[kde-community] A new home for Mozilla Thunderbird at KDE?

[Eike Hein]

On 04/27/2016 04:02 AM, Laszlo Papp wrote:
> I would even go further claiming that many (most?) KDE projects have
> never made it to that level, so for me, Thunderbird as a project is
> something to look upon even if it is currently having issues to be resolved.

Yes yes, I get you're very eager to make these comparisons. They
don't in any away read on my argument, though, which is solely
about whether we could actually afford to incubate Thunderbird
(a resource question) and whether it stands a chance of recouping
that investment. I have dim views on both, taking both its history
and present situation into account. KDE's doesn't matter (or just
in terms of how it pertains to our resource situation).

Noting further that Thunderbird has made it to that level on the
back of funding sources unrelated to the product, e.g. Mozilla's
search-based revenue stream for Firefox. Is there any evidence to
suggest that Thunderbird has ever been independently viable?
Because if it's not then it's a drain on the resources of whatever
org hosts it, and try as I might I can't see a compelling argument
for a resource drain.


> Would it be possible for you to give a rough estimate with concrete
> numbers so that we can better understand the impact?

No, but I'm happy you've volunteered to be on the task force that
will research them to address those concerns adequately before
committing our resources.


> As I know, a couple of years ago, the sysadmins were processing the
> infrastructure set up quite quickly. They had done an excellent job at this.

Thanks -- a couple of years ago I was part of that team. There's
been a lot of turnover since and the overall team size has shrunk
I believe. The sysadmin team is also still taxed with the rollout
of our own new infra (Phab).


> I understand your concern of for instance migrating bugreports, but do
> they really have to be, at least right away?

Tinderbox et all are far bigger issues.


> I believe the monetary issues could be discussed for KDE as a whole. I
> am not sure that they are only relevant for one or two particular
> subprojects.

Do you think there should be discussion before sending invites to
other projects / incubation attempts, or are we obligated to seek
out anything that can be made to fit the Manifesto? If you
decide we're not obligated and allowed to have debate, then you're
likely looking at a cost/benefit analysis for the affected project.


> For instance, Thunderbird could also do its own fundraising relying on
> the success of that to a great extent.

Maybe. How's Thunderbird's fundraising track record so far?


> (By the way, I am now writing writing these lines as a non-thunderbird
> user before claiming any bias. I am still a happy mutt user. :-) )

I'm writing them in Thunderbird.


> Best Regards,
> Laszlo Papp

Cheers,
Eike