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Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo

blog.mozilla.org

411–420 of 970 posts

Re: Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo

#411

Having worked at Mozilla a while ago, the CEO role is one I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Success is oddly defined: it's a non-profit (well, a for-profit owned by a non-profit) that needs to make a big profit in a short amount of time. And anything done to make that profit will annoy the community. I hope Anthony leans into what makes Mozilla special. The past few years, Mozilla's business model has been to just m…

This. I want a password/passkey/auth and bookmark manager that work across platforms and devices.

Well, then I’ve gotta bust your balls here and tell you to step away from the Win98 machine, because that’s been around for some time.

Even secure, privacy-respecting versions!

Re: Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo

#412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why you're getting downvoted. Orion has matured as a browser and just hit 1.0. It's mac- and ios-only for now, but linux and windows ports are in the works. It has ad-blocking out of the box and has zero telemetry. I use it every day.

But Orion has the exact same issue that we are facing now with Chrome and Edge and Firefox. Orion is funded by Kagi, so it's a money losing venture. If Kagi folds tomorrow, who will pick the pieces and continue its' development? Replace Orion with Chrome and Kagi with Google and you will find that we are in the same exact boat. Browsers cost money to maintain. Money has to come from somewhere. If the general public d…

If Kagi goes tits-up, you could switch to another browser. I don't see how this is a permanent decision.

Re: Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo

#413
post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to explain how would they get the money in the process you described? Selling privacy to Google or someone is the only money maker they have. There is no reason to believe manager pay is even 10% of the total expense.

Google (currently) pays Mozilla $400-500 million a year to be the default search engine in firefox. edit: in 2023 they took in $653M in total, $555M of which was from Google. They spent $260M on software development, and $236M on other things.

The "other things" is what most people seem to have problem with.

Mozilla burns a batshit amount of money on feel good fancies.

If it were focused on its core mission -- building great software in key areas -- it would see it can't afford this, because that's the same money that if saved would make them financially independent of Google.

Re: Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo

#414
post #32
post #7

Does anyone else feel like the "Trust" angle is the only card they have left to play? Technically, Chrome is faster on JS benchmarks. Edge has better OS integration on Windows and comes by default. Safari wins on battery life on Mac. Firefox's only unique selling point is "We aren't a massive data vampire." If they clutter the browser with AI which inherently requires data processing, often in the cloud, they dilute…

Mozilla (in its previous form) has long been doomed. Mobile cemented it, I think. Browsers are part of the operating system and getting users to switch from the default is an incredible uphill climb. Especially when browsers are essentially utilities, there are so few unique compelling features. That lack of connection to tech giants is a strength in the trust angle. And I think they’re right to be thinking about AI:…

It's interesting that most people on Windows PCs switch to Chrome when Edge is the default. It was obvious why people switched from IE6 to Firefox and later from IE7 to Chrome; IE was terrible; Firefox was better; Chrome was better still. Edge is not obsolete, unstable, or a security nightmare the way IE was.

Chrome even has significant user share on Mac OS; the numbers I'm finding are around 40%.

It's hard to guess whether people are much less inclined to switch browsers on mobile than on desktop, or if they just like Chrome. Either way, the odds are against anyone who tries to compete with it.

Re: Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo

#415
post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Translation? Sounds like a great OS feature. I might want to use this in my PDF viewer and Office viewer as well. > Image search? Sounds like a web site, not a browser feature. > Live captions? Sounds like a great OS feature. I might want to use this in VLC as well. > Dubbing? Sounds like a great OS feature. I might want to use this in VLC as well. > Summary? Sounds like a great OS feature. I might want to use this…

So you're not going to get it until your OS decides to, and if its implementation is poor you're SOL?

I much prefer every individual piece of software and website I interact with implement their own proprietary AI features that compete for my attention and interfer with each other.

Re: Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo

#416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love how quickly the goalpost moves from "No ads" to "Only opt in ads" to "Ads can be disabled with two clicks." Quit coping and just admit it, Brave is adware. If you like it, that's cool, totally your choice. It's fast, performant adware. But it's adware all the same.

Firefox has ads in the same places. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/sponsor-privacy

whataboutism gets you nowhere. Brave is still adware.

Re: Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo

#418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many engineers are enough to make a browser? How do you know? Vivaldi employ 28 developers and 33 others to make an unstable Chromium fork and email program.[1] Bloat and bullshit features to you are minimum requirements to someone else. [1] https://vivaldi.com/team/

Brave has about 300 employees and don’t break out engineers [0]. One of them is Brandon Eich so that counts for a bunch. Their revenue is only $52M so kinda what Mozilla would earn off their endowment. [0] https://getlatka.com/companies/brave.com

Brave doesn't make their own browser engine.

Re: Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo

#419

Having worked at Mozilla a while ago, the CEO role is one I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Success is oddly defined: it's a non-profit (well, a for-profit owned by a non-profit) that needs to make a big profit in a short amount of time. And anything done to make that profit will annoy the community. I hope Anthony leans into what makes Mozilla special. The past few years, Mozilla's business model has been to just m…

> What Mozilla is good at ...

Firefox - the one thing they do not want to work on is the only thing that makes them special.

Re: Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo

#420

What browser should I use then? I quit chrome in a futile attempt to be tracked less. They killed support for my adblocker.

Brave. It's a Chromium fork with a built-in ad blocker that's equivalent to uBlock Origin. It works great on Android too.

It is sad that the choice is either an AI browser or a Blockchain browser
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