Mozilla CEO Chris Beard will step down at the end of the year

[Shawn Knight]

Recap: It’s been just over five years since Beard was named interim CEO (three months later, the interim tag was removed) but he’s been with Mozilla for far longer. Beard joined the team way back in 2004 to help launch the Firefox browser and has worn many hats since.

Mozilla CEO Chris Beard on Thursday shared the news that this will be his last year as chief executive.

His appointment as CEO came during a very turbulent time for Mozilla. After Gary Kovacs stepped down as chief executive in 2013, Mozilla spent nearly a year searching for a replacement and landed on JavaScript creator Brendan Eich. Not long after, it was revealed that Eich had supported California’s Proposition 8 campaign against same-sex marriage. After roughly a week on the job, Eich resigned.

Beard in announcing his retirement said Mozilla’s products, technology and policy efforts are now stronger and more resonant in the market than ever. “In short, Mozilla is an exceptionally better place today, and we have all the fundamentals in place for continued positive momentum for years to come,” Beard said.

It’s with that backdrop, Beard added, that he has made the decision to step back and start his next chapter. “This is a good place to recruit our next CEO and for me to take a meaningful break and recharge before considering what’s next for me.” Beard said he is also looking forward to spending more time with his family.

Beard will be staying with Mozilla until the end of the year which should give the board plenty of time to identify a successor and complete the transition.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/81672-mozilla-ceo-chris-beard-step-down-end-year.html

 

[Uncle Al]

OK OK OK ...... retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be so if they want me to take it I'll do it, but I'm not moving out to CA .... they will simply have to relocate the company to Tennessee ....

 

[psycros]

"“In short, Mozilla is an exceptionally better place today, and we have all the fundamentals in place for continued positive momentum for years to come,” Beard said.

Translation: "We messed up big time and alienated everyone who ever cared about Firefox or Thunderbird. I'm gettin' the hell outta dodge."

 

[toooooot]

Finding another CEO with Foxy or ferocious eyes wont be easy.

 

[captaincranky]

Finding another CEO with Foxy or ferocious eyes wont be easy.

I wouldn't say the current CEO has a "foxy" or "ferocious" gaze. He looks more like someone living contentedly in a same sex marriage. Hm, maybe that's why they picked him.

 

[toooooot]

I wouldn't say the current CEO has a "foxy" or "ferocious" gaze. He looks more like someone living contentedly in a same sex marriage. Hm, maybe that's why they picked him.

Then no big loss. I still think he has animal eyes though.

 

[captaincranky]

Then no big loss. I still think he has animal eyes though.

I suppose perhaps eyes like the notoriously gentle ragdoll maybe......

But definitely not the much fiercer looking Canada lynx....

Incidentally, that ragdoll is a gorgeous specimen, with its light pinkish/light amber points. The points are more often gray to black. Blue eyed cats such as ragdolls give off a red eye effect just like a human when hit with on camera flash, unlike regular cat's eyes, which go bright yellow. (Not to get too far off topic ).

 

[Lew Zealand]

Incidentally, that ragdoll is a gorgeous specimen, with its light pinkish/light amber points. The points are more often gray to black. Blue eyed cats such as ragdolls give off a red eye effect just like a human when hit with on camera flash, unlike regular cat's eyes, which go bright yellow. (Not to get too far off topic ).

Look at the eye glints, 2 light sources placed well apart to both sides. Add an already brightly lit room and a pre-flash or two for small pupils and bye-bye red eye. Competent photography there.

 

[captaincranky]

Look at the eye glints, 2 light sources placed well apart to both sides. Add an already brightly lit room and a pre-flash or two for small pupils and bye-bye red eye. Competent photography there.

Well, nobody said there was red eye in the masthead photo. Which incidentally, is pretty standard high key professional portraiture.

The photographer is using broad lighting, at a low contrast ratio, 3:1 tops,.(which effectively tames any wrinkles present). Judging by the light falloff at the corners of the frame, there is also a background light in use.

At this level of photography, I would expect the strobes to have fairly strong modeling lights built in, and no pre-flash nonsense was likely necessary. (Which is not to say the technique is useless, but it could present somewhat of an obstacle in getting the hoped for expression on your subject's face).

As for red eye, you just have to get the strobe off camera to get rid of it. That's the purpose behind the frames you'll see wedding photographers using, .which raise, (their way more powerful than in camera), strobes above the angle where red eye would be an issue.

And if your photos do have red eye, even Photoshop Elements can get rid of it in a click or two.

The photo of the ragdoll cat is possibly even more impressive. First and foremost, the art of just getting it to sit there like a statue, and secondly, the lighting is bordering on cross lit, at a very low contrast ratio, bordering on 1:1. (OK, judging by the floor shadow probably 2:1 contrast). Since we've moved on to "eye glints", notice their position in the cats eyes. The pure white of the cat's fur presents a real issue of blowing out the highlights, necessitating the low contrast lighting. It's sort of the opposite to the riddle of, "how do you expose for a black cat in a coal bin"?

 

[Lew Zealand]

The photo of the ragdoll cat is possibly even more impressive. First and foremost, the art of just getting it to sit there like a statue, and secondly, the lighting is bordering on cross lit, at a very low contrast ratio, bordering on 1:1. (OK, judging by the floor shadow probably 2:1 contrast). Since we've moved on to "eye glints", notice their position in the cats eyes. The pure white of the cat's fur presents a real issue of blowing out the highlights, necessitating the low contrast lighting. It's sort of the opposite to the riddle of, "how do you expose for a black cat in a coal bin"?

Don't you just tap the brightest part of the preview on your phone and it reduces the exposure to make a perfect cat pic...


I keed, I keed...

 

[captaincranky]

Don't you just tap the brightest part of the preview on your phone and it reduces the exposure to make a perfect cat pic...


I keed, I keed...

I know right? Which is why I got stuck buying refurbished Nikon D-7200 and D-4300 bodies this year, because I couldn't afford an iPhone to do the job correctly.

I have one of the older Sigma 10-20 mm f4 - f5.6 zooms, and the D-4300 proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, I was running out of sensor, long before I was ever running out of lens resolution on my older bodies.

I love ultra wide lenbes. They take you back to "the good old days" of press photography. All you had to know was "f8 and be there".