Re: Linux and Software Freedom

Scottish wrote:
> I'd just like to point out for the record that Asa replied to several
> posts that occurred since I wrote this one. He has yet to offer any
> data to support the proposed change.

Hi Scott,

Sorry to not have got back to you until now (on my day off even :-) I'll 
see what I can do to answer that for you.

Mozilla is not purely data driven. We have lots of people with amazing 
talent, education, and experience, and a willingness to think long and 
hard about various problems. These people, after contributing to Mozilla 
for some time, can become domain experts. Whether they are part-time 
volunteers or full-time employees of the Mozilla organization or even 
employed by some other organization contributing to Mozilla, they can 
earn positions of responsibility and authority within the project.

Those responsible for an area of the project are empowered to decide how 
best to lead their particular project or any part of that project. 
Sometimes they spend a lot of time collecting and analyzing data. 
Sometimes they spend a lot of time doing rapid itterations and field 
testing. Other times they rely on their experience and their talent to 
guide them to the best solution. The process a Mozilla leader chooses to 
apply to an area of the project she leads, or to a particular problem 
within that area, is up to that leader.

That's how Mozilla works. We have people who, by demonstrating good work 
in a particular area over time, become "module owners" for that 
particular area. They are responsible for planning and making decisions 
for that module. They surround themselves with others who are proficient 
in working on that module who can do "peer reviews" and help move that 
part of the project forward.

Sometimes that module owner or peer will apply data to a problem. It can 
help them measure things they're unsure about. It can help them test 
solutions. But sometimes there are other ways to tackle a problem 
besides data and we trust our domain experts to make decisions based on 
those other things, including their knowledge and experience.

Just like our programmers, Mozilla's usability team designs in the 
public and solicits a lot of feedback. They are empowered, just like our 
programmers are, to make decisions about how Firefox will evolve.

As I've said in a few other posts, I appreciate the constructive 
feedback that's happened around this feature. At the same time, Mozilla 
programming is not a democracy and neither is Mozilla usability design.

All of the Mozilla module owners and other contributors should 
absolutely be open to constructive feedback, even criticism and 
opposition, but the Mozilla project does not require that all work be 
put up to a popular vote. It never has, and I don't think that it ever 
will. (That's not to say that a module owner couldn't put something up 
for a vote -- it's their call.)

You can read more about Mozilla's governance structure here: 
http://www.mozilla.org/about/governance.html  if you want to get more 
information on how our ownership model and responsibilities are 
distributed across various aspects of the project, you can read about 
that here: http://www.mozilla.org/about/roles.html

If you've got questions about any of that, I'd be happy to discuss it 
with you further.

- A