Updating everyone…

Hi Everyone,

It’s been awhile since this blog was updated.  No, SeaMonkey hasn’t disappeared or gone.  We’re still plugging away at getting things done; but it’s been a very slow process, of which, we apologize.

The project is still alive and we’re all busy figuring out the whole shebang mess.

To answer a lot of people’s question: “What is going to happen to the project?  What’s in store?”

The tentative answer is: While we’re basing our release on ESR52 (with ESR60 being (afaicr) untenable),  we’re looking at a possible 2.53 or at worst, 2.57 as being the next ‘stable’ platform.

As for the ‘future’, we’re not as optimistic since a lot of our code is XUL based and a lot of the dependent code has been ripped out from the engine already.   So what you’re seeing in comm-central (and dare I even say, comm-beta) is terribly broken. [Expect an edit here, as I’m a bit out of the loop wrt the code.  I’ve been so knee deep in the infrastructure setup. ]  That said, what we will do to continue SeaMonkey is really up in the air.   Should we migrate off XUL and go quantum while trying to maintain some semblance of SeaMonkey, or should we just run as is until the engine completely fails or fork off the most stable Gecko XUL code and work on it?  [For the latter, some have said it will be the death knell for SeaMonkey as we do not have enough knowledge, expertise and resources to maintain such code.]

While this isn’t the right place to discuss this type of decision, I’m just putting it forth out in the open (in the name of transparency) so that users can think and discuss it on the newsgroups/mailing list.  After all, we are working on this project for our users (and ourselves, of course as we also do use SeaMonkey).

Thank you all for your patience and support.  It means a lot to the remaining members of the SeaMonkey dev team.

Best Regards,

:ewong

About ewong

I'm a SeaMonkey dev/RelEnger and a bit of a buildbot dev.
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24 Responses to Updating everyone…

  1. Thanks for the update! It’s great to know that the project is still alive and what challenges it is facing. I’ve been using SeaMonkey for as long as it has existed (and the Mozilla Application Suite before that) and appreciate all the hard work by the developers and the others involved.

  2. Alex says:

    I’ll keep using SeaMonkey until the end, because the path that Firefox took doesn’t interest me.

    I keep hope for this project, and trust the SeaMonkey team to find a good way to continue it despite the many problems.
    It’s hard nowadays for you all, and I’m sad that I don’t have the skills to help you.

    If it’s necessary to keep SeaMonkey alive, take your time.
    Hang in there…

  3. Sanny says:

    First, thanks @ewong for this update.

    I’ve been following the status meetings for a while now, and know how hard it is keeping this pet (SeaMonkey) alive and well.
    Big Thank you to those doing the hard work for us all.

    As @Alex said above, take all the time to keep the project alive.

    Should we migrate off XUL and go quantum while trying to maintain some semblance of SeaMonkey

    If you’re interested in the thoughts of a long-time-user of SeaMonkey (back in the Netscape days; 1996), then no. Do not lose the SeaMonkey spirit to be like all those ‘chromium clones’.

    or fork off the most stable Gecko XUL code and work on it?
    How about combine effort on the engine part with thereisonlyxul.org?

    Sure, there are/ will be issues, but there will probably be others who might “jump” on this, just to offer an alternative to the 3 big browsers?

    I’m using 2.53 as my main version now, because after using it as test on a side machine, it works well. I am happy with it. I thought I should say it in public, because a lot of work is put into it.

    All I have to say is: Kudos for all the effort to those shouldering the burden, and thanks for taking interest in the thoughts of the users.

  4. Stefan says:

    Thank you for your enduring support, I’m using SeaMonkey (and it’s former incarnation Netscape Communicator) for a very long time. During the years, I try out other browser and mail programs, but every time (last time, last weekend) I keep coming back for the familiar interface and subjective better handling of most things (eg. not dumbing down, giving choice and feedback).

