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

calpaterson.com

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

#741
post #346

So I think we can all agree that Mozilla's path to success is not obvious and running it is strategically harder than running most companies. You have to find a way to make your free product compete with Google / Microsoft without compromising your core values and also paying your bills. I am not defending this CEO's pay but I am just curious: how much do people on HN think the CEO of Mozilla should be paid? It's got…

I'd do it for median company salary (edit:cost-of-living adjusted) on a platform of making the best browser experience possible for as long as possible. I wouldn't change much initially, hopefully growing into the job, and hopefully an on-board board would be the check that removes me if it doesn't work. Just throwing my mostly entirely unqualified hat in the ring!

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

#742
post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least Brave isn't trying to pretend it's a non-profit

But they're pretending to be privacy respecting while injecting their own ads in webpages. Far far from behaviour we'd ever want from Firefox.

They don't inject their own ads in webpages.

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

#743
My two cents as to why FF usage is tanking. When you visit the FF website, you are told in essence, that FF is a privacy product:

-No backdoors for advertisers -DNS over HTTPS -Do what you do online.Firefox Browser isn’t watching -Protect your privacy

So for all intense purposes, people get the impression that this product protects one's privacy, but, this is not the case.

For their android app, there are 4 embedded trackers that violate your privacy:

-google admob -adjust -google firebase analytics -leanplum

https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/org.mozilla...

Also included inside Firefox is their telemetry data.

In their desktop app, the telemetry data is enabled by default as is their studies option and their default search engine is Google.

So, what they project in terms of being a privacy focused browser is a lie.

Perhaps people are catching onto their bllsht and switching to real privacy focused browsers.

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

#744

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I use FF on mobile and it works perfectly. Not anymore! To be consistent with their business screw ups, they addressed this with the latest updates. Now the mobile app a mess like the rest of Mozilla.

Try the very latest release (81). I wrote earlier[0] that FF79 was too slow to start, buggy on tab switches, and missing most recent sites on the new tab. That's all been fixed as of FF81 as far as I can see. I also really like the new swipe-url-to-switch-tabs feature =D [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24280554

Then try it on a tablet, and go "What is this BS?" and start using Chrome, despite the fact that there is no NoScript, about:config, etc.

Oh wait, no, just NoScript, because about:config doesn't work in Firefox for Android anymore.

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

#745

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the best and hardest things to do for anything with a board of directors is to establish that EVERY BOARD MEETING starts with a vote on one simple question: "Shall the CEO/Executive Director be retained?" Every company, not for profit or even tiny club that makes this the big question performs it's mission well. Those that don't, well, you get a lot more politics.

I love that idea, it formalizes the board taking responsibility for the continued performance of the CEO, and it may also warn a CEO that the board that hired them is about to flip before it is too late.

Accountability is underrated, and I've been in more than one meeting where there was a surprise no vote from a couple of board members. The result was that problems got fixed quickly.

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

#746

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Power dictates pay.

CEOs prior to being hired have little direct power - their power comes from low supply of qualified candidates and they can negotiate extremely favorable terms. If everyone could be CEO like anyone could be a laborer, they would not get paid well.

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

#747
post #735

They had a GREAT CEO. Brendan Eich. He not only was heavily involved with destroying IE's monopoly, he was able to start Brave in a punishing market (competing against Google, Apple, and his own FF) and made it a contender. But, he wasn't woke enough. And for that, everyone will now pay dearly. I daresay, learning that someone else is entitled to a competing view is difficult. Allowing others to have a view other tha…

He was the CEO for 11 days, I don't think we can say he was a great CEO of Mozilla.

For context:

> Brendan Eich is [the] creator of the JavaScript programming language. He co-founded the Mozilla project, the Mozilla Foundation and the Mozilla Corporation, and served as the Mozilla Corporation's chief technical officer and briefly, as its chief executive officer. [1]

Yes he was only CEO for 11 days, but he literally co-founded Mozilla so it's not like he was only around for a couple weeks.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Eich

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

#748

They had a GREAT CEO. Brendan Eich. He not only was heavily involved with destroying IE's monopoly, he was able to start Brave in a punishing market (competing against Google, Apple, and his own FF) and made it a contender. But, he wasn't woke enough. And for that, everyone will now pay dearly. I daresay, learning that someone else is entitled to a competing view is difficult. Allowing others to have a view other tha…

[flagged]

> Brendan Eich's homophobia

All we know is that Eich supported one political movement with money. Show me where he has come put publicly as fearing homosexuals.

We are in a dangerous world of viewpoint discrimination. A belief on a particular moral or political issue does not represent the totality of an individual.

We all disagree on things; some of us on things we consider core unalienable rights and values. But at the end of the day, we are also all human beings.

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

#749

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a link or other details I’m interested in who you’re referring to that hijacked/influenced development. I’ve never heard that and am really curious. I too really hope they can turn it around but sadly have been less and less hopeful.

Possibly taking one of the best parts of Firefox, the addons, and replacing it with a system that doesn't bother to support many of the most popular addons.

An opposing point of view, from somebody at Mozilla who cared about the browser and wrote the code: https://yoric.github.io/post/why-did-mozilla-remove-xul-addo...

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

#750

This: "Mitchell Baker, Mozilla's top executive, was paid $2.4m in 2018, [..]. Payments to Baker have more than doubled in the last five years." and this at the same time: "Mozilla recently announced that they would be dismissing 250 people." It's shameful. Specially for a "non profit".

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