If he stays as CEO then Mozilla will remain a tainted company IMHO. The last thing an open source company wants to do is alienate vast swaths of their contributor base.
And what happens when that base leaves? You're basically left with a bunch of conservative, white guys (Lets be brutally honest) who hate gay people and god knows what else. My view has always been that racists are homophobes and homophobes think women should know their place. In a tech world trying to be more inclusive of all these groups this will cause Mozilla huge damage.
Talk about handing the keys of the castle to your competitors! I'm sure Facebook, Google et al will be itching to hire some good Mozilla devs!
I view the way paedophiles are treated today as the way gay men were treated roughly 50 - 100 years ago.
Think about it in chronological order:
1. Gay people are not mentioned and thrown in jail if discovered.
2. Decriminalised, society begins to learn what they are, huge public backlash, declared mental illness.
3. Science catches up, stops declaring it a mental issue.
4. Society catches up.
5. Law catches up.
6. Gay people == Straight people
Now, of course paedophiles bring their own set of problems but think about this timetable:
1. Paedophiles not mentioned and thrown in jail.
2. Society begins to learn what they are, huge backlash, declared mental illness.
3. Science catches up, discovers why paedophiles are the way they are and comes up with treatments.
4. Society catches up, focus on treatment and feels pity rather than contempt.
5. Law catches up.
6. Paedophiles == Normal people (Obviously in need of treatment though)
I have this feeling that in 100 years we will look back and think "Jesus Christ did we do that to these poor people, they needed treatment not throwing in jail". That's even before you ask questions about the current systems ability to protect children. (I don't believe it does at all)
Of course if you made this statement outside of an intelligent forum like hacker news you would be accused of being Gary Giltter's pimp! IMHO that just shows how emotionally unintelligent we are to deal with this issue. Give it 20 - 30 years and we'll be in a far more advanced place.
And what happens when that base leaves? You're basically left with a bunch of conservative, white guys (Lets be brutally honest) who hate gay people and god knows what else. My view has always been that racists are homophobes and homophobes think women should know their place. In a tech world trying to be more inclusive of all these groups this will cause Mozilla huge damage.
Talk about handing the keys of the castle to your competitors! I'm sure Facebook, Google et al will be itching to hire some good Mozilla devs!