    I think for the long time survival of SeaMonkey it is prudent to port the interface (and settings dialogs) to Quantum and bundle the Firefox Quantum, Thunderbird, Lightning and the IRC chat in one bundle. I really love XUL, but there is no future anymore, as sad I am, but I am not a fanatic like the PaleMoon crowd. Looking at the other Firefox forks like Cyberfox and Waterfox they are all more or less dead in the water. Ironically, PaleMoon is more or less alive, but also has to switch to their Basilisk in order to survive…

    Perhaps Quantum SeaMonkey is 3.0?

    BTW Why aren’t you going Patreon for Mozilla SeaMonkey? This would garner more attention I think (and funding for keeping it going).

    • ewong says:

      Re: Patreon, that is a good idea. Will need to run that by the Council.

      Re: Quantum SeaMonkey is 3.0. Definitely a possibility if we go the Quantum route.

      Thanks for the suggestions!

      :ewong

  5. Pingback: Co bude se SeaMonkey? – Mozilla.cz

  6. gilcarver says:

    I am just re-installing the latest release via the ubuntuzilla ppa after updating my peppermintOS desktop to the peppermint 9 respin. I have been a dedicated mozillian since first installing Netscape 3.0 Gold back in the mid 90’s. I appreciate all the hard work and dedication it takes to keep Seamonkey rolling along as the Firefox team deviates and forces change on Seamonkey & Thunderbird.

    Please let us know how we non-coders may best come to your aid

  7. Christopher Briggs says:

    Oh my heavens!
    But SeaMonkey is BY FAR the best. I’ve been wedded to it as my default browser since 2011 or 2012. What else is there that gives a whole SUITE, like the old Netscape did?

    And WHY, can’t anyone tell me, isn’t SeaMonkey better known? It’s a question I’ve been asking myself for years. Why have Firefox AND Thunderbird, Why have Edge AND Outlook, when you can have everything in one process in SeaMonkey?

    I’m so sorry it’s proving difficult. If only I had the skills myself, but alas I’m not a developer. Still, if people KNEW how superior Seamonkey was, they’d be using it instead of the more popular things. Perhaps then, there’d be experienced people volunteering to help you develop the code.

    Oh my, oh my – keep this going!

  8. Aaron says:

    Hello ewong, thanks a lot for your update. I can’t give advice on your technical questions sorry but just letting you know that I’m a very happy and loyal SeaMonkey user. I only tried it properly after reading an article in Linux Magazine a few years back but now I love it!
    Hope you can take your time in working out the best way forward (if it is at all possible) and thanks so much to everyone in the team for all their hard work!!

  9. Bret says:

    As others have said, any help a non-coder can do to keep SM running.
    I can’t even remember what version on Netscape I started on. I just remember nothing came close to it. IE was nothing but trouble when it came along. I use other browsers at times as we know SM has not kept up. But the mail client is the best out there. Can’t imagine not having it as I have used it for probably the last 23 years or so. Thanks for all your hard work and effort to keep this platform alive.

  10. Holger says:

    Thanks ewong (and the rest of the team): It is still alive!
    I just was searching around how to migrate to Thunderbird and Firefox, but now I think I will wait and hope for any SeaMonkey version you are able to develop. I’m sure it will be good! I use SeaMonkey since the split from Mozilla into Thunderbird and Firefox (no idea for how many years now…).

  11. Pascal says:

    Hello
    I am also a long time user of Seamonkey.
    The current version is fine with Windows XP and Vista.
    It would be a good idea to keep the compatibility for the future releases of Seamonkey, as these operating systems still have many users.

  12. zap says:

    Please do me a favor, do not switch to webextensions.

    Webextensions is crap and needs to be denied the right to enter seamonkey.
    If you want to fork from firefox 52, which has both, fine. But please, don’t break seamonkey with the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of webextensions. It’s just not going to help your case.
    Mozilla has made a grave mistake and is slowly losing their originality by switching from XUL to webextensions.
    When people think of webextensions, I doubt they think of firefox much. (except in the negative)
    Just consider your next move carefully before you switch. PS, ublock origin, noscript and other addons out there are still being maintained for such purposes. Some just need to be reworked for seamonkey. 😉
    Privacy Settings, noscript, ublock origin, random agent spoofer, greasemonkey,

    Four out of the five are still are being worked on and are arguably what matter if you need security. They are non-proprietary aka.

