5 ms·

Something tells me the author started writing this article before the firefox news... (slightly after Napolean's invasion of Russia) While I can't speak to the

by snlacks 12y ago

Something tells me the author started writing this article before the firefox news... (slightly after Napolean's invasion of Russia) While I can't speak to the intepersonal management practices, this article seems to feed the tech killing stockholder demand for quarterly profits. The company is doing much better than before, but "not good enough." Whether the conclusion is correct, this article, despite it's length, doesn't make a case for Mayer not achieving the long term goals so far. (edit: fixed some messed up wording)

debacle 12y ago
The Firefox news is going to do more to bring down Mozilla than bootstrap Yahoo. Yahoo's search IS inferior, and forcing it on people is bullshit. Mozilla should allow users to choose their default search provider on installation.
- jamespo 12y ago
  Forcing? I didn't realise Firefox were hardcoding this in now.
  - debacle 12y ago
    I chose not to receive updates to my search. Mozilla updated my search anyway. That's forcing. It's underhanded. And now I have sponsored links when I open a new tab in Firefox, from Mozilla partners. It's starting to stink. The Mozilla foundation is losing sight of their mission.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
    - dhimes 12y ago
      They are running a donation campaign right now. I hope you donated.
  - ep103 12y ago
    You literally can't type a search query in firefox without it asking you which engine you would like to use.
    - markc 12y ago
      Unless you click "change search settings" (on that pulldown dialog) and deselect all the other providers.
      - ep103 12y ago
        Honestly, I'm really impressed with the UI of that little search box.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
- timtadh 12y ago
  Firefox has a wizard which tells you how to change it the first time you click in the box. If that isn't a good experience for the search box I don't know what is. They have actually significantly enhanced the UX for how searching works when they switched to Yahoo default on installation. (These enhancements may only be in the nightlies right now)
- isaacremuant 12y ago
  > Mozilla should allow users to choose their default search provider on installation. That's EXACTLY what they do. The same way the did before. Google was the default and people could easily change it to bing, duck duck go or whatever they wanted. They still can but the default is Yahoo instead of Google. Options > Search > Default search engine. It's really easy. I'd advice you to CHECK things before spreading this kind of disinformation.
  - debacle 12y ago
    I am 100% certain that when I updated to Firefox latest, my default search engine was changed. Give me just a moment to reconfirm. Edit: Just confirmed. Installed FF 30. Turned off the option to receive search updates. Updated to latest, provider was still changed to Yahoo.
    - jdp23 12y ago
      mine wasn't changed: it was DDG before, and still is.
      - deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
    - nissimk 12y ago
      My wife was complaining about that same thing. She was like "What the heck is Yahoo search?!? Is that even a thing?"
    - TD-Linux 12y ago
      The default search changes if you have never touched the search option.
      - geoelectric 12y ago
        It probably changed even if you switched away from Google and back to it at some point. Firefox checks the pref value, and if it equals the default it considers it a reset and removes it from the prefs override file. There's no way to hard set the equivalent of the default value. But as mentioned elsewhere, now that the default is Yahoo, changing it to Google should stick forever.
refurb 12y ago
The company is doing much better than before, but "not good enough." It all comes down to returns. Yahoo might be doing better, but if it's not doing as well as other potential investments, money will flow out of Yahoo into other, more productive companies.
- digikata 12y ago
  Does the stock exchange price of long issued shares really matter in the success of the company? If the stock price of the company goes down, no money actually exits the company. You may have an issue in executive retention if bonuses are tied into stock value (but is that really a problem if they collectively didn't deliver value to the company?). If you're trying to buy other companies it also may limit your options there too. But in terms of generating revenue, I don't see how the stock price has any direct impact.
fengb 12y ago
How is Yahoo doing better? Mayer has definitely changed a lot, but I'd argue that much of it is for the worse. Her most prominent changes, stack ranking and acqui-hires, are pretty bad in general (inciting cutthroat competition and burning cash for disloyal employees).
billsossoon 12y ago
While the article does discuss activist shareholders, it's really a brutal indictment against Mayer's leadership in general. It left me wondering if Mayer stood up the author on a lunch date. Regardless of Yahoo's recent results, Mayer seems to have alienated many people and made decisions that increasingly seem unlikely to achieve the long-term goals. Really, what has been accomplished? - She went all-in on playing the app lottery by developing new apps in-house, and I don't think any of Yahoo apps have been real winners. However, she bolstered the app engineering force, which may pay off down the road as the mobile software landscape continues to evolve. - She bought up a bunch of expensive start-ups seemingly at random. I figured these purchases might make sense in retrospect, when some grand design is revealed, but I'm still waiting. - She made a big bet on online media that doesn't align with what people want to watch. Google can afford to throw spaghetti against the wall because Google's search revenue is footing the bill. Yahoo seemingly adopted the same strategy in an attempt to identify its core business.

