The Mozilla Foundation has outlined its long-term mission for developing the online web experience and user control of the internet over the next century, claiming that Firefox is just the start.
Mozilla Foundation head Mitchell Baker told the Register recently that the open source group's mission was "to build certain qualities into the human experience of the internet" and that while Firefox was "important for the immediate future" Mozilla has "barely started in user control."
According to executive director Mark Surman is leading a Mozilla project called Drumbeat, which uses a new set of independent programs in open-web technologies like HTML 5 "where students' work is rated and scored using a peer-rating system designed to go beyond the standard Microsoft or Cisco certifications."
Humanising technology
Surman outlined Drumbeat's objectives as follows: "Clearly, the goal is to get out to a new circle of people who care about the web already but who don't have a way to participate.
"We don't know what the market will be 100 years from now, but we do know that a dramatic increase in levels of ownership and participation in the web will be critical."
Surman wants to see university courses in HTML 5, Cascading Style Sheets and JavaScript and courses that promote Mozilla's Canvas.
"Hopefully over time that's something that starts to compete with and replace the Cisco academies and Microsoft engineers - more traditional teaching and training. We can use the power and ethics of the web for people to teach each other skills and get jobs," said the Mozilla web guru.
"It's not hard to get tens of thousands [involved] - they are knocking on the door now. And they are going to talk to their friends, neighbours, and colleagues, and that will help people who don't know the difference between Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Chrome," Surman said.
"They are the next layer of people who come in five to 10 years from now - and that's the next stage of the game."
Via The Register
