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The new CEO, Laura Chambers, is an MBA and a former McKinsey consultant ([1]). I would not hold my breath about the future of Firefox. 1. https://www.linkedin.

by krasin 3y ago

The new CEO, Laura Chambers, is an MBA and a former McKinsey consultant ([1]). I would not hold my breath about the future of Firefox. 1. https://www.linkedin.com/in/chamberslaura/details/experience/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/chamberslaura/details/experience...

n2d4 3y ago
Laura Chambers is only the interim CEO. In the original announcement post, it was stated that she would stay for the "remainder of this year", and Chambers later said that she would move to Australia in 2024 [1]. [1] https://fortune.com/2024/02/08/mozilla-firefox-ceo-laura-chambers-mitchell-baker-leadership-transition/ https://fortune.com/2024/02/08/mozilla-firefox-ceo-laura-cha...
- stefan_ 3y ago
  Obviously she will. Jesus, that's about 2/3rds of the problems of Firefox right there.
- sjwhevvvvvsj 3y ago
  Usually somebody serving in an interim position doesn’t make big strategic changes.
  - Perceval 3y ago
    Are these "big strategic changes" or are they changes that have been obviously needed for a while and made quickly in order to stop the bleeding?
huytersd 3y ago
Oh, this is going to go the way of Meg Whitman and Marissa Meyer.
__loam 3y ago
Maybe time to fork Firefox.
- zamadatix 3y ago
  And then convince ~200 million people to use your browser so you can get the same bare bones level of funding via search deals Mozilla is having trouble sustaining on. Things do get in a progressively easier feedback loop after that though. I almost wonder if the Edge/Brave approach is the smarter approach. Build something on top of Chromium, trading full independence for the ability to focus on differentiation, and then if you ever show you can actually make a more popular browser you're free to take over/break away from/fork Chromium for full independence again at the end. Either way you have a tradeoff.
  - babypuncher 3y ago
    But building something on top of Chromium defeats the entire appeal of a replacement for Firefox, which is to continue the fight against the Blink/V8 monoculture.
    - zamadatix 3y ago
      Certainly to some, to others it's just about having a browser which doesn't spy on you, use non-free components, or try to use all of your data for ads. Things are a bit different than the original I.E. battle where a monoculture around a closed source limited platform engine existed and monoculture isn't a neat box for the entire story anymore, especially if you're doing this because you think Mozilla is imminently failing because they can't find the money to maintain a separate engine to user's expectations.
  - alwayslikethis 3y ago
    Well, what if you want to.. lets say, keep Manifest V2 compatibility in Chromium? Judging by the compile times, Chromium is one of the largest open source projects out there. Maintaining a backport is going to be a nontrivial effort because your company isn't Google and can't just throw developer hours at the problem.
    - zamadatix 3y ago
      The amount of work is plenty true but the alternative (on the assumption you're assuming Firefox is failing and needs to be forked or replaced) is maintaining an entire browser and its Manifest V2 instance instead of maintaining a separate back port of manifest v2. Not really much better.
AwaAwa 3y ago
How soon before she gives herself a raise? Sorry hackernews, I mean her friends on the board give her a raise? Because as far as Firefox can tell, that seems to be the job of the Mozilla CEO.
- sjwhevvvvvsj 3y ago
  Hey now, Google paid very good money for that antitrust testimony.
- gregors 3y ago
  Wasn't she part of the board that ok'd the raise for the previous CEO????
atlintots 3y ago
I guess that's a wrap then :( Very sad to hear this.
lopkeny12ko 3y ago
When I was in college, McKinsey was one of the name-brand, prestigious places students wanted to go and work after graduation. Now it seems to be the laughing stock. What happened?
- skipnup 3y ago
  It always was, you just didn't realize that as a student. At least here in Germany.
- mkipper 3y ago
  Nothing has really changed. You just got older and wiser. MBB consulting is still a prestigious job for most students. It's probably not _as_ sought after as it was a decade or two ago, but I think most students at most business schools would be incredibly happy to get a job at McKinsey after graduating. And I can guarantee that when you were in school, there were plenty of people who looked at McKinsey exactly like you do now. But most people don't form that opinion until they get out into industry and get exposure to management consultants in the wild.

