From the ‘Mozilla is more than just a browser vendor‘ files:
There is a new release of Mozilla Weave out this week, offering the promise of improved core synchronization and responsiveness. Mozilla Weave is an open source Mozilla Labs effort that debuted back in December of 2007 as an attempt to make Mozilla a platform play utilizing a Mozilla online services
backend to store and synchronize data.
The new 0.1.28 release of Weave includes a few core infrastructure type improvements such as:
- Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) back-end implemented in preparation for the introduction of data sharing capabilities.
- Support for the new Firefox 3 native JSON parser for security, speed, and reliability.
- Synchronization of browser history data is now based on visits rather than URLs.
- Enhanced logging and debugging tools.
This is is still an early prototype to be sure, but the promise of Mozilla Weave is very large.
Initially it will handle bookmarks and history data. Over time though what Weave could well involve into is a massive Mozilla Services play where users of Mozilla’s browser (and maybe calendar and/or email products) would be able store and synchronize their data.
Mozilla today is a client desktop based technology vendor.The move towards a services (or maybe a ‘cloud’) backend approach has the potential to reshape Mozilla’s business model, and perhaps the web itself.
