The master mind behind Firefox, Firebug and the grossly popular IPhone Facebook app is going independent. Announced in his blog today (joehewitt.com), Joe Hewitt wrote that he’s leaving Facebook to “build tools for writers, designers, programmers, whatever.”
After spending the last four years building communication tools that have reached millions of people on a world wide interactive level, Hewitt admits that he can’t stop thinking about his first love, Firebug. “And so, I’m independent now, and I’m going to pour myself into understanding the needs of modern developers and designers, and creating software to fill those needs,” says Hewitt. “There are so many opportunities that I can’t even predict what I will end up building, but I am pretty sure I know where I am going to start. I can’t wait.”
Reacting to this announcement, other bloggers, undoubtedly will focus on the success of building Facebook and its relevant mobile offerings, but the concept that a developer with the superstar status of Hewitt will leave his cushy surroundings to develop for the modern tool junkie is a much bigger statement.
Could the creation of a democratized web presence be close behind? The creation of Facebook, in many ways, resembles AOL back in in the day. An entire generation felt that AOL was the entirely of the world wide web. And now, the world bekons the next generations discovery.
