The Mozilla Crisis

http://www.somebits.com/weblog/politics/mozilla-crisis.html

by necrodome • 12 years ago

6 3 12 years ago

intslack• 12 years ago

The only crisis here is fueled by people like @nelson who want him to to either spout empty words or resign from a position that he's the most qualified for.

Eich is ignorant, no doubt about that, but shaming him into resignation is not the moral high ground when he's reaffirmed Mozilla's strive for equality. Further: just because he's ignorant doesn't mean we should throw around labels like homophobe or bigot, and comparisons with the KKK, in communities that should know better.

There's also a factual innacuracy in the blog post, the shake-up of the board of directories was planned well in advance, and isn't a crisis, as per Mozilla's statement:

The three board members ended their terms last week for a variety of reasons. Two had been planning to leave for some time, one since January and one explicitly at the end of the CEO search, regardless of the person selected

hackuser• 12 years ago

If you take the remaining Mozilla leadership's explanations at face value -- there is no problem and Eich is most qualified -- then of course there is no problem, but let's look a little deeper:

1) If the resignations were long planned, where are their successors?

2) The directors who resigned are experienced leaders; they must be aware of the perception when,

* They resign en masse immediately before the appointment of a new CEO

* The majority of the board has resigned before a big decision

* The board is reduced to 2 people, one of whom is co-founder with the new CEO

It smells like a power struggle between the founders and other board members. Whether that is true or not, a big part of the leadership's job is public perception and they are responsible for the image they project. Could it really be an unfortunate coincidence?

3) Eich himself now says that existence of Mozilla is at stake if he is forced out (I'm not exaggerating; he repeats it many times in this interview): http://www.cnet.com/news/mozilla-ceo-gay-marriage-firestorm-...

If that is the case and Mozilla is at risk, then shouldn't Eich resign? It almost seems that he conflates his ambitions with Mozilla, or that he is holding Mozilla hostage (don't criticize me or I'll take down Mozilla with me), or that he thinks he is irreplaceable.

Whatever is going on, it doesn't look good and I wish Mozilla would do more than issue bland explanations.

muyuu• 12 years ago

Honestly... fuck this fascist persecution.

The Mozilla Crisis

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