Khepri wrote:
> So, what is it exactly that Mozilla is gaining by going commercial?
The creation of the Mozilla Corporation should eliminate some of the
thorny legal and tax issues that have been caused by the
revenue-generating potential of Firefox and Thunderbird. The Mozilla
Corporation will now handle all relationships with commercial
companies and its status should allow more flexibility in this area.
It is hoped that the income from the Mozilla Corporation will help the
Mozilla project (including both the Foundation and the Corporation) to
be more self-supporting, though donations will still be welcome.
>
> I haven't really read any answers to that question yet?
>
> Are they just following the Redhat model ala Novell? And if so, what is
> it they gain by doing so?
While the Mozilla Corporation will be a for-profit, the Mozilla
Foundation is keen to stress that it is not selling out. The Mozilla
Foundation will ultimately control the activities of the Mozilla
Corporation and will retain its 100 percent ownership of the new
subsidiary. Any profits made by the Mozilla Corporation will be
invested back into the Mozilla project. There will be no shareholders,
no stock options will be issued and no dividends will be paid. The
Mozilla Corporation will not be floating on the stock market and it
will be impossible for any company to take over or buy a stake in the
subsidiary. The Mozilla Foundation will continue to own the Mozilla
trademarks and other intellectual property and will license them to
the Mozilla Corporation. The Foundation will also continue to govern
the source code repository and control who is allowed to check in.
>
> Chris in SP
>
See:
http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=7085
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