Exclusive: Mozilla names new CEO as it doubles down on data privacy
fortune.com
Laura Chambers will step in as interim CEO to run operations until a permanent replacement is found.

Mozilla Corp., which manages the open-source Firefox browser, announced today that Mitchell Baker is stepping down as CEO to focus on AI and internet safety as chair of the nonprofit foundation. Laura Chambers, a Mozilla board member and entrepreneur with experience at Airbnb, PayPal, and eBay, will step in as interim CEO to run operations until a permanent replacement is found.

https://archive.is/rmMEb

Official Blog Post: A New Chapter for Mozilla: Focused Execution and an Expanded Role in Charting the Internet’s Future

  • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
    13·
    9 months ago

    They should focus more on their mobile browser. At this point the desktop browser is on par with Chrome. People who use Chrome does it because they don’t care enough about privacy, but on mobile there is a noticeable difference between their performances.

      • WetBeardHairs@lemmy.ml
        11·
        9 months ago

        They will in the EU. Hopefully it’s easy to game the system and sideload a non-safari browser in the future.

        • jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de
          1·
          9 months ago

          This would still force Mozilla to support two browsers on iOS, one for Europe and another for the rest of the world.

          • WetBeardHairs@lemmy.ml
            1·
            9 months ago

            Mozilla has 0 browsers for iOS except a skin over Safari.

            So really it would just be a browser for the EU and nothing for everyone else.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
      7·
      9 months ago

      I think they need to integrate better with their paid offerings to build additional revenue streams. For example, Mozilla VPN works with Container Tabs, but I had to look for it; that’s a pretty killer feature IMO. Make it work on mobile too and a lot of people would be interested. Maybe they could white label a password manager (Bitwarden?) as an alternative to their built-in PW manager service, and make the experience really good. Throw in Relay as well.

      There’s a lot they could do with opt-in, privacy-centric features that I would be totally interested in.

      • kewjo@lemmy.world
        1·
        9 months ago

        Maybe they could white label a password manager (Bitwarden?)

        not sure starting at which version, but in android you can set bitwarden as a default password manager system wide which integrates pretty seamlessly with firefox and other apps. only place i know bitwarden doesn’t really integrate well with firefox is on Linux but that seems more due to bitwardens lack of interest to implement freedesktop apis.

        i agree though with additional revenue streams, they need to break dependence on Google search engine revenue. maybe spend research on alternative monitization to ads and sponsored content that could be implemented at a browser level and split revenue between browser and websites.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          9 months ago

          split revenue between browser and websites

          Yeah, I was super stoked when Brave announced that, but it went nowhere.

          I have ideas here as well. Basically, Firefox would integrate some kind of micro-transaction system where you could load up some amount of money, then you pay per view for a given website and it deducts from that balance, and in exchange you get no paywall or ads. Or if you don’t pay, you’ll see privacy-respecting ads served by Mozilla, and Mozilla would make monthly payments to the website with MTX and ad revenue to preserve privacy.

          This would be opt-in by website of course, and hopefully they can get enough websites to opt in to matter. I would be happy to spend like $10/month or whatever to not have any more paywalls and not have to make accounts everywhere.

          But yeah, there are a ton of privacy-respecting monetization options, so hopefully the new interim CEO has some ideas. A good model here could attract new users while also securing Mozilla’s revenue for the future.

    • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
      35·
      9 months ago

      Honestly I think its the opposite. The UI on desktop look awful and is clunky. The mobile version is nice and pleasant.

      • Mike D.@lemm.ee
        8·
        9 months ago

        I use FF and the desktop and don’t care about the look of the UI. I’m happy FF is fast and doesn’t have memory leaks.

        Making the mobile experience better will go further with helping Mozilla in general than making the desktop UI look pretty.

      • dantheclamman@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        9 months ago

        There is no tablet UI (yet, they seem to be finally working on it after years of users waiting). Firefox for Android is clearly languishing, and being lapped by various Chromium-based browsers.

        • wreckedcarzz@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          9 months ago

          Google and Mozilla in unison, reminded that some crazy people buy tablets: “oh yeah, huh”

          Though mobile FF is miles ahead imo, since you can’t have extensions on mobile chrome, it’s not even in the running. FF just launched a few hundred more add-ons for mobile like two months ago, but there have been a dozen+ ones for a few years now. uBO > no uBO, full stop, no question. And Privacy Possum, and Dark Reader, and CleanURLs, and…

          E: oh and forks of FF having about:config access is just chefs kiss

      • machinaeZER0@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        9 months ago

        Check out Lepton on GitHub - it’s amazing. Very easy to install, open source and makes Firefox look fucking gorgeous.