.net/ > ==== > The biggest challenge of the 21st century is the irony of technologies of > abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity. > _______________________________________________ > governance mailing list > governance@lists.mozilla.org > https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/governance > _______________________________________________ governance mailing list governance@lists.mozilla.org https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/governance