  13. zapper says:

    PS, have you ever thought of making a seamonkey based browser without the email client part. I bet it would be super lightweight and even more secure. 🙂

  14. DarkSteve says:

    I really hope you don’t go the Quantum route. I may as well use Firefox in that case.
    I don’t know if this is feasible, but is it possible for you to switch from Gecko to Goanna? Moonchild Productions (Pale Moon) would seem like a great complementary partner org, as they’ve already forked Gecko (into Goanna) and are maintaining XUL. They also had to abandon their mail client, Fossamail, due to lack of developers. Perhaps you could combine efforts and both benefit?

  15. Piben says:

    Hello,
    I am browsing the Internet since 1996 and I mostly used Netscape and later Seamonkey until today. This software is maybe the greatest I have seen and used all these years, because this all-in-one suite is very efficient with the best mail client I can dream of. Its multiplatform portability is also something exceptional, because you can transfer the SM settings from a Mac to a PC and to a Linux and vice versa.
    I am strongly hoping that you can find enough resources to maintain SM and develop it for the future. Thank you for all your efforts.

  16. LuvKomputrs says:

    Nice to see SeaMonkey still up and running.
    It’s my favourite browser! 😀
    My advice is not to partner with Pale Moon.
    They use outdated Firefox code on both of their browsers Pale Moon and Basilisk. Really. really like the idea of Quantum SeaMonkey 3.0.
    And getting the funding for the SeaMonkey project.
    KUDOS to ALL at the SeaMonkey council!

  17. George says:

    Hope to see SeaMonkey continue. Long time user. I use it to update my school website and another one I made. I have been using the 2.49.5 builds that WG9 has done and it works well. I also sometimes use Firefox and PaleMoon. I am trying to avoid using Chrome. Keep at it! I like the idea of a Quantum Seamonkey but please keep the Composer part if possible.

  18. mikeh says:

    In my uninformed opinion, moving to quantum is the best route. The project so far has been possible because the core web and mail clients were essentially ported from the active mozilla products. It seems like it is necessary for that to continue.

    I say uninformed opinion because I don’t see the downside (other than the effort required) to switching to quantum. Is it because it is harder to control the UI?

    Would it make sense for Seamonkey to extend webextensions by restoring to it the UI control elements that were part of XUL?

    That might even make Seamonkey more attractive to plugin writers than firefox is.

  19. mb says:

    RE: Replacing/removing XUL…

    What about the XUL support in Waterfox? Waterfox is a fork of Firefox that “…is continuing to support the long-standing XUL and XPCOM add-on capability that Firefox removed in version 57.”

    Been using it after I totally hosed my Seamonkey install and Firefox quantumed itself, and Waterfox is pretty darn good.

  20. Klemperer says:

    I just hope you will go on – the concept is wonderful, and in my view the email client plus webbrower is just a superb idea. I stopped using firefox 2 years ago and am very happy with Seamonkey. So another all the best wishes, and I am very thankful you created Seamonkey for us and for yourselves.

  21. Stephen says:

    Thanks very much for keeping the project alive !

    Like another person said, I think that forking XUL would be a lot of effort and result very probably into insecure code.

    I would prefer a “Quantum Seamonkey” even if it would lose some great add-ons.

    Regards

  22. Leonel says:

    Great post. I was checking constantly this blog and I am impressed!
    Very useful info particularly the last part 🙂 I care for such
    information much. I was looking for this particular info
    for a very long time. Thank you and best of luck.

  23. Jake says:

    Loyal Seamonkey Suite user. Glad to hear y’all are ok and still at it.
    Been using Seamonkey for at least ten years or more and I don’t want to give it up!

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