layoffs, mozilla
Mozilla laying off 1/4 of staff https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2020/08/11/changing-world-changing-mozilla/
Confusingly COVID-19 is blamed, but I don't understand how that could be the case unless it directly correlated with losing specific funders. COVID-19 seems like it could also be an opportunity to close unnecessary offices, dramatically reducing costs.
Worrying:
- This probably means even more browser takeover by chrome
- Vague "pivot to products" talk
- Executive pay keeps going up https://twitter.com/withoutboats/status/1293188958705168384
layoffs, mozilla
@cwebber Not to mention a not so subtle hint at abandoning Firefox with the "We have to focus on the products that make money" bit π¬
re: layoffs, mozilla
>pull a Netscape and try to sell Firefox
I almost wonder if that would work. Obviously it wasn't great for Netscape, but back then there was a lot of competition from free browsers. Opera and Internet Explorer were (for their time) very competent browsers, while the other, less featured browsers were still very usable. Savvy users wanted free stuff.
Now, there is no competition, it's either Firefox or Chrome. The smaller browsers are nearly unusable, at least for the vast majority of websites, even Safari struggles. If Firefox doubled down on privacy and security, you might find people willing to pay. Could that be enough? I don't know. But it's an interesting idea.
re: layoffs, mozilla
@rdh @cwebber @soapdog I seriously doubt it. There are already plenty of websites which are more than happy to totally ignore firefox users and tell you to use chrome if you're not. People aren't going to pay for a browser that doesn't work on the sites they use.