This seems unusual. Isn't the board responsible for appointing the CEO, to begin with? How can it be that half the board resigns after their own CEO appointment?<p>Even if the appointment were simply a majority of the board, that in and of itself raises bizarre questions. Why is a CEO appointed only on a 3-3 (or 4-2) vote? Usually you would want unanimity in important things like this.<p>This certainly opens up a lot of questions.
Hmm, something's amiss. Archive.org's record of Mozilla's website says that Mozilla Corp only ever had 5 board members. The WSJ seems to imply they had 6. Assuming Moz's own website is accurate, Katharina Borchert only joined around the time Eich was appointed.<p>Either way, the numbers don't quite add up. If there were only 5 board members, and only 2 of them wanted Eich, how did he get chosen? And even if Katherina was already on the board, that's still 3 vs 3.<p>Mozilla is an incredible force for good. Hope they get through this quickly and get back making the web better.<p>Archive.org: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140322233528/http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/moco/" rel="nofollow">https://web.archive.org/web/20140322233528/http://www.mozill...</a><p>Present: <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/moco/" rel="nofollow">https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/moco/</a>
I agree that mobile is critical to remaining relevant (along with security), two areas where Mozilla/Firefox have been pretty subpar. I don't think Eich has specific security or mobile expertise, but he is quite technical, which is a big improvement over a lot of potential CEOs, and I think a technical CEO is likely to prioritize security and mobile.<p>(The whole "donate to prop 8" thing is a red herring; Mozilla needs someone who is excellent at the things Mozilla most needs (hire for strength) vs. the absence of any weaknesses (politically incorrect donations); it's possible Eich doesn't have the right strengths.)<p>Is Mozilla not capable of attracting really top-tier people for senior leadership due to lack of an equity upside, or culture, or something else? I realize the pool is pretty small, but there are people with either mobile or security leadership experience who would probably take the job.
Off-topic, but that's a weird statement from the WSJ:<p><i>"Firefox is the world’s second-most-popular Web browser on personal computers, with 18% market share, according to Net Applications, a web-analytics consulting firm. That trails Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, with 58% share, and just ahead of Google’s Chrome, with 17% share."</i><p>Here's what I found at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers</a>:<p><pre><code> Chrome IE Firefox Safari
StatCounter 46.60% 24.64% 20.37% 5.06%
W3Counter 34.1% 20.3% 18.3% 17.8%
Wikimedia 42.69% 18.02% 15.28% 6.06%
</code></pre>
Of all the places you could pull browser share numbers, I didn't think any were still reporting IE with a usage lead anymore.<p>And the interesting browser growth today, of course, is all mobile. (So those outgoing board members were right in several ways.)
This article links to an earlier WSJ piece that gives more information about Eich's background (<a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/03/24/mozilla-picks-insider-eich-as-new-ceo/" rel="nofollow">http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/03/24/mozilla-picks-insider...</a>).<p>He invented Javascript in 1995, co-founded Mozilla, and helped start Firefox. It seems to me he's very well qualified from a historical as well as technical perspective.<p>Questions about his mobile expertise seem misplaced, considering that his technical contributions helped pave the way for mobile web apps.<p>The article suggests that the unhappiness about Eich's appointment stems from his support in 2008 for California's Proposition 8, which was an anti-gay marriage law that passed but ultimately was overturned by the Supreme Court.<p>I don't wish to incite a flame war over this or start a debate over gay/same sex marriage; I merely question why his views on this particular issue make the man unfit for the job. Would it be better if he had contributed money to <i>fight</i> Prop 8? I find this kind of litmus test highly disturbing.
The choice of Eich as a CEO also made me wonder - they took a year to find a CEO, and ended up with their own CTO. Is it fair to assume that they searched long and hard but couldn't find anyone? If so, that's a real shame. I want Mozilla to succeed.
