Aug 27, 2011 09:00 GMT  ·  By
The rapid release cycle has strained the relationship with part of the community
   The rapid release cycle has strained the relationship with part of the community

Mozilla's decision to start pumping out new Firefox versions every six weeks, as opposed to months or even years, was going to be controversial one way or another. So far it's been going well, but there are plenty of ardent critics still holding on to their belief that it was the wrong move.

So much so that Mozilla has started defending the decision with all of its might. Firstly, it was Mozilla Chair Mitchell Baker that defended the move.

Now Firefox director of engineering Johnathan Nightingale is putting his support behind the rapid release cycle, arguing that it was the only way to move forward.

"Mission drives Mozilla. People sometimes forget that we’re a non-profit, that our only job is to make the Web a better place. Rapid release advances our mission in important ways," Nightingale wrote.

"We get features and improvements to users faster. We get new APIs and standards out to web developers faster," he explained.

This is the main point others defending the fast release cycle have supported. And it makes sense too, the web can only move as fast as the browsers that power it.

Developing new, great technologies for the web, HTML5, WebGL and the likes, doesn't mean anything if there is no browser to support it.

"Small, frequent releases improve quality, too. Engineers in the Mozilla community regularly say things now like 'I don’t like not understanding this piece, let’s back it out and I’ll catch the next train'," Nightingale added.

"We move deliberately. We don’t rush. And, even though it sounds like a contradiction, when we take our time we go faster," he said.

Interestingly though, he also admits that Mozilla hasn't responded well to the criticism so far. He's message is aimed at Mozilla as much as it is at Firefox users and fans.

"This change was hard for us to make, and it’s been hard for some of our supporters, too. We have been glib or dismissive in the way we’ve communicated about parts of it," Nightingale explained.

"We, everyone in the Mozilla community, all of us, need to communicate with clarity and sensitivity... We need to keep listening, and adjusting as we learn. We need to, and we will," he concluded.

Mozilla is a small organization and it's been busy with moving to the rapid release cycle, no small feat.

It's easy to understand that, while struggling with all the issues that surely have crept up, misinformed critics or downright trolls can be frustrating.