Interviewers: Scott Swigart and Sean Campbell

Interviewee: David Ascher, and Dan Mosedale

In this interview we talk with David and Dan. In specific, we talk about:

• How Thunderbird fits into the larger software ecosystem
• Internal handling of security, feature inclusion, usability, and QA
• The relationship between Thunderbird and Linux distros
• Automated tools and processes within Thunderbird development
• The relationship between open source and proprietary messaging software
• Future directions for messaging

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Interviewers: Scott Swigart and Sean Campbell

Interviewee: Gabor Cselle

In this interview we talk with Gabor Cselle. In specific, we talk about:

• Deciding between open and closed development models
• Strategies around handling QA challenges effectively
• Maintaining high usability and user security
• Business models and corporate customers as opposed to individual users
• The relationship between open-source and commercial software
• The value of avoiding feature creep

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Interviewers: Scott Swigart and Sean Campbell

Interviewee: Kevin Kluge

In this interview we talk with Kevin Kluge from Zimbra. In specific, we talk about:

• Zimbra’s history and finding a niche
• Profitability, ownership, and managing commercial products
• Interacting with the community
• Source code availability and its impact on the public
• Managing customer needs and usability

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Interviewers: Scott Swigart and Sean Campbell

Interviewee: Wade Olson

In this interview we talk with Wade Olson from the KDE project. In specific, we talk about:

• Background of KDE and comparison to GNOME
• Ensuring usability in an open source project
• Managing interoperability among components
• Impact of commercial acquisition of open source projects
• Cross-platform support in KDE
• Reaction to KDE 4 public release

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Interviewers: Scott Swigart and Sean Campbell

Interviewee: Jim Gettys

In this interview we talk with Jim Gettys – VP of Software Engineering on the OLPC project. In specific, we talk about:

• OLPC base systems software
• OLPC user-facing software
• Platform innovation for the developing world
• Future directions for the OLPC platform
• Engaging kids with OLPC and open software

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Interviewers: Scott Swigart and Sean Campbell

Interviewee: Mike Shaver

In this interview with talk with Mike Shaver, Chief Evangelist for Mozilla. In specific, we talk about:

• Governance of the project and how people get involved
• Changing contributors who fill key roles
• Roles of independent contributors versus employees
• Ensuring high usability in an open-source project
• Protecting reliability in a world of many extensions
• Tools used by the Mozilla team
• Reflections on open and closed development models

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