I am disappointed about Eich's support of prop 8 and disagree with his view. But what is truly appalling is his critics pushing for ousting him base on his view. Isn't people allowed to have different value? This is not even a fringe idea. Majority of votes has voted for prop 8. What is the moral to deny people the job base on their political believe? What sort of world are you really suggesting? Add a background check to bar 52% of voters who has support prop 8 from employment? This is far more chilling than prop 8 itself.<p>People need to speak up and stop this insanity about ousting Eich. This include the LGBT community and their supporters. Yesterday their were fighting for inclusiveness and accepting people with different values. They need to walk the talk themselves, even if it means to tolerate people whose value they disagree with.
I see that Eich put up a small amount of money to support a bill against gay marriage. This says nothing about the way he treats people, or how he might serve as CEO. Is there something more, or is it really all about his political ideals?
Locked out of iOS. Under heavly competition on Android. Put the metro port on the back burner. Increasingly fighting to stay on feature parity with Chrome on the desktop. FirefoxOS still to make an impact.<p>I love Firefox. I'm just worried for it. With the world going mobile, I wonder if there's space for Firefox. It would be such a shame not to see it around 5 years from now.<p>I wonder if it makes sense for a small organization to spend so much time and money on a custom rendering engine. Is it such a horrible idea to fork and contribute to blink? Just thinking out loud. Mostly out of despair.
Have they already appointed replacements? The Mozilla page listing the board members doesn't list any of these three people as board members, and instead lists these 6 people as comprising the board: Mitchell Baker, Brian Behlendorf, Brendan Eich, Joi Ito, Bob Lisbonne, Cathy Davidson (<a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/about/" rel="nofollow">https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/about/</a>).
While I have <i>zero</i> actual proof, I have a nagging <i>worry</i> that is probably worth brining up. This is entirely supposition and speculation, and I welcome hard evidence on the subject regardless of which way it points..<p>Right now we find ourselves watching vital cornerstone of the Free Internet suddenly ripping itself apart. A community of people who would usually be working on improving (at least attempting to improve) concepts like freedom of speech and publication (press). This is especially important right now, given all of the NSA/Snowden drama of the last year, and the threats they revealed.<p>So I'm forced to wonder: <i>who's the spy trying to wedge the community apart?</i><p>Yes, yes, we've been arguing about sexuality and marriage for a long time, and it should simply be old factions suddenly forced to confront their current situation. Normally, I would simply accept that explanation.<p>However, given that the spy agencies have been using[1] tactics to disrupt groups they see as threatening, I'm forced to wonder if these new "wedges" between previously-stable communities. Especially in the cases like Mozilla, where and its role on the world stage certainly makes them a target for COINTELPRO or similar attacks.<p>...<p>Because of this worry, I'm going to suggest something counter to my usual instincts. Being gay myself, I would normally be strongly against Mr. Eich for reasons already said elsewhere. There is a wisdom in picking your battles, and right now there are more important issues.<p>So, instead, I am choosing to see Mr. Eich as a strong ally against greater threats. Marriage rights won't easy to fight for if we lose the surveillance/police-state battle first. Emotions are running strong right now - I won't deny that the idea of having funded prop 8 does piss me of - but winning one war often means <i>finding allies</i>, even if you don't like them.<p>edit: forgot footnote<p>[1]: <a href="https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/" rel="nofollow">https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipula...</a>
This reminds me of how Clinton was impeached for lying about getting a blowjob, but Bush wasn't anywhere close to being impeached over misleading us into <i>war</i>. Supporting Prop 8 is Eich's personal Lewinski; let's save our vitriol for something important. Eich's made it clear that his professional stance supports total equality in the workplace, so unless he starts firing gay people, let's give him a shot. As for the board members resigning, it's not a good sign to see an internal rift like this, but really, only insiders really know what's going on. Speculation isn't helping.
Headline makes it seem like this is a resignation over a disapproval. The witch hunt is coming and they are getting out of the way. With this resignation they hope to avoid being targets. Similar things happened in Soviet bloc countries with the NKVD. Hell, similar things happened during all that McCarthyism crap... 'So we've heard you've donated to the Communist party several years back... you'd like to keep your job wouldn't you?'
This is stupid, he might not be the most charismatic leaders but he is genuine leader for organization like Mozilla, and other causes what he supports in his free time, I personally don't care, as it is not relevant.