Mozilla promotes Lilly from COO to CEO
88555
COO John Lilly taking over from founding CEO Mitchell Baker, who will remain chairman of company behind the open-source Web browser.
467653
(InfoWorld) - Mozilla spun off its Thunderbird e-mail client into a new for-profit subsidiary on Monday and seeded the unnamed company with $3 million in startup money, the open-source developer announced. The move is identical to the one made by the umbrella Mozilla Foundation in 2005 when it created Mozilla Corp. to manage Firefox. "The new organization doesn't have a name yet, so I'll call it MailCo here," said Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker on her blog Monday night. "Technically, it will be a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation, just like the Mozilla Corporation." MailCo is the result of internal talks and public discussion aboutÂ the future of ThunderbirdÂ that began in July. Then, Baker, who also chairs the Foundation, said that because Firefox was Mozilla's first priority, it had to divest itself of Thunderbird. Among the options she outlined: Creating a new nonprofit organization similar to the Mozilla Foundation to focus on the e-mail program; building a new subsidiary of the foundation just for Thunderbird; and releasing Thunderbird into the wild as a community-only project. Scott MacGregor and David Bienvenu, the two Mozilla employees who headed Thunderbird development efforts, voted for the third option. Today, however, Mozilla chose the second. Most Thunderbird users blasted Baker and Mozilla for wanting to ditch the e-mail program, which competes with Microsoft's Outlook and IBM's Notes, as well as with Web-based e-mail services such as Windows Live Mail, Yahoo Mail, and Google's Gmail. The new company will focus on developing communications software based on the current Thunderbird product, its code base and its brand. The goal is to create a community of developers, similar to the one already in place for Firefox, that's dedicated to working on Thunderbird and associated products. "We can spark the same kind of excitement and energy level and innovation [as with Firefox] in the email/communications space," Baker said. Among MailCo's out-the-gate goals, said Baker, are supporting existing Thunderbird users and creating "a better user experience for a range of Internet communications" that will explore how e-mail should work with other technologies such as RSS, instant messaging, VoIP, and SMS. David Ascher, the former chief technology officer and vice president of engineering at ActiveState Software, a Vancouver, British Columbia development tool maker, will lead the new company, said Baker in a statement. "David has been a respected member of the Mozilla community for many years and we're excited that he is joining Mozilla to lead this important effort." Ascher, also the director of the Python Software Foundation, has led Komodo, a Mozilla-backed, open-source development environment project. Less than two weeks ago, ActiveState debuted its Open Komodo Project, which will switch many of the company's already-free development tools to open-source. Mozilla was set to announce the new venture Tuesday morning, but moved up the news several hours to Monday night when Yahoo said earlier in the day that it wouldÂ acquire Zimbra,Â a privately held Web-based e-mail and collaboration provider, for $350 million. It's unknown whether Mozilla's current in-house Thunderbird developers will continue with the new company. Baker hinted that they may not. In her blog, she explained that the $3 million in seed money for MailCo will "be spent mostly on building a small team of people who are passionate about e-mail and Internet communications." Neither Thunderbird developer Scott MacGregor, who started the project in February 2003, or his co-worker, David Bienvenu, responded to a request for comment. ComputerworldÂ is an InfoWorld affiliate.
547285
Mozilla has hired three of the five top employees at Humanized, a small company known for its innovative work to provide more intuitive user interfaces, but will not reveal their identities.
11461
YAHOO co-founder Jerry Yang today took over as chief executive following the ousting of Terry Semel.   Semel quit last night after attracting increasing investor wrath as Yahoo lags behind arch-rival Google by almost all measures.
276520
Eli Lilly and Co  on Tuesday said Sidney Taurel, the drugmaker's longtime chief executive officer, will retire on March 31 and will be succeeded by Chief Operating Officer John Lechleiter.
160515
Starbucks Corp.  on Tuesday promoted the head of its international business to the new post of chief operating officer, part of a slew of management changes focused on the rapid global development of the U.S.-based coffee shop chain.
506252
Mozilla officially launches its infamous upstart, the Firefox browser.
634232
Bowing to pressure from an Icos Corp.   shareholder, Eli Lilly and Co.  said on Monday  it has increased its offer for the biotechnology company to  $2.3 billion from an earlier bid of $2.1 billion.
332319
Following investor pressure for a management shake-up, Yahoo Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Terry Semel is stepping aside and will be replaced as CEO by co-founder Jerry Yang, Yahoo said on Monday, sending shares up 3.5 percent in extended trade.
191590
Icos Corp.'s  board said on Monday it had agreed to a sweetened takeover offer from Eli Lilly and Co.  of $34 per share in cash, up from a previous offer of $32 per share.
385718
MozSource, the independent company that operates the Mozilla Store and the Netscape Store, has announced the launch of its new high-quality, affordable technical support service for Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird and Mozilla 1.7.
464677
Following investor pressure for a management shake-up, Yahoo Inc. chairman and chief executive Terry Semel is stepping aside and will be replaced as CEO by cofounder Jerry Yang, Yahoo said yesterday.
132287
John Lilly, chief operating officer of the Mozilla Foundation, has accused Apple chief Steve Jobs of aiming for a 1980s-style &quot;duopoly&quot; with his plans for the Safari web browser on Windows.
155536
Mozilla, after taking on the Internet browser market which is &quot;owned&quot; by microsoft now decided to take on the Email Client Market, which is also controlled by microsoft.
126206
A Mozilla Corp. executive yesterday blasted Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs as "out-of-date" for thinking that the browser battle on the Windows platform is between just Safari and Internet Explorer.
675135
Ross Levinsohn, the top Internet executive at News CorporationÂs Fox entertainment unit, has been succeeded by Peter Levinsohn.
716414
Eli Lilly raised its offer for the Icos Corporation by 6 percent Monday in advance of a vote on the deal, which two proxy firms were advising against.