Corrected: Mozilla to no longer focus on Thunderbird email client

Mozilla has now stated that they are no longer going to focus on the Thunderbird email client and the application would no longer be a part of their organization’s house.

Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker said in a blog post: “We have concluded that we should find a new, separate organizational setting for Thunderbird; one that allows the Thunderbird community to determine its own destiny.”

One of the major reasons behind this decision is that Mozilla is concentrating so much on Firefox web browser that they just cannot focus on the Thunderbird application in the process.

They might decide to launch a nonprofit foundation similar to the Mozilla Foundation; creating a Mozilla Foundation subsidiary for Thunderbird. Or they could possibly release the project as a community project along the lines of SeaMonkey.

Another reason stated for this decision by several Mozilla members is that online applications are increasingly becoming more powerful and Thunderbird fails to perform as well as some of the online email systems like Gmail.

Some users have suggested that the real reason behind this move could be the growing closeness between Google and Mozilla. Google is the company behind Gmail and Thunderbird application goes totally against the Gmail’s online email management mechanism.

We had say, since Google itself is supporting POP/SMTP protocol allowing their customers to use any regular email client to access Gmail service (for free), it makes little sense…

Personally, I have been using Gmail in place of an email client for a long time.