by krasin 3y ago

n2d4 3y ago

Laura Chambers is only the interim CEO. In the original announcement post, it was stated that she would stay for the "remainder of this year", and Chambers later said that she would move to Australia in 2024 [1]. [1] https://fortune.com/2024/02/08/mozilla-firefox-ceo-laura-chambers-mitchell-baker-leadership-transition/ https://fortune.com/2024/02/08/mozilla-firefox-ceo-laura-cha...

stefan_ 3y ago
Obviously she will. Jesus, that's about 2/3rds of the problems of Firefox right there.
sjwhevvvvvsj 3y ago
Usually somebody serving in an interim position doesn’t make big strategic changes.
- Perceval 3y ago
  Are these "big strategic changes" or are they changes that have been obviously needed for a while and made quickly in order to stop the bleeding?

huytersd 3y ago

Oh, this is going to go the way of Meg Whitman and Marissa Meyer.

__loam 3y ago

Maybe time to fork Firefox.

zamadatix 3y ago
And then convince ~200 million people to use your browser so you can get the same bare bones level of funding via search deals Mozilla is having trouble sustaining on. Things do get in a progressively easier feedback loop after that though. I almost wonder if the Edge/Brave approach is the smarter approach. Build something on top of Chromium, trading full independence for the ability to focus on differentiation, and then if you ever show you can actually make a more popular browser you're free to take over/break away from/fork Chromium for full independence again at the end. Either way you have a tradeoff.
- babypuncher 3y ago
  But building something on top of Chromium defeats the entire appeal of a replacement for Firefox, which is to continue the fight against the Blink/V8 monoculture.
  - zamadatix 3y ago
    Certainly to some, to others it's just about having a browser which doesn't spy on you, use non-free components, or try to use all of your data for ads. Things are a bit different than the original I.E. battle where a monoculture around a closed source limited platform engine existed and monoculture isn't a neat box for the entire story anymore, especially if you're doing this because you think Mozilla is imminently failing because they can't find the money to maintain a separate engine to user's expectations.
- alwayslikethis 3y ago
  Well, what if you want to.. lets say, keep Manifest V2 compatibility in Chromium? Judging by the compile times, Chromium is one of the largest open source projects out there. Maintaining a backport is going to be a nontrivial effort because your company isn't Google and can't just throw developer hours at the problem.
  - zamadatix 3y ago
    The amount of work is plenty true but the alternative (on the assumption you're assuming Firefox is failing and needs to be forked or replaced) is maintaining an entire browser and its Manifest V2 instance instead of maintaining a separate back port of manifest v2. Not really much better.

AwaAwa 3y ago

How soon before she gives herself a raise? Sorry hackernews, I mean her friends on the board give her a raise? Because as far as Firefox can tell, that seems to be the job of the Mozilla CEO.

sjwhevvvvvsj 3y ago
Hey now, Google paid very good money for that antitrust testimony.
gregors 3y ago
Wasn't she part of the board that ok'd the raise for the previous CEO????

atlintots 3y ago

I guess that's a wrap then :( Very sad to hear this.

lopkeny12ko 3y ago

When I was in college, McKinsey was one of the name-brand, prestigious places students wanted to go and work after graduation. Now it seems to be the laughing stock. What happened?

skipnup 3y ago
It always was, you just didn't realize that as a student. At least here in Germany.
mkipper 3y ago
Nothing has really changed. You just got older and wiser. MBB consulting is still a prestigious job for most students. It's probably not _as_ sought after as it was a decade or two ago, but I think most students at most business schools would be incredibly happy to get a job at McKinsey after graduating. And I can guarantee that when you were in school, there were plenty of people who looked at McKinsey exactly like you do now. But most people don't form that opinion until they get out into industry and get exposure to management consultants in the wild.