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

calpaterson.com

171–180 of 1001 posts

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

#171
post #83

I'm two fences on Firefox doing "too many unrelated things" as the article suggests. Firefox OS has been pretty much unsuccessful, but it sort of made sense? It started to be made when Firefox was still on top on desktop, but mobile started eating its lunch; and it was clear that Firefox need to do something about it, or the future will be all Chrome and Safari, on the two locked-down platforms. Which eventually happ…

We can’t even get developers to use FF, the times I read about it here (and maybe it is a vocal minority idk) that a developer doesn’t like a certain feature. Or they are missing feature X from chrome. I think it would be a valid strategy if you do go after developers and sysadmins. So pour resources in getting parity where devs think they would switch. In general whenever I help installing software for someone, I in…

That’s what happens if the UI is shit.

The only place left for them is webapps like some of the electron based apps.

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

#172

The hardest thing to see here is that we don't have a solution. Firefox makes money by setting google as the default search. Google is its biggest competitor. There are no obvious other revenue stream. Also, let's not pretend chrome sucks. Chrome is on top because it is an amazing browser (and you are googling stuff anyway). Firefox needs to change it's strategy, it needs to pull an Amazon. Amazon is the type of busi…

I have switched from chrome to firefox on desktop just recently, because chrome accumulated so many usability problems that i can not stand it anymore.

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

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does Mozilla have a board? Who gets to fire the CEO in this organization?

Seems like Mitchell is both CEO and board member https://wiki.mozilla.org/Board is that even legal?

Yes, that is legal. But what matters is control of the board and how the structure of the foundation is set up. With six voting board members assuming things like who is the CEO of the company is something that they are allowed to vote on (it normally would be) she could technically be out of there tomorrow. But this is politics, it is not a merit based affair and there is a fair chance that two or more of the board members are beholden to Mitchell and that would protect her from any attempt to oust her.

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

#174
post #13

There's a quote from the CEO saying that they looked at the market and felt like they were being underpaid. And they can't reduce their salary now because it'd be unfair on their families. Firefox has a problem. It gets most of its revenue from Google. They need a different revenue stream but their ideas haven't worked. Their executives are clearly failures. But with such high pay, they're cashing out. Buying themsel…

Without knowing the details, it's hard to say the execs are failures. They could be doing a good job, given the rough hand they've been dealt.

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

#176

> Surely such impressive pay is justified by the equally impressive results Mozilla has achieved? No, it is completely discretionary. I don't consider this controversial because I know it is completely discretionary. Why would it be tied to anything aside from the ability to continue paying that compensation or desire to be compensated that way? The only consideration of a foundation is the nearly tax-free capital gr…

So your argument is that CEO performance should be irrelevant to pay? Are you an executive compensation consultant by any chance?

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

#177
post #25

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.

Brave (which is led by Br. E. who was fired from Mozilla) is privacy oriented.

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

#178
post #158

> And they can't reduce their salary now because it'd be unfair on their families. That must be a real comfort to all the people they laid off. This CEO needs to go, needs to be replaced by someone who is well versed in technology instead of in law.

Do you see any realistic chance of this happening? Generally if a company is captured by a parasitic leadership sucking it dry, that's it, right? Is there anyone on the board whose interests are more aligned with keeping Mozilla alive (probably hard to do at this point) than feasting on it whilst there is still something left to feast on? Presumably you'd need a few such people.

It's not just the leadership at Firefox. FF has been hijacked by a bunch of people who have no interest in the browser and sucked it dry while it went down. Sad for the people at Mozilla who cared about the browser and wrote the code.

As an FF user I hope Mozilla does a turn around, gets back its engineering culture and focuses on delivering the best - and most secure and private - browser in the market.

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

#179

I'm two fences on Firefox doing "too many unrelated things" as the article suggests. Firefox OS has been pretty much unsuccessful, but it sort of made sense? It started to be made when Firefox was still on top on desktop, but mobile started eating its lunch; and it was clear that Firefox need to do something about it, or the future will be all Chrome and Safari, on the two locked-down platforms. Which eventually happ…

On the contrary I kinda see the point in the pocket and send to bridge the gap between desktop and mobile for the users that own both. But the small brainless degradations of the UI in Firefox make me worry about its future. For example it’s not possible to permanently add exclusions to the privacy shield. Because of it the sites are often broken. And this is a feature that is directly user facing on the main screen!

What does Pocket do? And how is it different from synchronizing favorites/tab between two browsers?

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

#180

Another way to look at it: mozilla is a sinking ship. Being a CEO of a shinking ship looks bad on the resume and is high risk for the ceo (reputation wise). High risk jobs should get higher compensation than low risk jobs. I'd certainly argue that for a normal company. For mozilla though, there is a question of why do you even need a CEO? Does Linux have a CEO? I suspect at least some of mozilla's problems is trying…

Why wouldn't you need a CEO? Manage $1B by committee?
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