
Mozilla Is Dead - kowabit
https://kowabit.de/mozilla-is-dead/
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Certhas
This article has no substance, and the tweets it links to explicitly
contradict it's core message. Maybe the author isn't aware of the difference
between Servo and Gecko?

[https://twitter.com/gcpascutto/status/1293519587967983616](https://twitter.com/gcpascutto/status/1293519587967983616)

> Fwiw, afaict, almost all Gecko / platform devs are unaffected (I'm pretty
> relieved about that, I started my day with a totally different feeling).

> These layoffs are still devastating personally, but if anything, Mozilla is
> not ditching Gecko.

and

> To combat some FUD: my Security and Hardening team working on Firefox also
> appears to have survived.

> I conclude that a secure Gecko is still considered key to achieving
> Mozilla's goals.

> I'm happy to still be here. We have key improvements in the pipeline that I
> want to ship.

~~~
kgraves
This is irrelevant to the discussion, the point being that Mozilla's financial
position as a company needs to be discussed if it has any chance of surviving.
This seems like a knock on effect from the recent layoffs.

I wonder if they made Firefox Enterprise paid would have been a better option.

EDIT: Downvoters not accepting reality obviously...

~~~
Max_Mustermann
Pointing out wrong "facts" that are used as arguments isn't relevant?

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david_draco
If Mozilla focused on better technology, that would not solve its money
problem. It currently depends on other companies (Google search, Pocket) to
survive. This post does not make any suggestions how to make Mozilla
profitable.

Indeed, Mozilla provides utilities, services and advocacy that provide value
to many people and companies. We take that for granted somehow, and don't
reward their efforts. We want everything for free and better and faster and
with no ads.

I wish France or the EU provided funding for Mozilla to reduce the internet
dominance of Google.

~~~
jkmcf
I be'd willing to pay for Pocket again if the project didn't seem on life
support.

One of my favorite features of Readablilty was the browser search integration
-- when I searched from the browser bar it would include results I'd saved in
Readability.

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AndrewSChapman
What kills me is that I was unaware of just how badly Mozilla was struggling.
As an avid Firefox user, I would have paid a monthly subscription to help keep
the Mozilla dream and values alive. A world with just Google/Chrome is too
depressing.

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choeger
The stupidity of actually killing the very core team of their very core
product leaves me speechless. The managers behind that decision are so
obviously inept that they should be unemployable in the future.

~~~
hazz99
Is it more likely that they are “so obviously inept” or that there are
underlying reasons for the change?

They’re pivoting, or perhaps they are simply not profitable enough to keep
them on.

We don’t know what’s going on in their strategy room. It could very well be a
good business move, or a terrible one. We don’t have all the information.

~~~
choeger
Pivoting would be nearly the same level of stupidity. Mozilla is not a startup
where the founders want to be entrepreneurs, no matter what they are selling.
Mozilla makes a very important browser. I am not interested in them creating
electric cars or ebooks. I need a non-google, free software browser FFS.

~~~
hazz99
The majority of Mozilla’s revenue currently comes from partnerships with
Google. If you want truly independent, Google-free software then a a change in
their strategy is definitely required.

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rvz
Well, its sort of true. Open source doesn't pay the bills and their projects
Firefox and Rust are used for free and doesn't help them generate revenue
other than getting a contract with a trillion dollar company against your
privacy.

They have to stand on their own if they want to be true to their mission
rather than taking in a privacy abusers money, or just admit it and drop that
mission statement.

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KingHenryVIII
Reading the public docs shows Google contributes 90+% of Mozilla's revenue,
basically it has been keeping Mozilla alive so that it can avoid antitrust
allegations. But if you look at the tweets and stuff from their blog post,
mostly they have killed off their R&D, which is actually where all the
interesting stuff from the last few years has come; wasm, rust, servo, vr &
ar. Without that stuff and since Google has squeezed the money pipeline,
they're reduced to BS areas which are already super competitive like vpns.
What next, antivirus? Fn goodluck with that. Mitchell Baker should have been
put out to pasture long ago and the new exec ranks look stacked with diversity
hires. Inclined to agree with OP.

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skyfaller
OK but seriously, is the Firefox security team gone? If so, how do they
propose to ship a browser without anyone making sure it's secure? That sounds
kind of irresponsible.

~~~
raverbashing
No
[https://twitter.com/gcpascutto/status/1293519587967983616](https://twitter.com/gcpascutto/status/1293519587967983616)

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Santosh83
If cost-cutting is the ostensible goal then I presume there have been layoffs
in non-engineering divisions too? Why are we not hearing anything on Twitter
about that?

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pabe
Mozilla better switches to a management that understands building experiments
to move the company forward based on data / evidence. Why not establish an
experiment based on the the concepts of Brave? Why not evaluating if people
have money to get advanced dev tools (e.g. I'd buy session replay tools).

Killing of teams related to Firefox will definitely hurt their reach,
especially in enterprises.

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random_dork1
Why do most people assume the worst on this topic?

Mozilla might be changing, but it's not dead:

Mozilla Extends its Google Search Deal -
[http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/ksxPwXG1UyY/...](http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/ksxPwXG1UyY/mozilla-
extends-its-google-search-deal)

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weikju
Dead or not, their intent to focus on profits led me to delete my Firefox
accounts preemptively before they start mining user data...

Good bye, Mozilla Firefox, looking forward to the forks a few years down the
line.

~~~
katktv
Waterfox is already a thing, check that out.

~~~
smnthermes
Waterfox is evil!
[https://github.com/MrAlex94/Waterfox/issues/1406](https://github.com/MrAlex94/Waterfox/issues/1406)

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wcerfgba
I'd love to know how many people have flagged this for an article with 57
upvotes and 19 comments in 1 hour to get marked as [flagged].

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zelly
So what does this mean for Rust? Is there any other company dedicated to
maintaining it, not just using it?

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RcouF1uZ4gsC
> As an administrator in the main job and helper in the private sphere for
> some people, Firefox as a browser can no longer be an option. The danger of
> unpatched security holes and lack of further development in the core area
> endangers the infrastructure and systems.

I think this is the killer for Mozilla. Most people knew about Mozilla because
of Firefox. Most non-tech people knew about Firefox because their tech friends
recommended it to them. Now, I think that recommending Firefox to your non-
tech friends is a disservice to them.

Despite what people say their priorities are, what their priorities are become
evident when they are forced to make cuts. What gets cut is not the priority
no matter how loudly they proclaim it. What remains is the priority no matter
how much they may say it is not. Firefox, Servo, Security these all got the
axe. They are not the priority at Mozilla.

~~~
viraptor
> Firefox, Servo, Security these all got the axe.

This is not true. Do not spread FUD.

