Well, we agree insofar as that the layoffs and cutbacks are clearly related (in the broader sense, that Mozilla is trying to refocus on Firefox and cut spending in other areas), its just not clear to what extent any one particular product or service will or won’t be affected, and how that will impact users, and in what departments these layoffs were made (best guess is mostly HR based on the internal memo).
My personal feeling is that Mozilla is in a perpetual “damned if they do, damned if they don’t” scenario:
- They were constantly criticized for being too reliant on Firefox and the search deal in particular for most of their revenue.
- But any attempts to diversify those revenue streams (a valid concern) are met with equally loud criticisms that they are “distracted” by other projects or “not focused on Firefox.”
- Now that they are announcing a stronger focus on Firefox (as critics demanded), people will likely jump to the defense of all these programs despite the fact that they had just previously criticized/characterized them as distractions.
I can’t say whether I think Mozilla is or is not on the right track (I don’t feel that I (we) are not in a position to make that judgement with any amount of confidence), but I will say that I think no matter what direction Mozilla goes, they will be criticized for it. It’s a no win situation for them, even when they do make the right choices.
And they stand alone as the only organization so far that has been able to persist in a market that is fundamentally weighted against them (or any past/future independent browser) for many reasons (There are 3 players in this market, Google (Chromium), Apple (Safari), Mozilla (Firefox). Mozilla’s revenue is 99.8% less than Apple’s, 99.7% less than Google’s, with a staff that is <99.5% smaller than Google/Apple. These two behemoths are the only other players in this market, and the board is very much tilted in their favor).