Mozilla CEO steps down to pursue something more commercial

[Rick]

Gary Kovacs intends to step down from his post as Mozilla's CEO, the foundation's blog reveals. Kovacs is just one of a number of leadership changes being made at Mozilla as it begins "gearing up for the next chapter" -- a chapter which is ostensibly focused on mobile.

First employed as CEO in 2010 to succeed John Lilly, Canadian-born Kovacs will resign from his duties as CEO later this year; the exact date of his departure remains unknown. Kovacs will remain an influential voice in the organization though as he continues to serve on Mozilla's board of directors. Lilly too, still sits on the board.

Mozilla doesn't identify specific reasons for the executive shake-up, but the organization praises Kovacs for accomplishing everything he set out to achieve, including Mozilla's recent focus on mobile. "It is a really different Mozilla," Kovacs commented, comparing his arrival to Mozilla's current day operations.

In an interview with AllThingsD, Kovacs indicated he wants to join the for-profit business scene again. "After three years of a lot of change to move the organization faster forward, I wanted to move back to something more commercial," he told AllThingsD.

Other leadership changes include the appointment of two new senior VPs while former CEO Mitchell Baker is expected to return to a deeper involvement within the company. 

A replacement for Kovacs has not yet been lined up, but Mozilla says its search for a new executive will begin immediately.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/52213-mozilla-ceo-steps-down-to-pursue-something-more-commercial.html

 

[cliffordcooley]

Now maybe the rapid version release cycle will stop.

 

[Jad Chaar]

I really hope so. More "Commercial" doesnt necessarily mean more money. I never liked this guy.

 

[psycros]

Now maybe the rapid version release cycle will stop.

Ha! Beat me to it. 20.x seems to finally have squared away most of the bugs that were introduced during the v15-16 period..maybe we could just build on that for a while and only put out full versions that have truly significant changes? Oh, and if they could stop breaking half the FF plugins every other version and removing useful features from fresh installs, yeah..that'd be great. FF is the only desktop browser that meets my needs so I certainly hope they don't start neglecting it to chase after the uber-crowded mobile market.

 

[Jad Chaar]

That is the problem with the fast cycle. Chrome does it right. The extensions still function perfectly after each version. Firefox should really be at version 5 or 6 if they stuck with the old release cycle. That is why they are losing crouds. People think Chrome is too commercialized and is not safe, while people think FF has lost its integrity. This leads them to move to IE. This is clearly shown in the latest info about browser usage.

 

[cliffordcooley]

I certainly hope they don't start neglecting it to chase after the uber-crowded mobile market.

Haha, thats funny! lol

 

[Guest]

At V 20 FF has really hit the sweet spot: fast booting, loading, surfing. The upgrade to 20.0.1 tweaks FF to even greater heights.