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Mozilla is acting like Microsoft right now - Step 1: Replace a working app with a shinier UI with less features than the original Step 2: Promise to add missi

Mozilla is acting like Microsoft right now - Step 1: Replace a working app with a shinier UI with less features than the original Step 2: Promise to add missing features in the future Step 3: Put off adding missing features existing users want. While adding features "prospective users" say they want. Step 4 - Repeat steps 1-3 a few times (rewrite, remove features users use, add features non-users want) Step 5: Retire the product citing low usage

rjzzleep 6y ago
2014 Brendan Eich was removed and replaced with the Chief of Marketing as CEO[1][2]. I mentioned that it worries me back then and that nothing good can come out of the Chief marketing guy becoming CEO. Today what we see is the result of that. Yandex browser on android has more chrome extension support than firefox for android. This isn't just about Mozilla as a company. It's also about how we as a community supported Mozilla in becoming that company and now being surprised at why it does the things that it does. Obama made a speech not too long ago about not to conflate people doing good things with being good in all situations. The only people always seeming to be good are the ones groomed to be politicians without ever sharing a bad opinion in public. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7551896 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7551896 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7530807 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7530807
- diminish 6y ago
  I sometimes wish we need the linux governance model with firefox - where a leader like linus with a team of a handful of people manages a true open source project. This would prevent monetization-led programming, creating a hierarchical company with a product & engineering management organization creating an average well known adventure of "how to make more money"
malnourish 6y ago
The question then is who becomes the new Mozilla?
- Polylactic_acid 6y ago
  No one has or likely will. Mozilla might not be perfect but they are the only ones who give half a shit about an open web.
  - dleslie 6y ago
    They could give it their all in support of an open web but it wouldn't matter so long as their user share continues to decline.
    - Polylactic_acid 6y ago
      Their user share is almost irrelevant now. They have no significant user base anymore but they will continue to exist for a long time because they are funded by google purely to make them not a monopoly.
      - dleslie 6y ago
        I'm inclined to agree, and I've been a Firefox/Mozilla/Netscape user since the first release; my previous browser was Cello. For me, there were three worrying changes: 1. The end of Netscape 2. The end of the Suite 3. The end of XUL And now, I think: 4. The gutting of important development teams to refocus on ... VPN service reselling?!
      - nitrogen 6y ago
        They have no significant user base anymore but they will continue to exist for a long time because they are funded by google purely to make them not a monopoly. This is exactly where Microsoft was with Apple in the 1990s, before Jobs returned. Is there some way to break this cycle?
        nsomaru 6y ago
        Seems to me like Jobs needs to return
SilasX 6y ago
Yes, they still haven't caught up to what extensions could do as of 2016. Like remapping controls without waiting for a tab to load.
danielscrubs 6y ago
Step 6: Do philanthropy Step 7: Fire developers

rjzzleep 6y ago

2014 Brendan Eich was removed and replaced with the Chief of Marketing as CEO[1][2]. I mentioned that it worries me back then and that nothing good can come out of the Chief marketing guy becoming CEO. Today what we see is the result of that. Yandex browser on android has more chrome extension support than firefox for android. This isn't just about Mozilla as a company. It's also about how we as a community supported Mozilla in becoming that company and now being surprised at why it does the things that it does. Obama made a speech not too long ago about not to conflate people doing good things with being good in all situations. The only people always seeming to be good are the ones groomed to be politicians without ever sharing a bad opinion in public. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7551896 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7551896 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7530807 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7530807

diminish 6y ago
I sometimes wish we need the linux governance model with firefox - where a leader like linus with a team of a handful of people manages a true open source project. This would prevent monetization-led programming, creating a hierarchical company with a product & engineering management organization creating an average well known adventure of "how to make more money"

malnourish 6y ago

The question then is who becomes the new Mozilla?

Polylactic_acid 6y ago
No one has or likely will. Mozilla might not be perfect but they are the only ones who give half a shit about an open web.
- dleslie 6y ago
  They could give it their all in support of an open web but it wouldn't matter so long as their user share continues to decline.
  - Polylactic_acid 6y ago
    Their user share is almost irrelevant now. They have no significant user base anymore but they will continue to exist for a long time because they are funded by google purely to make them not a monopoly.
    - dleslie 6y ago
      I'm inclined to agree, and I've been a Firefox/Mozilla/Netscape user since the first release; my previous browser was Cello. For me, there were three worrying changes: 1. The end of Netscape 2. The end of the Suite 3. The end of XUL And now, I think: 4. The gutting of important development teams to refocus on ... VPN service reselling?!
    - nitrogen 6y ago
      They have no significant user base anymore but they will continue to exist for a long time because they are funded by google purely to make them not a monopoly. This is exactly where Microsoft was with Apple in the 1990s, before Jobs returned. Is there some way to break this cycle?
      - nsomaru 6y ago
        Seems to me like Jobs needs to return

SilasX 6y ago

Yes, they still haven't caught up to what extensions could do as of 2016. Like remapping controls without waiting for a tab to load.

danielscrubs 6y ago

Step 6: Do philanthropy Step 7: Fire developers