Tip of the Hat: An inside look at the fall of Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich

Brendan Eich's ignominious departure from Mozilla this spring wasn't, as most of us think, due only to his opposition to gay marriage.

Yes, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. But the board that named him CEO was never sure that Eich, one of the world's top technologists, had the skills to run an organization, especially one as complex as Mozilla.

Computerworld gives a Tip of the Hat to CNET reporter Stephen Shankland for his close look at Eich's brief reign as CEO, and the multiple reasons for his departure.

In the story, Mozilla under fire: Inside the nine-day reign of fallen CEO Brendan Eich, Shankland points out that "Mozilla's board struggled to find a new CEO, settled hesitantly on Eich, and didn't support him strongly. The gay-marriage issue may just have accelerated a falling-out that would have happened anyway."

With details from sources inside and outside the company, Shankland provides a close look at the difficulties Mozilla's board had in deciding to hire a "brilliant but distant" chief technology officer to lead a company that needs, Chairwoman Mitchell Baker told Shankland, "a skill set that is an odd mix."

The calls for his resignation by employees, users and rights groups over his stance on gay marriage pushed the board into making a quick decision to let the Mozilla co-founder and key developer of many of its products depart, notes Shankland.

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