"You and all your scenester friends would be fucked if Mozilla hadn't saved the Web. Your single digit share browsers wouldn't be able to log in to even basic services if Mozilla hadn't saved the Web from Microsoft dominance. Your precious RSS would be a Netscape failed initiative if Mozilla hadn't saved the Web. Your geek-fame platform never would have achieved the success it did if Mozilla hadn't saved the Web. You should show some more respect for those that made your success possible." - Dave Winer from Bookmarklet

According to Wikpedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... ), this guy is with Mozilla. That's not very good PR for them... I think Mozilla's management should have a good chat with him. "You should show some more respect for those that made your success possible." Yes, and I think we should show more respect for the elderly! I mean WTF? :) - Meryn Stol

If, OTOH, a post like this is actually exemplary of Mozilla's "DNA", than I don't see a very bright future for them. But I think it's not. I've seen too much reasonable statements from Mozilla spokespersons for that. - Meryn Stol

Looks like someone's been drinking from the chalice of Dennis Miller. - Akiva

Maybe he has written this when he felt angry. Who knows, he might apologize soon. - Meryn Stol

Dave, have you tried contacting Asa directly? That would have been fair I think. - Meryn Stol

Yus - the interwebs were fine in the days of Mosaic, when dinosaurs grazed on the internet -[ - Chris Loft

Typical whiny Microsoft-hater. Glad I'm not FF/Mozilla user anymore. And certainly not trying again after that rant. - Jemm

I personally find it hard to believe to be reading this all. But it's there, "black on white". His comment in reply's to Dave comment on the blog post is even more ridiculous. "Yeah, I'm arrogant and I'm completely OK with that." But I hope this gets not blown out of proposition before he had time to cool off and apologize. I don't believe he really wants to be known like this. - Meryn Stol

I hadn't paid much attention to the Awesomebar until now. I hate the name. - MiniMage

If Mozilla/Firefox hadn't been there we probably would have done with Opera and KHTML/Webkit. But Mozilla has done very good work. It's just that in this world, no-one - not any person, not any organization - is irreplaceable. I mean, it would have been like Google saying: Hey, if it wasn't for *us*, you'd still be using AltaVista! Well uhm, no... :) - Meryn Stol

@Jason: I'm all for competition as long as any mud isn't thrown in any direction and there aren't any stupid demands (like Google's idea that Windows users should be forced to choose the browser on _each_ boot/login). While Mozilla/FF has caused some good for web/standards, it is not the only one... Those "one-digit browsers" just would have bigger shares. - Jemm

I'm a fan of the Firefox *product* btw. For me, it's the best browser for OSX atm. - Meryn Stol

Just read his bio on Wikipedia -- they say he's a MARKETER? That is fracking amazing. This is what they call marketing in MozillaLand? I assumed he was a superstar programmer whose lack of social skills they tolerated because he was the only one who understood some critical piece of code. Community development? And I love the quote about how webmasters should be nice to their users. I guess you teach what you most need to learn. They should change his title to Un-Marketing. - Dave Winer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - Dave Winer

On the other hand, I'm kind of glad that he put this out there in the open. I imagine it's the kind of things people at Google and Microsoft write about me when I criticize their products, except they don't have the guts to put them out there where we can see them. Truth is, the big companies, and Mozilla thinks it's one of them, do have this attitude about their users. This is why the tech industry can't be trusted to run the news networks, which is where it looks like it's going. Jay Rosen take note. - Dave Winer

http://www.scripting.com/stories... - Dave Winer

a wee bit defensive and some angrier issues here, me think. I mean I like firefox, but I don't think it is the be all and end all. My understanding a lot of the things it popularized were on less know browser like Opera and Omni Web first. - Kim Landwehr

I mean, it's a rant, not a press release, the tone seems par for the course, doesn't it? In 1999, KHTML was pretty rudimentary. WebKit was 3 years away. The first free version of Opera wouldn't be released for another couple of years. If you weren't using Mozilla milestones, then you were stuck with IE, or an ancient version of Netscape. Sure, the tone isn't friendly, but he's got some valid points. If not for Mozilla, would we even have open standards? Wouldn't we be using Microsoft standards instead? - Victor Ganata

wow, what a flaming jackass! dang...! He seems very bitter and pathetic, ignore him Dave. - Susan Beebe

Good ideas and good technology always surface - despite anti-competitive environments. If not, we would all be using 3270 systems with green/amber screens. Or worse still, we could still be using Hollerith cards. Even the tightest fist of dominance will eventually falter and fail due to the irrepressible forces of knowledge and technological progress. - Lorin Olsen

Here's the thing ... given the right circumstances, I wouldn't have any problem with a Mozilla employee posting something like that. Users aren't always right, and sometimes shit-stirrers need a slap upside the head. Problem is, I didn't think Dave said anything that provocative; his was actually a rather ho-hum post. Aside from the link to Asa at the end, there was really nothing there to merit such vitriol. Asa's targeting systems need some calibration. - Roger Benningfield

This is not Asa's first rant, usually he picks Opera supporters as his target, though. I used to be a very strong supporter of Mozilla/Firefox but (amongst other things) his posts really turned me off. There is no need for such in-your-face posts, it will only do harm. You can't win an argument anyway. - Christoph Studer