Mozilla foundation's new CEO causes concern due to anti-gay-marriage views
The guy co-founded Mozilla and served as Netscape's chief architect . He invented Javascript . He's been Mozilla's chief technical officer for 9 years. On March 24th, Brendan Eich became the Mozilla Foundation's CEO - and members of Mozilla's staff promptly demanded that he step down . Why? Because Brendan Eich is anti-gay-marriage. The BBC , CFO World , and others are reporting that online dating site OK Cupid is notifying users of Firefox of the views of the Mozilla Foundation's new CEO - and requesting that they use another browser to access the site. It's not quite a boycott - users can still click through to access the site while using Firefox - but it's definitely a statement. This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened. Hobby Lobby , Chick-Fil-A , and Costco have all experienced similar backlashes.
Mark Surman, XO of Mozilla, says:
"I worry that we do a bad job of explaining ourselves, that people are angry and don't know who we are or where we stand. And, I worry that in the time it takes to work this through and explain ourselves the things I love about Mozilla will be deeply damaged."
At what point do a person's political, personal, or religious views outweigh their qualifications for leadership - and does using Firefox in any way imply support of these views?
Also: Javascript long ago passed into other hands than Eich's. It's a standardized and regulated language - and there really aren't any options besides it for doing the fancy client-side stuff on the web. (Okay, there are options, but we're going to pretend they don't exist. *shudder*)
A browser, on the other hand, is a choice - and via the user agent, a declaration to the world of one's opinion. IE says "I don't know enough about computers to pick another browser." Chrome says "I like it fast and I'm not concerned with privacy." Firefox says "I like my browsers like I like my coffee - (insert customization here)." It's a statement, a deliberate choice, and that makes it something you can change in response to bad stewardship.