vampiress 2,454 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 The chief executive of Mozilla - the company best known for its Firefox browser - has stepped down. Brendan Eich was appointed just last month but came in for heavy criticism for his views on same-sex marriage. Mozilla's executive chairwoman Mitchell Baker announced the decision in a blog post. "Mozilla prides itself on being held to a different standard and, this past week, we didn't live up to it," she wrote. "We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it's because we haven't stayed true to ourselves. "We didn't act like you'd expect Mozilla to act. We didn't move fast enough to engage with people once the controversy started. We're sorry. We must do better." Mr Eich has also stepped down from the board of the Mozilla Foundation, the non-profit organisation which owns the for-profit Mozilla Corporation. Angry users Mr Eich, who co-founded Mozilla and was also the creator of the JavaScript scripting language, made a $1,000 (£600) donation in 2008 in support of Californian anti-gay marriage law Proposition 8. Although it was initially passed, it was later overturned by the US Supreme Court in 2013. When the announcement of Mr Eich's appointment was made on 24 March, angry users voiced their opinions on social media. Several high-profile Mozilla employees also weighed in. Three board members also recently resigned - but Mozilla said the events were not linked to Mr Eich. "The three board members ended their terms before Brendan was publicly announced as CEO for a variety of reasons," Mozilla said in a statement. "Two had been planning to leave for some time, one since January and one explicitly at the end of the CEO search, regardless of the person selected." The announcement was made by Mitchell Baker, Mozilla's executive chairwoman But the most damaging act of protest came via dating website OkCupid. Users who went to the site using Mozilla's Firefox browser were greeted with a message that read: "Hello there, Mozilla Firefox user. Pardon this interruption of your OkCupid experience. "Mozilla's new CEO, Brendan Eich, is an opponent of equal rights for gay couples. We would therefore prefer that our users not use Mozilla software to access OkCupid." Mozilla initially defended Mr Eich's appointment, but Ms Baker's blog post announcing the chief executive's departure made apologies for doing so. "We failed to listen, to engage, and to be guided by our community," she wrote. She added that any potential replacement for Mr Eich was still being discussed, and that more details would be announced next week. Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC Source: BBC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgl 5,919 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 It was expected, especially after what OkCupid did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taku 1,254 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 His personal views didn't bother me so long as they had no influence on the company, which I'm assuming was the case? Because my gay porn browsing experience was fine. This woman's hair though.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symphonyâ„¢ 11,329 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 His personal views didn't bother me so long as they had no influence on the company, which I'm assuming was the case? Because my gay porn browsing experience was fine. This woman's hair though.... I was wondering about the hair too.... What did he say? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delincious 5,654 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 As much as I think it's a shitty thing to do, your personal views and opinions shouldn't have an effect on your job tbh. Especially when your job is so unrelated to the issue and you did it in with your personal time and personal money and didn't use your position in any way to convey your views. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Someone actually 4,572 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Mitchell needs to reflect on her life choices after getting that botched haircut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
초췌 270 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 um that's his own personal views it's not like he openly endorsed it by redirecting gay porn sites to christianbible.com or something geez Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sad Party Queen 1,580 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 omg ppl talkin about the poor ol' lady's hair lets talk about his face instead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vampiress 2,454 Posted April 7, 2014 Author Share Posted April 7, 2014 Unfortunately, inevitably nowadays CEO represents the company's image... I think that's why he has to resign. I read that in 2008, he donated a thousand dollars to support Proposition 8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symphonyâ„¢ 11,329 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Unfortunately, inevitably nowadays CEO represents the company's image... I think that's why he has to resign. I read that in 2008, he donated a thousand dollars to support Proposition 8. Well if he don't support same sex marriage of course he would. I honest don't care,it was his personal views. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vampiress 2,454 Posted April 7, 2014 Author Share Posted April 7, 2014 Well if he don't support same sex marriage of course he would. I honest don't care,it was his personal views. many people care though. Personally I don't really care either as long as he doesn't force his view on company policy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloupsidou 2,047 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Mitchell needs to reflect on her life choices after getting that botched haircut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timpa 6,547 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 How about in 2008 if he had donated money to a politician running with a platform for saying interracial marriages should be banned? He's completely allowed to do and think whatever he wants just like people are completely allowed to use or not use ANY COMPANY'S PRODUCT if they don't like the known facts about things the executives at the company have supported. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vampiress 2,454 Posted April 7, 2014 Author Share Posted April 7, 2014 How about in 2008 if he had donated money to a politician running with a platform for saying interracial marriages should be banned? He's completely allowed to do and think whatever he wants just like people are completely allowed to use or not use ANY COMPANY'S PRODUCT if they don't like the known facts about things the executives at the company have supported. playing devil advocates here, but I think the pressure are not only from outside, but inside the company as well. I mean huge company like Mozilla are kind of afraid the issue gets bigger and will damage company's image in the long run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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