Stuff like this works when the glyphs are recognizable enough, but when the design is such that you simultaneously know that it is not to be interpreted literally. It fails here because the latter isn't clear.

So in this case it is typography. That's the problem.

Mozilla could do with an actual logo, something that fits with the Thunderbird & Firefox logos.

Edit: Having looked at the other designs I think they chose correctly, but perhaps needed a "none of the above" option. This https://blog.mozilla.org/opendesign/now-for-the-fun-part/#co... gets closer.

Perhaps they wanted something that worked just using text, I guess. Maybe 2017 will be the year of leet-speak on the desktop!?!

Pretty much all the material about the redesign says this is, in fact, a logo.

I agree that the whole process was a complete clusterfuck. They picked the less atrocious suggestion. It's still terrible.