9 ms·

The thing that really is baffling about this article is that whenever I see saccharine, unspecific, obtuse, corporate language like this, I at least understand

by oehpr 5y ago

The thing that really is baffling about this article is that whenever I see saccharine, unspecific, obtuse, corporate language like this, I at least understand why the language is the way it is. Usually it's some company is in hot water and is trying to make sure no one can quote a single line in their press release. But... Why would Mozilla be trying to obfuscate setting the color of the browser? What's to gain from that? I assume someone looked at this blog post, maybe even multiple people? And then, I assume, thought to themselves: "Yup, this communicated what I want to communicate." But it's hard for me to imagine an audience that would be receptive to ... this.

handrous 5y ago
The only way I've been able to make sense of Mozilla over the last decade is to figure they've been taken over by several interests that don't align with a bright future for the browser, for the company/foundation, or the needs of users. There seems to be some kind of slow-motion many-party cannibalism underway.
- kyleee 5y ago
  Baker is basically stealing from the company: https://calpaterson.com/assets/mozilla-boss-pay.svg https://calpaterson.com/assets/mozilla-boss-pay.svg More sadness: https://calpaterson.com/mozilla.html https://calpaterson.com/mozilla.html
- wolpoli 5y ago
  Based on the recent actions from Mozilla, they appear to believe that the core technology behind their browser is fine and competitive, and that the issue lies with the perception of the market. Futhermore, they believe if they could just get the existing users excited, they'll be able to grow their market share again. Unfortunately, this isn't going to work. Sometimes I wonder if the current leadership team even use Firefox on a day to day basis.
  - bellyfullofbac 5y ago
    Next they should just pay Instagram, uhm, I mean, TikTok, influencers to promote the browser...
bluedino 5y ago
> Why would Mozilla be trying to obfuscate setting the color of the browser? What's to gain from that? It says right in the article: allows our users to express their most authentic selves and to bring them joy while browsing the web.
- nicbou 5y ago
  But nobody speaks like that. Nobody even thinks like that. A normal human would have said "you can now change your browser's colour scheme, which we think is kinda nice".
  - kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
    > Nobody even thinks like that. There are a lot of people living in a head bubble who think they can put in two years at a FAANG and change the world. This is an outgrowth of that mentality where trivial things are sold as something revolutionary so someone can feel like they "made a difference".
    - nicbou 5y ago
      https://youtu.be/B8C5sjjhsso https://youtu.be/B8C5sjjhsso
    - maccolgan 5y ago
      I didn't think Mozilla is really that out of touch though, they don't live in bubbles like FAANG people and are developing a open source product.
- BiteCode_dev 5y ago
  Exactly, in fact, I'm glad a software hue finally takes on the hard task of setting the meaning of my life right. All those futile things about people, spirituality and creating stuff were exhaustively complicated.
  - Y_Y 5y ago
Traubenfuchs 5y ago
Just let this inane company die, firefox won't ever compete with chrome again anyways. https://itdm.com/mozilla-firefox-usage-down-85-but-why-are-execs-salary-up-400/2050/ https://itdm.com/mozilla-firefox-usage-down-85-but-why-are-e...
PKop 5y ago
They are using woke corporate speak to convey to you what they are really trying to sell: not a browser or its features but values and virtues, and a certain ideology or belief system. It's another example of the Stone-toss comic "..Burgers?"[0]. The browser and Mozilla is just the medium for the message. [0] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/are-you-sure-this-will-help-us-sell-more-burgers https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/are-you-sure-this-will-help-u...
- userbinator 5y ago
  We certainly see the effects of their antimeritocratic ideology.
- asoneth 5y ago
  I'm all in for ridiculing the use of jargony fashion terms like "colorways" when a word like "colors" would suffice. But I fail to see how their statement reads as "woke". To me this article just seems like bog-standard marketing-speak.
  - hengheng 5y ago
    They're catering to a different crowd of nerds than usually read these announcements, all while claiming this makes them less nerdy.
  - robertlagrant 5y ago
    If you think it's a bad idea then you're against people bringing their whole self to their computer. Much easier to construct that defence of a bad idea than to have a good idea.
- tapoxi 5y ago
  I wouldn’t say this is “woke” speak, this is designer speak. Also Stonetoss is an antisemetic white nationalist so he’s not a great example of sane commentary.
wintermutestwin 5y ago
This all smacks of an overpaid marketing department trying to justify their salary. Hint to Mozilla - the only effective marketing you have is: "Firefox isn't feeding your data to Google's AI and it has uBlock Origin."
- mdaniel 5y ago
  I would value them adding to that sentence "... and we won't EVER do to your desktop browser what we did to the Android one, and also we're sorry about that and this is the bugzilla link where we're fixing that grave breach of trust of our users" I'll hold my breath
  - zwog 5y ago
    I am out of the loop: what did Mozilla to Firefox on Android? As far as I know it's the only browser for Android that supports the uBlock addon, that's why it is my go-to browser.
    - eadmund 5y ago
      > I am out of the loop: what did Mozilla to Firefox on Android? There was a time when one could run many extensions on Firefox on Android. Mozilla restricted it to just a few. I am still sad about losing Stylus.
- guilhas 5y ago
  Although that would be a lie because Firefox is feeding your data to Google. You need to disable it in the user.js file
  - wintermutestwin 5y ago
    Well that's obnoxious and self defeating (like so much of current Mozilla). Could you please provide a link to details and how to disable?
peakaboo 5y ago
I don't mind it. It may be marketing but I agree that colors and themes are very important for an enjoyable experience. I didn't mind playing with colorways for a few minutes.
- Gigachad 5y ago
  There is no doubt in my mind that themes and good colour support is very important and that their claim of boosted engagement is correct when the user picks a colour. The joke to me is the blog post explaining it. I had to dig for a while to find out what a colourway even is. The first few paragraphs were meaningless marketing dribble.
- mixmastamyk 5y ago
  My whole desktop environment already has a theme… and has had one for… thirty plus years. What makes a browser developer think they need to interrupt me to choose colors I've already chosen?
silicon2401 5y ago
> Why would Mozilla be trying to obfuscate setting the color of the browser? What's to gain from that? This is one of the things that really got me on board with the ideas of free software and Richard Stallman. I understand why corporations would want to force users to comply with data, tracking, etc. But they even go to the point of imposing cosmetic decisions. The ideal Android UI for me was whatever my Galaxy S3 had, yet for some reason I'm forced to upgrade to new, increasingly uglier system UIs as I upgrade Android versions. why?
- mixmastamyk 5y ago
  I remember a few years ago when theme customization was removed from most desktop environments. Dark theme was removed from Android, though it may have come back.