by snlacks 12y ago

debacle 12y ago

The Firefox news is going to do more to bring down Mozilla than bootstrap Yahoo. Yahoo's search IS inferior, and forcing it on people is bullshit. Mozilla should allow users to choose their default search provider on installation.

jamespo 12y ago
Forcing? I didn't realise Firefox were hardcoding this in now.
- debacle 12y ago
  I chose not to receive updates to my search. Mozilla updated my search anyway. That's forcing. It's underhanded. And now I have sponsored links when I open a new tab in Firefox, from Mozilla partners. It's starting to stink. The Mozilla foundation is losing sight of their mission.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - dhimes 12y ago
    They are running a donation campaign right now. I hope you donated.
- ep103 12y ago
  You literally can't type a search query in firefox without it asking you which engine you would like to use.
  - markc 12y ago
    Unless you click "change search settings" (on that pulldown dialog) and deselect all the other providers.
    - ep103 12y ago
      Honestly, I'm really impressed with the UI of that little search box.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
timtadh 12y ago
Firefox has a wizard which tells you how to change it the first time you click in the box. If that isn't a good experience for the search box I don't know what is. They have actually significantly enhanced the UX for how searching works when they switched to Yahoo default on installation. (These enhancements may only be in the nightlies right now)
isaacremuant 12y ago
> Mozilla should allow users to choose their default search provider on installation. That's EXACTLY what they do. The same way the did before. Google was the default and people could easily change it to bing, duck duck go or whatever they wanted. They still can but the default is Yahoo instead of Google. Options > Search > Default search engine. It's really easy. I'd advice you to CHECK things before spreading this kind of disinformation.
- debacle 12y ago
  I am 100% certain that when I updated to Firefox latest, my default search engine was changed. Give me just a moment to reconfirm. Edit: Just confirmed. Installed FF 30. Turned off the option to receive search updates. Updated to latest, provider was still changed to Yahoo.
  - jdp23 12y ago
    mine wasn't changed: it was DDG before, and still is.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
  - nissimk 12y ago
    My wife was complaining about that same thing. She was like "What the heck is Yahoo search?!? Is that even a thing?"
  - TD-Linux 12y ago
    The default search changes if you have never touched the search option.
    - geoelectric 12y ago
      It probably changed even if you switched away from Google and back to it at some point. Firefox checks the pref value, and if it equals the default it considers it a reset and removes it from the prefs override file. There's no way to hard set the equivalent of the default value. But as mentioned elsewhere, now that the default is Yahoo, changing it to Google should stick forever.

refurb 12y ago

The company is doing much better than before, but "not good enough." It all comes down to returns. Yahoo might be doing better, but if it's not doing as well as other potential investments, money will flow out of Yahoo into other, more productive companies.

digikata 12y ago
Does the stock exchange price of long issued shares really matter in the success of the company? If the stock price of the company goes down, no money actually exits the company. You may have an issue in executive retention if bonuses are tied into stock value (but is that really a problem if they collectively didn't deliver value to the company?). If you're trying to buy other companies it also may limit your options there too. But in terms of generating revenue, I don't see how the stock price has any direct impact.

fengb 12y ago

How is Yahoo doing better? Mayer has definitely changed a lot, but I'd argue that much of it is for the worse. Her most prominent changes, stack ranking and acqui-hires, are pretty bad in general (inciting cutthroat competition and burning cash for disloyal employees).

billsossoon 12y ago

While the article does discuss activist shareholders, it's really a brutal indictment against Mayer's leadership in general. It left me wondering if Mayer stood up the author on a lunch date. Regardless of Yahoo's recent results, Mayer seems to have alienated many people and made decisions that increasingly seem unlikely to achieve the long-term goals. Really, what has been accomplished? - She went all-in on playing the app lottery by developing new apps in-house, and I don't think any of Yahoo apps have been real winners. However, she bolstered the app engineering force, which may pay off down the road as the mobile software landscape continues to evolve. - She bought up a bunch of expensive start-ups seemingly at random. I figured these purchases might make sense in retrospect, when some grand design is revealed, but I'm still waiting. - She made a big bet on online media that doesn't align with what people want to watch. Google can afford to throw spaghetti against the wall because Google's search revenue is footing the bill. Yahoo seemingly adopted the same strategy in an attempt to identify its core business.