The results of the past twenty-five years, and the challenges to be met for the next twenty-five, always with “technology for the public interest” as our guideline.
Mozilla is now a quarter century old. The source code for the Netscape browser, code name Mozilla, was made public on March 31, 1998. According to the foundation, this step marks twenty-five years of the construction of a public Internet.
To recontextualize this 25e anniversary
To briefly recontextualize, it all started in 1994 with the creation of the Netscape Communications Corporation by several developers of the NCSA Mosaic browser. This resulted in the launch of the Netscape Navigator web browser. At this time of the beginnings of the World Wide Web (accessible from 1991 to the public), Netscape represented up to 90% of the market share; a much higher monopoly than Google Chrome today (around 60% across all media).
In 1998, Netscape Communications became a subsidiary of AOL. The same year, losing ground against Internet Explorer, it therefore made “Mozilla” open source. The Mozilla Foundation as we know it today was created in July 2003.
In 2023, the Mozilla Firefox browser is clearly no longer as popular as around 2010. It nevertheless remains a safe bet and an alternative to Chromium.
An Internet at the service of the public interest
The Mozilla Foundation advocates for a “healthier Internet” to use the words used in the press release celebrating the twenty-five years. In it, the company recalls its support for public policies promoting “sustainable operation of the Internet”, and in particular its commitment to the PATA (Platform Accountability and Transparency Act) in the United States and the DSA (Digital Services Act) in Europe.
The foundation claims that it still aspires to drive innovation, competition and more choice online; that it advocates for technology that serves the public interest, an idea that has dictated its conduct since the release of Firefox 1.0 in 2004 until the launch of Mozilla.ai recently. Mozilla has indeed formalized the creation of a start-up specializing in AI a few days ago.
Projects for the next twenty-five years
For Mozilla, this 25e anniversary is not so much an opportunity to take stock of the past two and a half decades as an opportunity to project ourselves into the next twenty-five years. The firm thus displays its desire to build “the Internet of tomorrow”. In a world where the Internet rules much of our existence, Mozilla believes it is under the ” control of a handful of giants » and that a « much of the web has been built, driven by profit and engagement, with no regard for the well-being of individuals “.
As a game changer, Mozilla stresses that it will continue to evolve its privacy and security standards and continually improve its product portfolio. She affirms her support for her Pocket application or even her Mozilla VPN.
Finally, as evidenced by the launch of Mozilla.ai, the company intends to influence emerging technologies, foremost among which is AI, which it describes as ” next big phase of the web “.
Mitchell Baker, CEO of Mozilla, concludes: I’m realistic about the challenges facing the Internet, but I’m also optimistic about Mozilla’s ability to meet them. I look forward to the next twenty-five years of products, but also of advocacy, philanthropy and politics in the service of a better Internet “.
Source: Mozilla press release
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