Historical Documents

This page provides links to some of the important documents that helped shape the growth and development of the Mozilla community. There is also a Timeline and presentation available that contain more information about the history of the Mozilla project.

Netscape Announces Plans to Make Next-Generation Communicator Source Code Available Free on the Net

Netscape's original press announcement about the release of the Mozilla source code. (January 22, 1998)

Netscape Announces mozilla.org, a Dedicated Team and Web Site Supporting Development of Free Client Source Code

Netscape's press announcement about the creation of mozilla.org. (February 23, 1998)

Why Mozilla Matters

Our first essay is a piece of unabashed evangelism by longtime net.personality, Paul Phillips, in which he tries to explain to you why it is in your best interest to help this project succeed. (March 3, 1998)

Thanks!

A big Thank You to everyone who helped make the initial release of the Mozilla source code possible.

Freeing the Source: The Story of Mozilla

An essay written as a chapter for the book, Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution. By Jim Hamerly and Tom Paquin with Susan Walton. (Published January 1999)

Mozilla Apologator

An apology for why Mozilla is what it is, and how we got here, for better or for worse. By Michael Troy. (June 19, 1998)

Development Roadmap

Lays out plans to drop the old communicator codebase in favor of the new layout engine and cross-platform front-end toolkit. By Brendan Eich. (October 26, 1998)

Fear and Loathing on the Merger Trail

What does the AOL deal mean to Mozilla? From when the deal was announced for AOL to buy Netscape. By Jamie Zawinsky. (November 23, 1998)

Mozilla at One

Written at our first anniversary. A look at what we accomplished after a year and what still lay ahead of us. By Frank Hecker. (April 2, 1999)

News from the Front

A Mozilla progress report. By Mike Shaver. (July 27, 1999)

Mozilla Development Roadmap

Maps the road to Mozilla 1.0. By Brendan Eich. (September 25, 2000)

Mozilla 1.0 Manifesto

A who-what-when-why-how explanation of Mozilla 1.0. By Brendan Eich. (October 16, 2000)

Mozilla Relicensing FAQ

Mozilla relicensing begins: more than 6000 NPL files are relicensed under an MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-licence. (September 2001)

Mozilla Development Roadmap

Plans for a more stabilized release cycle. By Brendan Eich. (June 5, 2002)

Browser Innovation, Gecko and the Mozilla Project

An essay covering the big picture, Gecko, XUL, Camino and Safari, and why web browsers still matter. Written shortly after Apple announced the use of KHTML rather than Gecko for its web browser Safari. By Mitchell Baker. (March 6, 2003)

Mozilla Development Roadmap

Announces the switch in Mozilla development focus from Seamonkey (the Mozilla Application Suite) to Firefox. By Brendan Eich. (April 2, 2003)

mozilla.org Announces Launch of the Mozilla Foundation to Lead Open Source Browser Efforts

Original press release announcing the formation of the Mozilla Foundation. (July 15, 2003)

AOL Cuts Remaining Mozilla Hackers

MozillaZine reports the demise of Netscape. (July 15, 2003)

Mozilla Firefox - Brand Name FAQ

Mozilla Firebird renamed to Mozilla Firefox. Firefox has gone through several name changes in the past. (February 9, 2004)

Mozilla Application Suite - Transition Plan

Mozilla Staff's announcement that the Mozilla Foundation will discontinue official releases of the Mozilla Application Suite. (March 10, 2005)

Mozilla Foundation Reorganization

The Mozilla Foundation announces and explains the creation of the Mozilla Corporation. (August 3, 2005)