by oehpr 5y ago

handrous 5y ago

The only way I've been able to make sense of Mozilla over the last decade is to figure they've been taken over by several interests that don't align with a bright future for the browser, for the company/foundation, or the needs of users. There seems to be some kind of slow-motion many-party cannibalism underway.

kyleee 5y ago
Baker is basically stealing from the company: https://calpaterson.com/assets/mozilla-boss-pay.svg https://calpaterson.com/assets/mozilla-boss-pay.svg More sadness: https://calpaterson.com/mozilla.html https://calpaterson.com/mozilla.html
wolpoli 5y ago
Based on the recent actions from Mozilla, they appear to believe that the core technology behind their browser is fine and competitive, and that the issue lies with the perception of the market. Futhermore, they believe if they could just get the existing users excited, they'll be able to grow their market share again. Unfortunately, this isn't going to work. Sometimes I wonder if the current leadership team even use Firefox on a day to day basis.
- bellyfullofbac 5y ago
  Next they should just pay Instagram, uhm, I mean, TikTok, influencers to promote the browser...

bluedino 5y ago

> Why would Mozilla be trying to obfuscate setting the color of the browser? What's to gain from that? It says right in the article: allows our users to express their most authentic selves and to bring them joy while browsing the web.

nicbou 5y ago
But nobody speaks like that. Nobody even thinks like that. A normal human would have said "you can now change your browser's colour scheme, which we think is kinda nice".
- kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
  > Nobody even thinks like that. There are a lot of people living in a head bubble who think they can put in two years at a FAANG and change the world. This is an outgrowth of that mentality where trivial things are sold as something revolutionary so someone can feel like they "made a difference".
  - nicbou 5y ago
    https://youtu.be/B8C5sjjhsso https://youtu.be/B8C5sjjhsso
  - maccolgan 5y ago
    I didn't think Mozilla is really that out of touch though, they don't live in bubbles like FAANG people and are developing a open source product.
BiteCode_dev 5y ago
Exactly, in fact, I'm glad a software hue finally takes on the hard task of setting the meaning of my life right. All those futile things about people, spirituality and creating stuff were exhaustively complicated.
- Y_Y 5y ago

