FOSDEM 2009 Thunderbird 3 talk

Thunderbird 3 Why? What. How...

Super Fast Intro • Thunderbird history in 60 seconds • who we are, what we do

Why Thunderbird matters Successful messaging innovation is happening in centralized models HTTP does not mean open IMAP, POP, SMTP endangered Decentralized innovation and user-level hackability matters Data ownership matters Closed email systems are winning

Thunderbird is good, and precious What could make it better? What to do? I thought so... Scope of work ahead daunting How should we prioritize work?

adding/changing features (growing market) • removing features • centralized configuration is expensive! • my bug fix is your regression • “ the way that [...] works means it's not an easy fix, IIRC” fixing bugs (higher quality)

Scary Facts • 5-10M users >0.5 MLOC • 5-10 devs Thousands of bugs across three layers • 2-3 QAs (thunderbird, mailnews, gecko) AAARGH!

Still... • With effort and patience, lots of improvements possible • It’s just code • The opportunity for impact makes people do crazy things

Thunderbird 3 What • Based on Gecko 1.9.1 (== Firefox 3.1) • Platform upgrade • UX improvements When • Ship as soon as possible & ready

• Firefox 3.0/3.1 improvements • JavaScript faster Platform • XUL more stable Update • Looks better • Add-on manager

User Experience • optimize high-use paths • reﬂect modern realities (disks, bandwidth) • autosync, delete, archive, add to addressbook

• the hardest problem of all: getting started • we can help 90+% of users Auto- a lot conﬁguration: • user experience trumps code simplicity • the data we collect can be used by all email clients

Bigger UX vision • Learn from evolution of messaging in last 10 years (Gmail, Facebook, Twitter...) • Aim for the largest market possible, not just technophiles • Preserve key values • openness, extensibility, accessibility

Civilians think in terms of conversations with people, not servers, accounts, folders, protocols, ports • These are cultural changes. • Cultural changes are hard.

Making contributing easier • Cleaner, higher-level APIs • JS APIs rather than C++ APIs • Making room: moving specialized functionality to extensions • Help needed!

Gloda: a powerful message DB SQLite & JavaScript • Architecture converstations • Concepts identities messages collections async • Strengths & weaknesses + simple + extensible • Case study + ajax-compliant - young MIT Timeline 1 plane ﬂight demo

experiments • New models to provide interactions that: • requires less from the user • integrate with how users work elsewhere • Experimental toolbar • conversation & person based search results • tabs for state management

Bigger themes • Sorting is not the smarter search • Conversations, not trees • Tags are richer than folders • Protocols are not how people think about communications

Hacking for a product with a signiﬁcant market A successful contributor has • motivation • balance of community ﬁt and personal drive • ego in check • satisfaction from shared outcome, not personal glory

GETTING INVOLVED

Helping with bugs • 30+ bugs / day need more info, triage, dupe • Bug followup • more info needed, veriﬁcation • Untouched 10-year old bugs • Work with others: • Test days, Bug days

With more time & passion • Writing automated tests • JavaScript is all you need • Patches! • developer.mozilla.org • Extension development • Learn how it all works

Helping non-en_US • Localization, obviously • new website for mozillamessaging.com! • Support sites per locale

Experimentation through add-ons

Futures & Challenges • Linux distros, netbooks • Mobile • How to leverage the web? • Calendaring options • Everyone wants your address book - and you want it everywhere.

Thank you dascher@mozillamessaging.com ludovic@mozillamessaging.com

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FOSDEM 2009 Thunderbird 3 talk

by davidascher on Feb 10, 2009

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FOSDEM 2009 Thunderbird 3 talk — Presentation Transcript