I think for Rust to succeed long term it needs to be run more like C/C++ with standards and multiple compiler implementations for as many platforms as possible. I would be very nervous betting on Rust for a big long term project if there is uncertainty about Mozilla’s future.
"Much" of the Rust/Wasmtime team hit by layoffs at Mozilla
241–250 of 352 posts
Re: "Much" of the Rust/Wasmtime team hit by layoffs at Mozilla
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't find where I read this, but I remember seeing some article about how Pocket was essentially dead, i.e. nobody's really working on it.
Good. The partnership with, acquisition of, and integration of Pocket was an embarrassment. It was also an indication of just how bad Mozilla's management are at trying to make money. We'll see a lot more business theater like this before the team are replaces with people who know what they're doing.
The implementation may have been bad, but I thought it was a unique way to add some revenue. Pocket seemed like a useful product that would appeal to the technical focused userbase Firefox has. It's sad that it didn't work out for Mozilla.
I feel disappointed with the failure of companies like Mozilla and canonical to thrive. They have the right values, the talent, and good products. They just don't seem to be able to make money. It feels like the only way to make money is by spying on your users, or doing other unsavory things like Apple does.
Re: "Much" of the Rust/Wasmtime team hit by layoffs at Mozilla
#243Time to get off the Firefox train. Brave (the browser) it is...
Re: "Much" of the Rust/Wasmtime team hit by layoffs at Mozilla
#244Mozilla's decision makes a lot of economic sense. They got rid of projects requiring lots of engineering effort with negligible benefits for the company or for the internet or for our privacy. I'm not sure at this point if it makes sense for them to keep the Firefox code base or give up, switch to Chromium and focus on what they do best - spy less on us than Google. When Microsoft gave up anyone paying attention knew…
It’s still WebKit under the hood isn’t it? The JS engines are different though
No, IIRC Firefox's render engine is called Gecko, and it's a completely separate (older I believe) lineage from Webkit.
Ed: I may have misunderstood which "it's" you were referring to. Oh well.
Re: "Much" of the Rust/Wasmtime team hit by layoffs at Mozilla
#245From many of the comments in this thread, one might think that FAANG companies invented the concept of open source software or that software doesn't exist outside the context of a "profit model." Whatever is going on at Mozilla right now, the notion that a piece of open source software even needs to be profitable (let alone supported by a single large company) in order to continue existing is ridiculous. I'll concede…
>Whatever is going on at Mozilla right now, the notion that a piece of open source software even needs to be profitable (let alone supported by a single large company) in order to continue existing is ridiculous.
Large FOSS projects requiring specialists (like Rust does) all seem to supported by companies paying, and often it's a large single company too, whether that's like PHP and Zend, RedHat and various projects, Mono and Xamarin, and so on.
Else you get something that takes fovered to develop further, releases are sporadic, people go on and off, etc.
Heck, GTK+ is/was one of the most adopted FOSS libs, and a dependency for tons of applications, distros, etc. And yet it just had a single dev working on it at some point (like, e.g., a person doing 300 commits each month, and another 50 persons doing 100 comits a year combined).
Re: "Much" of the Rust/Wasmtime team hit by layoffs at Mozilla
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
Totally agree, Rust will survive. AWS is investing heavily in Rust. If anyone who is reading this was affected by these layoffs and you want to continue to work in Rust, get in touch with me. We have many Rust opportunities open across the company on a variety of different teams.
Any Rustaceans who have been working at Mozilla, have probably done so for the mission that Mozilla work on (publicly), not too earn a ton of money. Amazon/AWS, who's main goal is closed down infrastructure, is the opposite of that mission. Worth keeping in mind when trying to recruit people from the opposite spectrum of yourself.
Thanks for the feedback. I disagree with your premise and your characterizations, but that's what opinions are for!
I believe the success of Rust, as a technical goal, can transcend the business goals of whatever organization uses it. Solidifying the future of Rust is a noble goal, and it would be a huge win for our industry.
Re: "Much" of the Rust/Wasmtime team hit by layoffs at Mozilla
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple, Microsoft, and Google: * Forbid alternative browser engines on their platform. * Bundle their browser in a leading operating system. * Use their massive Web properties to drive downloads of their own browser.
> Bundle their browser in a leading operating system. What’s the alternative here? I can’t imagine opening up a new computer and not having some kind of web browser pre-installed.
[deleted]
Re: "Much" of the Rust/Wasmtime team hit by layoffs at Mozilla
#248I'd like to see Microsoft stepping up to the plate and hiring the Rust team...
Re: "Much" of the Rust/Wasmtime team hit by layoffs at Mozilla
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
Totally agree, Rust will survive. AWS is investing heavily in Rust. If anyone who is reading this was affected by these layoffs and you want to continue to work in Rust, get in touch with me. We have many Rust opportunities open across the company on a variety of different teams.
Any Rustaceans who have been working at Mozilla, have probably done so for the mission that Mozilla work on (publicly), not too earn a ton of money. Amazon/AWS, who's main goal is closed down infrastructure, is the opposite of that mission. Worth keeping in mind when trying to recruit people from the opposite spectrum of yourself.
The Mozilla layoffs indicate that the mission you speak of has ended. It's over. It was at best a business experiment with a socially progressive slant, capturing the hearts and minds of employees in exchange for their commitment to company objectives. Unfortunately, those responsible for the plan are not held as accountable for it failing to achieve their business objectives.
Re: "Much" of the Rust/Wasmtime team hit by layoffs at Mozilla
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
I use Pascal With Lazarus is has a cross platform Desktop GUI
Lazarus actually is impressive considering lack of the non-swift alternatives out there and that React Native still doesn't have desktop support. I'm glad you shared, because Pascal is a language I never looked into before, but it seems like it was ahead of its time, but I wonder if there are any modern dialects?
>> I wonder if there are any modern dialects?
No there are not. It's extremely frustrating that Free Pascal and Delphi's Pascal are stuck with all the annoying baggage that more modern languages have been able to skip.