Once Firefox 4 Is Out, Mike Beltzner Will Leave Mozilla
Until now I was rather happy that the development process of Firefox 4 is moving along. Late last month the 10th Beta version of Firefox 4 was rolled out, then last week the 11th Beta version was rolled out as well (get it in your native language for Windows, Mac OS X or Linux here). According to the release notes, Firefox 4 Beta 11 came with the following new bits and pieces:
Support for the proposed Do Not Track ("DNT") header
Connection status messages are now shown in a small overlay
WebGL has been re-enabled on Linux
The default homepage design has been refreshed
Firefox no longer switches into offline mode automatically
Now I’m not that enthusiastic anymore. Once Firefox 4 is out as a final, stable version, Firefox Director Mike Beltzner will leave Mozilla, the company he’s been working with for 6 years now.
As a little side note, when he left IBM Canada to go work on Firefox, the version he started with was Firefox 1.5. Getting back to the topic at hand, Beltzner said that he will leave Mozilla and join DownUnder GeoSolutions, a small startup that builds geological modeling software.
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“It’s not a choice I made lightly, I can assure you,” said Beltzner. “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.”
In related news, earlier this month the same Mike Beltzner proposed that Mozilla embrace a fast-release ethos and roll out Firefox 5, 6, and 7 this year.
Until now I was rather happy that the development process of Firefox 4 is moving along. Late last month the 10th Beta version of Firefox 4 was rolled out, then last week the 11th Beta version was rolled out as well (get it in your native language for Windows, Mac OS X or Linux 