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Mozilla lays off 70

(techcrunch.com)
929 points ameshkov | 5 comments | 15 Jan 20 19:48 UTC | HN request time: 2.184s | source
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tus88 ◴[15 Jan 20 20:52 UTC] No.22058407[source]▶
I thought Mozilla was a foundation not a company.
replies(2): >>22058423 #>>22058446 #
1. kevingadd ◴[15 Jan 20 20:55 UTC] No.22058446[source]▶
It's both. When I worked there, the Foundation (non-profit) owned the Corporation (for-profit). If you donate to Mozilla it's going to the non-profit org.
replies(1): >>22058643 #
2. dullroar ◴[15 Jan 20 21:12 UTC] No.22058643[source]▶
Would be interested in hearing more about your views on this. I use Firefox and Thunderbird almost exclusively, and every time I think about donating money I then remember all the wasted time and effort they've poured into what seem to be pipe dreams over the years. I WANT them to succeed. I WANT there to be an alternative on the desktop to Chrome (now that Edge is basically rebranded Chromium), and on iOS to both Chrome and Safari, I WANT to support their excellent documentation portal (which everyone else rides on the back of - even MS points to it a lot now). But man, I just don't trust the powers-that-be there to make non-braindead strategic decisions, year after year. Talk me out of that prejudice against them, please?
replies(2): >>22059018 #>>22059279 #
3. kevingadd ◴[15 Jan 20 21:41 UTC] No.22059018[source]▶
Not really able to make a good argument against it, the poor leadership I had to deal with is one of the reasons I left.

I'm still happy to use Firefox and want them to not have to rely on Google Search placement for funding but the company has a shaky track record and it's reasonable to view them critically.

FWIW while Firefox OS was a failure I don't actually view that project as a mistake - trying to give mobile phone users more freedom was a good idea, and we've seen how things have worked out. But they didn't do a very good job of it and that largely is the fault of upper leadership.

On the bright side the worst person I worked with there is no longer making decisions for the company, so that's great.

replies(1): >>22068093 #
4. joshmarlow ◴[15 Jan 20 22:05 UTC] No.22059279[source]▶
Not the person you're responding to, but my thoughts - Mozilla could be serving a role similar to academia in that doing work that's not profit based allows one to explore more widely. Those results can be shared with the community. Rust is an example and I imagine there are others.
5. dullroar ◴[16 Jan 20 19:41 UTC] No.22068093{3}[source]▶
Thanks for the reply. I see my comment got downvoted (I figured it would), but I was still curious as to what your response would be and I appreciate it.