JavaScript Inventor Brendan Eich Named New CEO of Mozilla

darthcamaro (735685) writes "Mozilla today announcedthat Brendan Eich would be its new CEO . Eich had been serving as Mozilla's CTO and has been with Mozilla since day one — literally day one. Eich was a Netscape engineer when AOL decided to create the open-source Mozilla project in 1998. The choice of Eich as CEO seems obvious to some, after a string of recent short-tenured CEOs at Mozilla's helm."

Comments

Possible backlash over Prop 8 support

[CritterNYC]

There may be some backlash, such as RareBits pulling their app from the Firefox Marketplace, due to Brendan Eich's support of the anti-gay marriage Prop 8 initiative in CA. Eich publicly responded back in 2012. The issue is being discussed on Hacker News as well.

Re:Possible backlash over Prop 8 support

[ArcadeMan]

Dear Brendan,

gay people have the rights to be miserable too.

Signed,
someone who hopes more gay men means more single women.

Re:Possible backlash over Prop 8 support

[tylikcat]

I do not think I'd feel especially comfortable to be a gay Mozilla employee right now. (Though I haven't heard that Mozilla internal culture is problematic.)

Re:Possible backlash over Prop 8 support

[konohitowa]

Dude, if that ain't an understatement. Not only are you not gay, I'd wager you're not even mildly jovial.

Re:Possible backlash over Prop 8 support

[devent]

Eich's respond in 2012 is not very convincing. Just replace "gay people should not allow to marry" with "black people should not allow to marry", or "Asian people should not allow to marry". The issue of gay marriage have nothing to do with religion or personal opinions. It is an issue because married couples have certain advantages under the law, like tax breaks, property rights, etc. And to support a bill that will disallow certain state granted advantages to some people only on the reason that those people are born like they are born is bigotry. Eich should apologize to support such a bill.

The "Proprietary Codec" guy?

[Dr.Dubious DDQ]

Wasn't he the one who's been pushing so hard to get proprietary codecs being used in Firefox? (Not just h.264, but also the proprietary OTOY "orbx.js" codec for remote video)

Re:The "Proprietary Codec" guy?

[Dr.Dubious DDQ]

Po-TAY-to, Po-TAH-to... :-)
(If h.264/mp3/aac was the only issue I wouldn't be all that worried, but the "ORBX.js" followup makes it seem like Eich doesn't really care beyond "as long as 'consumers' don't have to pay money to 'consume', who cares if 'producing' is by proprietary permission only?")

He's entitled to spend his money as he wishes...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm amazed at how much negative feedback this is generating. He had to list his employer to make his donation, it wasn't Mozilla supporting Prop. 8. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, and (at least a few years ago) he was active in the newsgroups and willing to help / support developers. As to his support of Prop 8., I'm sure he had his reasons. He's entitled to his opinion and he's entitled to spend the money he has earned as he sees fit.

Just because an individual may not support gay marriage does not mean they also hate gay people. Personally I would prefer it if the state would just wash it's hand of the 'marriage' issue altogether. Introduce civil unions between people and award benefits and/or tax breaks accordingly. If (as some suggest) the motivation behind a tax break is primarily to help support children / raise a family, strip the benefit and award when they actually have children (their own, or adopted children). Leave marriage between individuals to the churches.

Re:Javascript: the worst Internet development.

[bill_mcgonigle]

I hope that this won't be the case here, but with this new CEO such a possibility is raised.

Well, presumably he has great decision making abilities and is a fantastic manager, since he's going from T to E.

That's gold shirt to red shirt (or the converse if you're old school) so ... while I don't know it for a fact, I think we can trust (hope?) that Mozilla isn't putting a dorkus nerd in charge of the company.

If he's a great manager and a great engineer, then he'll make a really great CEO.

Seems the CEO numbering scheme...

[fahrbot-bot]

The choice of Eich as CEO seems obvious to some, after a string of recent short-tenured CEOs at Mozilla's helm.

... mirrors the one used for the Mozilla products. I predict there will be a new Firefox and CEO next month.

Re:He's entitled to spend his money as he wishes..

[Fancia]

He's entitled to his opinion and he's entitled to spend the money he has earned as he sees fit.

The issue gets a lot more thorny when you remember that he's the CEO of the foundation and is now the ultimate authority on employee benefits. I've already seen people express concern that their top-level boss, or potential boss, thinks they should not be able to get married and has put forward money to try to make it that way.

Re:Welcome back, Brendan

[davester666]

um, shouldn't he be apologizing to us for Javascript...

Re:Welcome back, Brendan

[Joce640k]

Why?

The name, for starters. How much untold confusion has that caused?

Then there's the language....

Still, JavaScript isn't any worse than all those other languages that the BASIC programmers of the world seem to prefer. Even if JavaScript hadn't 'won' it would have been something similar. Better the devil you know.

Don't like gay marriage? Don't have one

[Tenebrousedge]

Let's not equate you being "discriminated against" by so-far-mostly-polite comments on a message board, to people being discriminated against by denying them spousal rights. It's also incorrect to suggest that marriage is somehow a religious institution -- it most certainly preceded all current religions. In point of fact it is primarily a legal construct, which is why we discuss it in terms of civil rights and not e.g. theology.

No one really cares about Eich, it's just an excuse for opination. Your opinion appears to be incorrect and impolite. Personally, I don't see what difference it might make to you whether I should choose to be married to a man or a woman, but you needn't attend the ceremony. I will console myself with the knowedge that the tide of opinion is flowing against you. This discussion is obsolete: each day brings the death of old reactionaries and the birth of scores who will not be taught to hate.

P. S. Reason being preferable to ad hominem invective, you might disengage your spleen from your keyboard.