Monthly Archives: August 2005

Some Thoughts About Mozilla Update

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Despite what some people are saying about Mozilla Update, the Mozilla Foundation has focused the right amount of energy in the right direction.

Before focusing fully on AMO, a concentrated effort had to be made to upgrade their Software Update architecture and user interface (AUS). Critical/security updates to the application core take precedence over extensions in any update system, and the Mozilla Foundation is no exception.

Great strides have been made towards the next version of AUS, and the rewrite of AMO v2.0 has been well underway.

The first version of AMO has been plagued by poor performance, UI difficulties and lack of robustness. What the project lacked in the very beginning was a technical lead that understood how to make a scalable web service. That was not there because Mozilla Update in many ways was an afterthought in the wake of the success of Firefox 1.0. It barely had its head above water, covered in the whitewash of the 1.0 wave.

Now that the smoke has cleared, Mozilla Update (AMO) is seen for what it is – a nice try.

Was the Mozilla Foundation wrong in letting the community release early and often? No. I feel this is just a necessary first step in the right direction, and I hope that in the midst of v2.0 and all the bickering and complaining, everyone involved in v1.0 at least learned from the experience and might understand what to watch out for this time around.

For me, it’s been a wild ride, and I look forward to the completion of v2.0. There is a lot of work left, but I’m going to work hard to do my part.

Stop worrying about who to blame, just fix the problem.

Nerds are Regular People

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Wake up, eat breakfast, ride the MAX. Convention buzz; free stuff, lights, displays, vendors and myriad sessions to attend. After-parties; free booze, free food, mingling. Sleep for a few hours. Repeat.

OSCON was something different for everyone. I’ve read through countless blogs about language wars, what’s hot or not, great epiphanies or laughing stocks. I didn’t find anything so life-altering that I feel the need to strap on my asshat and preach about this or that from my small little soapbox.

I will say that seeing everyone pulled together was very interesting. I couldn’t help but be amazed by the community — the people, not the booths. The faces and ideas were far brighter than the lamps in the exhibition hall.

Having never been to a conference like this before, I was pretty excited. I had never seen so many people with similar interests gathered in the same place. It was my first chance to meet a community I have known for so long but had never met in person.

After my first day, I asked myself what did I learn today? And most of what I learned had nothing to do with code but more to do with people:

  • Many of the people I met weren’t from the US
  • Almost everyone was very open and respectful
  • Nobody forgot to have fun
  • No dress code!
  • Even “famous” nerds were just regular people solving regular problems

Having been there, I now have this positive feeling of some sort of global/communal pride. The open source community is full of problem solvers. They find solutions to real-world problems everyday. They bang their heads on bugs, drink lots of caffeine, lose sleep over things and drink beer when they can. And the whole time they have fun doing it. Sounds a lot like what I do.

So I felt like I was a part of something. As corny as it sounds, that was the biggest impression OSCON made on me. We are the firefighters of the digital world, the construction workers of the IT industry, and the police of the internets. We all have our roles, we all contribute in some way, and every once in a while we come together at some convention like OSCON and celebrate it.

OSCON was a little like a family reunion. There were mothers, fathers, and the estranged cousin nobody likes.