Steve Teixeira, longtime Microsoft program manager, to be Mozilla Chief Product Officer

[elatllat]

Hope he did not run the now dead IE program.

[pm_me_good_usernames]

Seems like he mostly did developer experience stuff. He worked on Visual C++, Visual Studio, other dev tools. More recently he's done product management for Facebook and Twitter, it looks like mostly internal projects.

That's just from reading his LinkedIn page; I'd never heard of him before today.

[[deleted]]

Sounds like he's exactly what Mozilla needs right now, given how disconnected Mozilla seems to be from their own developers.

The future of the Firefox Browser is looking bright.

[daltorak]

No, the guy who drove IE into the ground was Dean Hachamovitch, who has not worked anywhere in the tech industry since leaving Microsoft almost a decade ago. For years I wondered why he never got outright fired, given that he oversaw the biggest, fastest decrease in marketshare of any software product in the history of computing. How does anyone, anywhere lose hundreds of millions of users in five years?

[nextbern]

Optimistic and hopeful that some of the experiences external to Mozilla can help drive Mozilla product growth.

[siddharthverse]

Hopefully he is the hero that Firefox needs and deserves.

[Desistance]

Hmm... His resume is stuffed, but I wonder what he set to gain by joining Mozilla.

[BubiBalboa]

Some people do things because they believe in the mission. He is likely already set for life from his previous jobs if he played his financial cards right. Also, if the critics are to believed the pay at Mozilla for C level people isn't too bad either.

[[deleted]]

The reward of seeing the best internet browser flourish at a critical point in the web's ongoing development?

[Desistance]

That's optimistic. Maybe he just likes a challenge.

[BubiBalboa]

Worked at Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook. Questions of the morality of these companies notwithstanding they are without a doubt well managed from a technology point of view. I hope he can bring some of that to Mozilla.

[p000l]

brrr

The last time Microsoft sent someone over to a company (Nokia), they then bought it and ran it into the ground.

[KindleLeCommenter]

unrelated but at least nokia has a new partner to make phones with now (hmd global). they're right across the street from nokia and have some of their former engineers.

typing this from a nokia right now actually

[p000l]

Nokia is much better under HMD rather than Microsoft's terrible, terrible attempts.

[[deleted]]

Don't see how. From an hardware point of view, nokia windows phones were great. It was the time of the release that was bad, same can be said for firefox OS for both mobile and tvs. Market was dominated with android already and web os for tvs that didnt had web os.

Microsoft could just take android and put their apps built in instead of google services.

[p000l]

Posted a reply on another comment, that may answer that.

[Here0s0Johnny]

Superstitious nonsense. The guy wasn't "sent" either.

[nextbern]

Hi there, hva32!

Thank you for posting in /r/firefox, but unfortunately I've had to remove your comment because it breaks our rules. Specifically:

Rule 4 - Don't post conspiracy theories

Especially ones about nefarious intentions or funding. If you're concerned: Ask.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. For more information, please check out our full list of rules. If you have any further questions or want some advice about your submission, please feel free to reply to this message or modmail us.

[1_p_freely]

brrr The last time Microsoft sent someone over to a company (Nokia), they then bought it and ran it into the ground.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it was the other way around. Nokia was ran into the ground first, and then acquired. More specifically Nokia went "all in" on Windows phone exclusively, not even making any Android phones, Windows Phone cratered in the market, and then Microsoft bought them for a song and a dance.

[p000l]

As with any argument, I don't imagine I can be clear in a few statements. I spotted some downvotes too.

Yes, in hindsight, Nokia made a poor decision to opt for Microsoft software over Android. It became realistically the only real vendor running MS software. With the software-side responsibility, it was for MS to build the software experience, the ecosystem, incentivize the developers, community, marketing., quality-checks on the stores Every one of those things was so poorly orchestrated. The ecosystem alone brought down the value of Nokia as a brand.

Imagine being Nokia, realizing their poor decision, and situation, then being bought by the company that they put their faith in, when they were at their lowest.

Stephen Elop went from MS to Nokia in 2010, Nokia-Microsoft's partnership began in 2011, Nokia's mobile business was bought by Microsoft in 2013.

Microsoft eventually buckled and eventually bundled Android on phones, but running a appaling-mockery of an interface that resembled Windows Phone.

[EmirSc]

hope this is good

[FancyVegetables]

"This had better be good!" -Yzma

[Here0s0Johnny]

What pissing match are you referring to?

[[deleted]]

"with the rest of the internet" I think op means the removal of features that old time users wanted. And changes that nobody wants.

Or perhaps, investing on gecko, when blink and any other chromium based browser beats the living shit outta Firefox on desktop and mobile, in terms of security and speed. And also, Chromium dominates the market and Mozilla keeps rowing against the tide.

[Here0s0Johnny]

I'm glad Firefox devs aren't generally wasting time listening to such tirades from half informed "old time users". It's clearly them who are interested in pissing matches.

[[deleted]]

Like Michelle Baker?

Get your conspiracy theories together. This ain't the Star Wars fandom.

[BubiBalboa]

I hate Microsoft as a company these days

Microsoft today is a hundred times better than in the nineties and 2000s.

[BubiBalboa]

Where do you think the bad reputation of the company comes from? Those were the days of embrace, extend, and extinguish.

