Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up • Hacker News Board

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#21

Post by abiogenesis » Wed, Sep 23, 2020, 7:01 AM UTC

deanclatworthy wrote: post #8

I really want Mozilla to succeed. But I just can't bring myself to use Firefox as a daily driver. Just open a few tabs on a top of the line macbook, and a twitch stream and things get very laggy. I've seen numerous people craving for better container support, which is definitely a killer feature for people going forward towards a more private web. Why isn't Mozilla more actively developing this? Developers were the p…

Not sure about the twitch stream but I routinely open 30+ tabs on my 5 year old 16GB Macbook and I don't feel a lag

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#22

Post by londons_explore » Wed, Sep 23, 2020, 7:02 AM UTC

The main difference here is a US tech Vs UK corporate culture.

Mozilla's approach is "spend lots of cash and grow fast like a VC backed company".

The guardian is a "let's try and have a stable user base and keep the company alive for another 100 years".

In this case, Mozilla's approach has failed badly. I think it's unlikely they'll turn it around without the help of another big tech company making a strategic purchase.

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#23

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Sep 23, 2020, 7:02 AM UTC

neighbour wrote: post #9

I finally gave up on Firefox when I noticed a few websites just wouldn’t work when using it compared to Chromium. I think the writing is on the wall.

[deleted]

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#24

Post by renewiltord » Wed, Sep 23, 2020, 7:02 AM UTC

ecmascript wrote: post #11

robin_reala wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Repeat after me: correlation is not causation.

In this case it probably is though. They have done everything else than focus on the core product since he left and they continue that trend today even if it's failing one.

Mitchell Baker is actually the one who laid off everyone to focus on the core product.

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#25

Post by nottorp » Wed, Sep 23, 2020, 7:03 AM UTC

Pretty sad because it is the only privacy oriented browser left.

Safari has dropped support for any privacy oriented extensions, and while Chrome might support them, everything you do with it goes through Google anyway.

That while Firefox can run uBlock Origin, has the Facebook container built in and you can even install a 3rd party Google container.

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#26

Post by lodovic » Wed, Sep 23, 2020, 7:03 AM UTC

jameskraus wrote: post #7

junipertea wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why?

An exec worth millions/year in tech needs decent compensation to take the career risk of steering a declining company.

Saving a declining company will bring enough revenue for future compensation for the CEO. And who wouldn't hire a CEO that saved a sinking company? On the other hand, if the company still goes belly up, well apparently that CEO wasn't so good after all. So high compensation wasn't needed.

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#27

Post by manigandham » Wed, Sep 23, 2020, 7:04 AM UTC

thesimon wrote: post #20

jameskraus wrote: post #2

Devils advocate: you have to pay a top exec more if the company looks like its main product is in decline. Plus 2.4m/year isn't crazy in the scheme of tech salaries - that exec could potentially take other roles that pay even more.

> that exec could potentially take other roles that pay even more If he would do that, maybe better leadership would improve Mozillas situation.

Raising the salary shows that the organization is happy with this leadership.

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#28

Post by drenvuk » Wed, Sep 23, 2020, 7:04 AM UTC

mtgx wrote: post #17

ckastner wrote: post #10

The article notes the increase in pay and states > Mitchell Baker, Mozilla's top executive, was paid $2.4m in 2018 but doesn't offer any consideration or speculation as to why this is exaggerated. It's entirely possible that without that particular exec, Firefox would have been even worse off, or would have taken another direction with regards to privacy, etc. My subjective feeling is that $2.4m does indeed seem too…

Or maybe they shouldn't have let Brendan Eich go in the first place, who seems to be doing quite well with Brave right now. Maybe a good CEO isn't defined just by the salary he or she receives?

Why was your comment flagged? @dang I honestly would request that you look into who is voting down reasonable comments in this thread. They do not deserve voting rights.

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#29

Post by doublesCs » Wed, Sep 23, 2020, 7:04 AM UTC

jameskraus wrote: post #7

junipertea wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why?

An exec worth millions/year in tech needs decent compensation to take the career risk of steering a declining company.

This is cartoonishly circular: exec needs millions/year because that's the only way to attract a person worth millions/year.

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#30

Post by antipropaganda » Wed, Sep 23, 2020, 7:04 AM UTC

robin_reala wrote: post #6

ecmascript wrote: post #5

Mozilla has a big leadership crisis. They kicked Brendan out because of woke politics and now they will pay the price. Get woke, go broke as they say.

Repeat after me: correlation is not causation.

Correlation can be because of causation