Thunderbird/StatusMeetings/2014-07-31

Thunderbird meeting notes 2014-07-31 Today's minutes taker, please don't forget to : - save etherpad before clearing for this meeting, if etherpad wasn't previously cleared (but copy "Action items" to the top before clearing) - after end of meeting, copy entire etherpad contents to a new dated wiki page on http://mzl.la/tbstatus so that they will go public in the meeting notes blog. - save etherpad, copy "Action items" to "Action items from last meetings", and clear the rest of etherpad comments

Attendees

• mconley, mhoye, rkent, jcranmer, wsmwk, usul, sshagarwal, irving, florian, clokep, mkmelin

Action items from last meetings

• mconley (rkent?) to contact bkerensa about sshagarwal for FoTT
  • We apparently don't have any swag, according to bkerensa.
  • I don't think I should speak about this but, standard8 said he'll mail me regarding this and I will be getting a t-shirt with "claim your inbox" on it.But that was on 6th of May. so I will wait for things to happen there ping me if it doesn't happen. Okay, thanks.
  • Ask rebron? marsha knous
    • done
• mconley to send Usul email about David K...? (NZ)
  • done
• ludo to follow up with NZ volunteer for Social Media/publicity, connect him with bkerensa
  • done
• mconley to start thread on tb-planning on new governance strategy
  • Done, but this appears to be going nowhere...
    • Made contact with andreasn and bienvenu, and they have confirmed that their migration to "honoured alumni", or what have you, probably reflects reality.
    • Sent mail to kaie and gozer, but no response. Probably OK to remove them unless there's any objection. -> gozer you should ping on irc as kaie (/me thinks kaie is on vacation)
    • Karsten Düsterloh (mnyromyr) said that his contributions will probably tick up soon, so sounds like he'd still like to be on the list. \o/ (he said that every year since 2010) /o\

Current status and discussions

• TB31 0.5mill are on TB31.0
  • TB31.0.1 - should we have one for autocomplete and topcrash fixes (eg bug 1042294)?
  • TB31 release notes needed - bug 1042526 - propose davidk only to put the text together. Someone else like standard8 will need to drive the website updates
• Proposed Thunderbird 2014 Toronto Summit

JB claims that TB project income of $54,000 exists in a MoCo account and could be used to fund a summit. Standard8 said he would talk to JB then confirm existence of these funds. Summit needs approval as a project, project form is filed, but it is not clear who or how that gets approved. I have set a deadline of Monday, August 4 to day go or nogo for the summit. I am working with mhoye, but a universal problem is that nobody seems to know who approves anything associated with Thunderbird. - How about pinging dascher/mitchell ? Sounds like we'll have a go-no-go from mhoye by tomorrow morning at the latest. It would be really helpful if Standard8 engaged with this process, as he seems to be the only person within Mozilla with any official standing to represent Thunderbird.(when is he back from PTO ?) He's back - but he's fighting a fire right now. :/ I would also like to discuss adding a few people to the invite list. As part of that, I spent a day using APIs from BMO and comm-central to determine who is currently active. Maybe I should blog that data.

• Marketing

bkarensa filed a bug to transfer credentials to NZ David for Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Needs action from Standard8 bkarensa never had access to official Mozilla Thunderbird blog. What are plans for that? I've heard complaints that SeaMonkey, InstantBird, Calendar all seem to be able to maintain a regular blog - but not Thunderbird.Standard8 has creds for the blog, he should share or we should add some people to it. JB gave me usage data for the last 5 years for Thunderbird, but as usual it was shared in confidence, meaning that I cannot use it for marketing purposes. JB will try to get approval to share the graph, but he was at a loss to know who to ask. Cbeard the new ceo was on the board of momo - maybe we can ask him directly (JB said he did not want to bother Mitchell or Chris with simple TB issues. But maybe we need to.)

Round Table

Usul

• We have some swag left in the Paris Office
• Release note need to be edited
• Working on public facing comm with dave and kent

wsmwk

• needed - someone please make a try build for me for Bug 805023. Thanks. s/Wayne
• topcrashes - http://tinyurl.com/owlyp9q
  • rkent thanks for submitting patch for bug 789397! and irving on the review
  • need more eyes for bug 902158 - is problematic
  • standard8 do we need the test to land topcrash bug 1042294?
  • TB24 #1 crash OOM | small is gone? https://crash-stats.mozilla.com/topcrasher/products/Thunderbird/versions/24.6.0 BUT where did it go? (bug 1042637 below has roughly same percentage crashes as OOM|small, but unlikely match)
  • bug 1042637 might be NSS?
  • help needed for Bug 1005336 startup crash in nsObserverService ... via nsMsgIncomingServer

rkent

• Thunderbird Direction from Mozilla perspective

JB also said that perhaps it is time to have a discussion about Thunderbird's position within Mozilla, as two years have now elapsed. We are clearly not ready for that discussion, but we need to have it among ourselves. I continue to believe that Thunderbird should directly pursue donations from its users, and those funds should be used to sustain and improve the product for the benefit of the existing users, probably by expanding the paid staff. If we are to do that, a video is typically used in e.g. IndieGoGO campaigns, and Toronto would be the perfect time to prepare such a video, but that means the decision must be made prior to Toronto. How can we have serious discussions about where we would like to be vis-a-vis Mozilla?

• I believe it's time to raise the issue that there is not enough staffing power to maintain Thunderbird - I believe 3 full time engineers is what's needed (rkent: ++)(jcranmer: ++) and Mozilla should reconsider having 3 people full time to maintain Thunderbird (that would fix the tree is broken issue and let new contributor path easier to get on).

mconley

• Sent quote from travel agency to rkent
• Emailed andreasn, bienvenu, gozer, kaie about staying on the peer / owner list
• Talked to mhoye about getting additional funding from Mozilla for Summit - he is now in talks with Standard8, rkent and others.
• contact dave see bug 1042526

jcranmer

• Mostly inactive due to schoolwork

Other

• put Thursday Thunderbird meetings on your calendar :)
• "bienvenu bugs" - need to clean up bugs blocked on needinfo / review, and PM him on any that truly require his input? (his last bug comment July 2013)

Action Items

mconley: Send mail to David K about getting us some release notes (bug 1042526) mconley: Get keys to Thunderbird blog (infra:webops) mconley: Get amandel to send me quote about a TB video at Summit Discuss: Proposal to Mozilla about Thunderbird direction / intent. Adjourn :