Comment by naasking
They did create some things of lasting value though, like Rust.
They did create some things of lasting value though, like Rust.
Bullshit. They made it. There is no Rust success without Mozilla, none. They can claim 100% credit for all of its successes, legitimately.
Perhaps - but Jetbrains pulled in over $400MM USD in revenue in 2021[1]. Jetbrains now even offers a Rust IDE.
Besides - what were Mozilla's actual goals? Find ways to not make money?
People would throw money at a competent, coherent, privacy-centric, non-Microsoft collaborative office suite. Mozilla had Thunderbird, messaging apps, file sharing apps, etc - and somehow never got organized enough to form a single coherent strategy that would make money. Instead they were all one-off half-baked products that were DOA.
It's dumbfounding. GSuite did so well because it's not Microsoft. Today we have many offerings, from Zimbra to Zoho and more - just imagine what someone with Mozilla's reputation and morals could have done for SMB's in this space, before anyone else moved?
And then proceeded to lay off the Rust team and force it out on its own. That probably worked out for the best in the end, but they don't get to claim credit for Rust's subsequent successes.