February 14, 2011
Posted by beltzner
As the French say: until we meet again
Often, as T.S. Eliot wrote, words are inadequate. I’ve recently decided that Firefox 4 will be my last release working for Mozilla. Like Eliot’s lover, let me struggle to find the words explaining why.
Almost six years ago, when I left IBM Canada for Mozilla, my manager assured me I’d be back at Big Blue in a couple of years. “It’s just a web browser,” he said, “how much work can there be?”
A lot, it turns out. I knew very little about the technology used to drive the Web, about open source communities, about how to ship software, or how to not cause the trees to go orange by revving an entity name when changing a string.
I have had the great privilege to work with this community of employees, contributors, volunteers and enthusiasts in order to ship six “upgrades to the Web” from Firefox 1.5 through to the soon to be released Firefox 4. I am indebted to so many people at Mozilla for what they have had the generousity to teach me, for giving me the trust and opportunity to learn, and for some incredible memories, friendships and experiences.
There comes a time, however, when one needs to “just keep movin’ on.” I’ve been getting antsy for the past few months, as some people may have noticed, and have decided that it’s time to challenge myself by jumping into an industry about which I know next to nothing. Some things will be familiar, of course (I’ll be managing product strategy for a small team of incredibly smart people, developing advanced, disruptive technology in a stagnant market with a dominant market leader) but almost everything else will be different, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to learn and grow. I expect that you’ll see me trying to see how I can apply some of the tools I’ve developed here to that industry, too.
It’s not a choice I made lightly, I can assure you. I’m incredibly eager to see how Mozilla continues to evolve, shifting its strategy to the new world in which the Web is not just alive and thriving, but evolving and transforming daily. Changing to delivering those Web upgrades by shipping smaller pieces more quickly, providing a new stable of Firefox-ish services – it’s clear that Mozilla’s future is filled with exciting new challenges and opportunities. Add to that the dear friendships I have with so many people in this community, and the simply incredible global work environment we’ve created together … you may assume that the decision took time, consideration, and involved more than a few tears.
It would be the most absurd hubris for me to believe for one second that Mozilla couldn’t face those challenges and opportunities without me. My role here has mostly been that of a lens, focusing the efforts of others in order to burn away obstacles. I am constantly in awe of the energy, passion and quality of skill held by everyone involved in this project.
Now, I’m not leaving in the next couple of days or anything. I am in it to win it on Firefox 4, and plan on staying until that milestone is complete, as well as helping with a smooth transition to ensure that Firefox 5 is a success from the get-go. Even after I stop working for the Mozilla Corporation on a daily basis, don’t think you’re rid of me. I expect to continue to contribute as a life-long member of our passionate, engaged, and supportive community of people who love the crap out of the Web.
OK. Enough of that. Let’s get back to work and ship this thing.
19 Comments
February 14, 2011
Mike, as an outsider who loves to contribute to Mozilla when I can and evangelize the hell out of Firefox, I am sad to see you go. I have watched the Mozilla community closely since Firefox 1.0 and I know that you’re a greatly respected leader. Thanks for all of the work you’ve done to propel the web forward and thanks for working so hard on the web browser that I love.
Matt
February 14, 2011
<3
February 14, 2011
Let’s hope then that Firefox 4 will be well received.
February 14, 2011
I look forward to Firefox 5 shipping on time!
February 14, 2011
Dear Beltzner, you have provided an immense amount of guidance: to Firefox as a product, to the culture of Mozilla in bridging the engineering/design gap to create the flagship open source project, and to me personally. You are the ultimate in thought amplifier; taking the ideas around you and super-charging them. Firefox will miss you. Good luck on your next project.
February 14, 2011
“My role here has mostly been that of a lens, focusing the efforts of others in order to burn away obstacles”
That rocks.
On behalf of the multiple millions worldwide who don’t know what they’ll be missing but have been, and will continue to benfit from your time, energy, and efforts, thanks sincerely, and best wishes.
February 14, 2011
Mike, I wish you well in your new endeavor. It was a great pleasure to work with you on Firefox 2 and to watch Firefox continue to grow after that point. It’s clear even from my distance that you’ve done great work. And Firefox 4 looks awesome. Ship it already!
I will forever wish we had managed to have that post-Firefox-2 conversation about combining the search and address bars… maybe the omnibox could have premiered in a Firefox build
.
February 14, 2011
why leave?sad.
February 15, 2011
Sad to see you go, good sir. You’ve been an incredible boon to the project all these years. Good to know you’ll still hang around, though. I’ll have to find new people to argue with, though.
February 15, 2011
There is not a lot to say. Just Thank you! I nearly grew up with the firefox and the firefox 4 I just love it.
February 15, 2011
I wish you the best if all and a good time with your new challange !
A Firefox user.
February 15, 2011
You have done a beautiful job of expressing your thoughts and your emotions around this major decision. Your life is full of new experiences and turning points, both personal and professional, and I know that you will meet all of the associated challenges with grace and wisdom. I am, as always, very proud of you.
February 15, 2011
Thanks for everything you’ve done for the open web, Mozilla and Firefox! =)
February 15, 2011
Was it the missing WebP support?
)
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=600919#c1
February 15, 2011
Just go away. You fucked up most of planned goals.
February 17, 2011
When will you STOP COPYING OPERA and then claiming credit for being the best or something like that ? The design of FF4 is copied after Opera 10.50, RELEASED in 02 March 2010 ! Also, Opera had HTML5 and CSS3 support back then. Opera also has it’s Opera Turbo, Opera Unite and Opera Link since AGES ago.
How do you respond to this ?
February 17, 2011
Thanks for working so hard on Firefox over the past few years.
“advanced, disruptive technology in a stagnant market with a dominant market leader” – please do give more details when you can! I have some guesses.
February 18, 2011
We’ll miss you Mike. Best of luck with the new challenge.
February 21, 2011
Good. Maybe builds of 5 won’t be delayed over and over and over.
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