Traubenfuchs 5y ago

Just let this inane company die, firefox won't ever compete with chrome again anyways. https://itdm.com/mozilla-firefox-usage-down-85-but-why-are-execs-salary-up-400/2050/ https://itdm.com/mozilla-firefox-usage-down-85-but-why-are-e...

PKop 5y ago

They are using woke corporate speak to convey to you what they are really trying to sell: not a browser or its features but values and virtues, and a certain ideology or belief system. It's another example of the Stone-toss comic "..Burgers?"[0]. The browser and Mozilla is just the medium for the message. [0] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/are-you-sure-this-will-help-us-sell-more-burgers https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/are-you-sure-this-will-help-u...

userbinator 5y ago
We certainly see the effects of their antimeritocratic ideology.
asoneth 5y ago
I'm all in for ridiculing the use of jargony fashion terms like "colorways" when a word like "colors" would suffice. But I fail to see how their statement reads as "woke". To me this article just seems like bog-standard marketing-speak.
- hengheng 5y ago
  They're catering to a different crowd of nerds than usually read these announcements, all while claiming this makes them less nerdy.
- robertlagrant 5y ago
  If you think it's a bad idea then you're against people bringing their whole self to their computer. Much easier to construct that defence of a bad idea than to have a good idea.
tapoxi 5y ago
I wouldn’t say this is “woke” speak, this is designer speak. Also Stonetoss is an antisemetic white nationalist so he’s not a great example of sane commentary.

wintermutestwin 5y ago

This all smacks of an overpaid marketing department trying to justify their salary. Hint to Mozilla - the only effective marketing you have is: "Firefox isn't feeding your data to Google's AI and it has uBlock Origin."

mdaniel 5y ago
I would value them adding to that sentence "... and we won't EVER do to your desktop browser what we did to the Android one, and also we're sorry about that and this is the bugzilla link where we're fixing that grave breach of trust of our users" I'll hold my breath
- zwog 5y ago
  I am out of the loop: what did Mozilla to Firefox on Android? As far as I know it's the only browser for Android that supports the uBlock addon, that's why it is my go-to browser.
  - eadmund 5y ago
    > I am out of the loop: what did Mozilla to Firefox on Android? There was a time when one could run many extensions on Firefox on Android. Mozilla restricted it to just a few. I am still sad about losing Stylus.
guilhas 5y ago
Although that would be a lie because Firefox is feeding your data to Google. You need to disable it in the user.js file
- wintermutestwin 5y ago
  Well that's obnoxious and self defeating (like so much of current Mozilla). Could you please provide a link to details and how to disable?

peakaboo 5y ago

I don't mind it. It may be marketing but I agree that colors and themes are very important for an enjoyable experience. I didn't mind playing with colorways for a few minutes.

Gigachad 5y ago
There is no doubt in my mind that themes and good colour support is very important and that their claim of boosted engagement is correct when the user picks a colour. The joke to me is the blog post explaining it. I had to dig for a while to find out what a colourway even is. The first few paragraphs were meaningless marketing dribble.
mixmastamyk 5y ago
My whole desktop environment already has a theme… and has had one for… thirty plus years. What makes a browser developer think they need to interrupt me to choose colors I've already chosen?

silicon2401 5y ago

> Why would Mozilla be trying to obfuscate setting the color of the browser? What's to gain from that? This is one of the things that really got me on board with the ideas of free software and Richard Stallman. I understand why corporations would want to force users to comply with data, tracking, etc. But they even go to the point of imposing cosmetic decisions. The ideal Android UI for me was whatever my Galaxy S3 had, yet for some reason I'm forced to upgrade to new, increasingly uglier system UIs as I upgrade Android versions. why?

mixmastamyk 5y ago
I remember a few years ago when theme customization was removed from most desktop environments. Dark theme was removed from Android, though it may have come back.