History of the Mozilla Project

As a major open source project, Mozilla has played an important role in the open source movement as a whole. Of course, Mozilla has its own colorful history. Here are a few historic documents from the project's lifetime, along with a timeline of the Mozilla Project's life story.

Note that "Mozilla" was Netscape's internal name for its own browser, and the Mozilla Application Suite 1.0 was referred to as "Mozilla 5.0" (the next "Mozilla" after Netscape Communicator 4) for the first several years 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)