Firefox releases have cool codenames while in gestation. As Chelsea explains, Firefox picks national parks as codenames, as metaphors for the values that go into making a Firefox release.

The idea made a lot of sense to us, so we decided to follow suit for Thunderbird. Rather than parks, we picked beaches. A good beach is a clear and compelling example of a public good. We can all go to the beach, share in the beauty and poetry of the place, swim, maybe surf. All that’s required of us in exchange is to treat it well — don’t fence it in, don’t litter, don’t crash your oil tankers into it. Yet beaches as a public commons are under threat. If Thunderbird can help beaches and beaches can help make it clear why Thunderbird matters, we all win.

Given the weather outside, it’s not too surprising that the codename for the next version of Thunderbird is Lanakai, in sunny Hawaii. “Warm turquoise green waters brush up against a fine sand beach while gentle trade winds offer a cool relief from the hot Hawaiian days. This beach is great for relaxing on the sand or taking a swim in it’s clear waters”. That pretty much sold us. Also, we can dream about having a Thunderbird summit there someday.

Ashlee Vance wrote a story in today’s nytimes.com (I presume it’s in the print edition too about the business world’s supposed disappointment in the shareholder value of open source based businesses.

I suppose if you ignore all of the companies listed in the article who were sold for hundreds of millions of dollars, and you squint really hard, you can see their point: investors in open source companies in aggregate haven’t made as much money as investors in proprietary software companies. Given how short the age of open source has been, that’s hardly surprising. (Given how open source is missing the boat on services-based businesses, that’s also likely to continue, but that’s another story).

Others will I’m sure criticize the article based on proposing some better metrics for success for investors in open source companies. I don’t really care — what did strike me was this sentence:

The fight illuminates a larger truth about open-source companies: their societal and strategic importance far exceeds their financial value as operating businesses.

Exactly! It’s critical to me as CEO of Mozilla Messaging that it be a healthy business. But my requirements for “health” aren’t those of wall street. They include reaching a state of making more money than we need to operate, but they also include some variation on the triple bottom line, with some additional twists related to making sure that we operate in ways that are consistent with our values.

I was recently at a business meeting where a bunch of CEOs were “networking”. It was fascinating how quickly the conversation shifted when I answered the usual question about “exit” (the polite term for: “get rich by selling the company) with “well, no, I can’t, as we’re owned by a non-profit”. After a period of shock, it turns out that even CEOs (!) are interested in a business that isn’t all about financial rewards for shareholders. It can be about much more interesting pursuits, such as building a team of people who respect each other and work together for a common goal; it can be about providing awesome customer experiences; it can be about making the world better. There are lots of companies like that. It’d be nice if the “business” section of the newspaper spent more time thinking about that and less about how people who are merely shareholders can make money through speculation.

It’s probably healthy for Wall Street to realize that what’s interesting about open source isn’t some magically cheaper way to produce goods and services. To me, what’s much more important are the complex implications like transparency, a permeable barrier between your consumers and your staff, a built-in safeguard against complacency, and ideally a much more human relationship between your organization and everyone else. I look forward to seeing what the Economist’s new Schumpeter column on business says about it, whenever they get around to it.

In the meantime, I’m looking forward to exploring how to work with business-savvy types who are interested in how to make a deeply healthy business. Based on talking to other CEOs of open source companies, I’m pretty sure that just like we can find talented programmers, quality nuts and localizers to contribute to the products, I’ll find some smart business types who will find it rewarding to contribute to the business challenges.

Emily and I were treated to an impressive meal yesterday — a 9-course tasting menu at La Quercia.

The full sequence:

Cocktail: La Bicicletta

Parmesan Sformato, Aged Balsamico

Frisee, Hazelnut & Apple Cider vinaigrette
Roast Quail

Vitello tonnato

Strudel ai Funghi
wild mushroom and ricotta strudel

Risotto with wild mushrooms

Agnolotti di Guido
Stuffed pasta, veal, chard, ricotta, parmigiano

Spaghetti al’amatriciana
Smoked pork cheek, chillies, san marzano tomatoes

Ruby Trout
lemon caper sauce

Collo d’Agnello Brasato
slow- braised lamb neck, beans and greens

Lemon cream

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Rice Pudding with Blueberry Sauce

with a Casalone 2004 Rus Monferato.

Almost everything was very good. The vitello tonatto was a revelation; the risotto was luscious; the chocolate cake was superb; the lemon cream inspiring. Only real complaints is it was just too much, and I don’t think we really appreciated the mains because we were full already. Apparently it’s an easier meal for larger groups, because there are a few people around who end up really, really, really hungry. Next time, I think we’ll go for either the 5-course tasting menu or just pasta & salad.

Definitely recommended, especially if someone else is paying. Reservations almost always needed apparently.

Dear ISPs,

By far the largest set of support requests that we end up seeing for Thunderbird have to do with being unable to receive or send mail. By far the largest single cause of these failures is some unilateral change by the ISP which cause previously working configurations to stop working. In other words, people come to us for help solving problems we can’t solve. It makes us feel bad, it makes you look uncaring, and it certainly doesn’t help your customers (except for those cases when we go beyond the call of duty and help them as neighbors would, guiding them through the diagnostic & fix).

In our next revisions of Thunderbird, we’ll probably work on making our error dialogs better, so that we transmit whatever wisdom we can to your users to give them a fighting chance. But we can do better for your customers, if you get involved.

Let’s figure out how to work together to provide better experiences for your customers and our users. I’m quite sure that we can come up with solutions which would save you costs compared to having your customers tie up your tech support lines only to be rebuffed by your staff who often don’t understand how email systems work. It might also help you avoid commoditization…

Here are some ideas to start the conversation going:

• Let’s make sure that our configuration of ISP databases works for as many users as possible. We’ll likely need to evolve the format and protocol over time, but we can only do that with input (some ESPs have already joined the effort, which is great!).
• Consider making a useful add-on that would let you inform your customers of planned service downtime, configuration changes, etc. (no marketing messages, please, or your customers will not use it).
• If there are changes we could make in Thunderbird that would help you help your customers, let’s talk!.

Together, we can figure out how to get your customers setup with a Thunderbird that works for them, for us, and for you.

Looking forward to a productive conversation,

– David Ascher
(dascher at mozillamessaging)