Prop 8 was awful and I'm thrilled it was struck down, but switching away from Firefox and other Mozilla products because the new CEO (formerly CTO, but apparently that didn't draw any protest) donated in favor of Prop 8 strikes me as … a bit over the top.
I mean, Eric Schmidt contributed to national Republican committees (just a scosh more than to the Democrats). In 2010 most individual and Google PAC contributions went to Dems — but they did donate, corporately, to Republicans like Cantor and Boehner (http://goo.gl/pl0Zw6). Google's also given money to Heritage Action, the Federalist Society, ALEC, CATO, and Ted Cruz. (http://goo.gl/R99VFB).
I'll assume Microsoft might be guilty of the same "sins."
Now, one might argue that Eich's donation directly to Prop 8 (whatever his motivation in doing so) was a direct personal investment in a specific awful cause, vs Google's political glad-handing (or, as Google reps suggest, giving money to individuals and groups who they say support "what’s good for an open Internet").
But that's just it. Eich's donation doesn't reflect Mozilla policy. And whether or not you'd be interested in inviting him over for dinner, a specific donation by someone in a single campaign, said someone later becoming the CEO of a company, doesn't seem to me to be the most critical reason to boycott said company.
I don't use Firefox myself these days, but if I were tempted to, I don't myself see this as a reason to question whether I should.
Newly-Appointed Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich Donated To Prop 8 Campaign
I switched away from Firefox years ago because it turned into bloated crapware.
It is probably impossible to find a company whose leaders agree with your personal views 100%.
Heck, my wife doesn't agree with my personal views 100%. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to marry her.
If I can spend the rest of my life with someone who doesn't appreciate the subtle musical nuances of the Sex Pistols, I guess I can use a web browser regardless of the CEO's political donation patterns.
+Nick McIntosh I switched from FF 3 years ago or so to Chrome, and generally haven't regretted it. My wife still runs FF at home, though (and I'm not going to boycott her).
+John E. Bredehoft I think there aren't bright lines here, to be honest. I mean, if the CEO ate live kittens on TV and publicly tithed his salary to a special foundation that supported the AFA, the KKK, and the NRA … I might begin to question Mozilla about this. But I don't see this as a Chik-fil-A situation.
On the other hand, as much as I find Prop 8 dead wrong (and the campaign held in its support even worse), I'm not someone who was directly discriminated against by it, so I admit that may color my perspective.