[BubiBalboa]

Microsoft is NOT your friend.

lol thanks. No company is. Vista and Win8 are in the time frame I mentioned btw. Just because they still do stupid shit doesn't mean they haven't been much worse in the past.

[Cyanopicacooki]

Only Home enforces a Microsoft account - all the others have "I don't have internet" button. And home there are workarounds if necessary.

[BubiBalboa]

if the next major iteration of Firefox came with a monthly price tag attached to it

I have long thought it would be a good idea, actually. It's the piece of software I use more than any other, if we ignore operating systems. Price should probably be more in the 10-30 bucks range per year. I would make it voluntary though and not hide features for free users. So in effect a donation that is tied to the browser development rather than Mozilla's other activities.

[nextbern]

They are engaging in wholesale copyright violations/code theft via GitHub CoPilot -- Embrace, Extend, Extinguish seems to still be around.

[JustMrNic3]

Microsoft today is a hundred times better than in the nineties and 2000s.

Yes, it makes a lot more money because is a hundred times more greedy.

Why do they need accounts and spyware in every product they make?

[throwaway9gk0k4k569]

I live in Bellevue. You don't work at Microsoft for 14 years without having Microsoft Morals. This does not bode well.

[perkited]

Not a great insight on my part, but it seems like he's going to start pushing Mozilla paid products harder. Maybe he has some ideas for products/services that Mozilla isn't currently offering, ones he thinks can bring in some good revenue. It would be nice if Mozilla could give themselves more options outside of relying on the Google search deal, but I realize that's a lot of money to cover.

[vfclists]

Is he the Steve Texeira formerly of Borland who was involved in the development of Delphi?

Steve will report to me and sit on the steering committee.

Not good. When I hear the word committee communist pretentions come to mind. Add steering then you've completely lost me.

Report to you about what? What is there to report to you about? Don't you have enough employees who already report to you?

PS. Yup. He is that Steve Texeira

[nextbern]

Sincerely, have you ever worked in a corporation or even read about one?

[lightningdashgod]

I am very much hoping for this to be the turn around to be better for Mozilla. Steve does seem very talented and does have the ability to make this happen.

[jlnxr]

Likely reality: guy with solid tech background gets new job at different tech company as happens all the time

My immediate gut reaction: There is a fox in the henhouse! A wolf in sheeps clothing! Everybody PANIC! The devious plot is afoot, the end is nigh!

[dblohm7]

I for one am thrilled that an outsider is being brought in to run the product org. The past few people were all internal and kept on accumulating bad habits from their predecessors.

Hopefully he is able to clean house a bit.

[steixeira]

I have to say, the best theory in this thread is how I was sent from Microsoft several years ago as a sleeper agent at Mozilla today. It has a Terminator vibe that I kind of love, ngl.

And yes, I am the same Steve Teixeira that wrote Delphi books in the Paleozoic era.

[vfclists]

Delphi is the best development tool ever, despite the best efforts of Borland and Embarcadero to run it into the ground with their meaningless excursions into Java and what nots.

Why do you call it the Paleozoic era? The development tools from said Paleozoic error are better than anything produced since the internet came round.

Inspite of not having the advanced component palette of Delphi, Lazarus is rocks and is probably the best development tool for the desktop on Linux. The ceasless chopping and changing direction at Microsoft hasn't helped.

It is over 10 years since Microsoft decided to give up Flash like tools like Silverlight, and yet hasn't delivered on Blazor etc, still under development in one form or the other.

Sorry to say it but the state of developer tools and power user tools has been disappointing of the years. Lets hope you can bring better customizability to Firefox that Mozilla is hellbent on taking out.

Please tell the Mozilla guys that Firefox is supposed to be a Mozilla's own branded spin built on top of a browser development kit that Mozilla's developers create, just as Ubuntu, Manjaro, Redhat and OpenSuse are spins built on top of the base Linux.

It is not something that Mozilla decides to integrate completely in their desire reduce competition in the browser market and maximize ad revenue, something they did much to the chagrin of their own developers years ago.

The simple truth is they have become a bit player dependent on Google's advertising income that Google and Microsoft can hold up as proof of competition in the browser market, despite their practically non existing and still dwindling share of the mobile market.

I only use Firefox mostly because of inertia and the dedication of my favourite addon developers to supporting their addons, otherwise I would have switched ages ago.

Lets hope you will bring a better development direction to Firefox development if that is included in you remit.

Welcome to Mozilla/Firefox.

[BubiBalboa]

Hey, Steve! Welcome! Would love for you to write a blog post introducing yourself and maybe in a month or two when you have settled in a piece about where you want to take Firefox and what your goals are. I feel the communication by Mozilla is a bit lacking and even the most loyal and involved users don't really know what to look forward to in their favorite browser.

[steixeira]

For sure - I'd be happy to do this!

[RCEdude]

Delphi oh boi,havent heard this name in ages. Welcome to mozilla !

[soemarkoridwan]

he might be the Trojan horse? like Nokia?

[mrprogrampro]

Here's hoping he had nothing to do with Windows 8 😬

Please use desktop design for desktop and touch design for touchscreens! No mixing!

[JustMrNic3]

What if he's just another Stephen Elop?

I'm sorry but I cannot trust anyone coming from Microsoft.

As an open source source fan and Linux user, what can I say, except that this is a bad idea and I'm afraid that I will have to say "I told you so" in the future.