I don't get it. If Mozilla thinks this is the best route for them they should do it. Input on features like that shouldnt be taken from users who will not have the long term view of firefox.
I'm all for Mozilla having the power to make good technical decisions, but it sounds like you are suggesting that Mozilla ignore their user base completely. That's a recipe for the death of Firefox, IMHO.
I know there are technical reasons that Mozilla is wanting to get rid of XUL, and those reasons look legitimate to me. The problem I see is that they don't have a replacement for XUL that affords the same level of customizability that it does. I've done a little work with XUL, and yes, it's no picnic. I would welcome an alternative that was simpler, and better designed. However, if the replacement only offers a fraction of the flexibility of XUL, then addon developers aren't going to like it.
"Input on features like that shouldnt be taken from users who will not have the long term view of firefox."
^ That's a pretty broad brush you are painting with there. There are a huge number of us who have been using Firefox since it was released in 2004 (and Netscape Navigator before that). I haven't taken a formal survey, but the feedback I've seen from the long-term users is that the depth of customizability available via Firefox's addons is one of the primary reasons they continue to use the browser after all of these years.
Also, I would venture to guess that the people most likely to continue using Firefox are these dedicated long-term users. But if Mozilla insists on ignoring the wishes of these users, they will lose the strongest advocates in their user base.
Ignoring your users is a terrible idea.
Again, I welcome a replacement for XUL. Just make it a full-featured replacement, and don't cut off XUL development until said replacement is indeed full-featured and reasonably stable.
Maybe Mozilla can't pull that off, but I would certainly like to see them try.
It's a small fraction of advanced users that think Mozilla ignores them.
I personally have not heard any users say anything wildly positive about recent changes. And I think the steady decline in users is in a large part due to the perception that Mozilla doesn't seem to care what their users want anymore.
I don't think it is a "small fraction". I think it's a big chunk. And I also think that chunk constitutes the most dedicated users the browser has (you know, the kind that install Firefox on their relatives' computers for them, and frequently personally advocate its use by others). Mozilla would be fools to ignore them.
I honestly hold only a small amount of hope that Firefox will live on long term. These issues keep being brought up, and Mozilla still comes across like they don't care. Feedback I've gotten from folks who work at Mozilla indicates that at least some of them do care, but the public perception by loyal users is that they don't.
I hope Mozilla can get it together and that Firefox can live on with great success. At this point I just don't think it is going to happen. I hope they prove me wrong.
[edited to correct punctuation]
Firefox-now: TreeStyleTabs + ok browser
Chromium-now: fast browser
Firefox-future: ok browser
Chromium-future: fast browser
With the key advantage of Firefox (customizability) gone, the question turns into "why NOT drop Firefox for Chrome/Chromium".
I get the feeling that they could have got the new system done and as capable as the old before deleting the old. Transition periods are brutal as Python and Perl have found out.
WebExtensions can still read all your data on all websites and inject whatever they want into all websites. Not a lot of security there. That is OK though, I am fine trusting Google and Gorhill instead of just Google.