OK, but then they rely on donations or info selling for ads. Is that really better? I sure won't foot the bill for the ceo's multi million salary.
this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2025
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Yeah... it's frustrating to see these kinds of things. Like.. yes.. stop doing the bad thing... but if you're going to start a whole petition... maybe offer some feasible alternatives and solutions.
Looking over their financials, they'd have to cut l over half their workforce and relocate to a cheaper area (to cut salaries by more than half) to get close to being financially stable without search income.
Bing is still a thing. Bing offered Apple a boatload of money to be the default search engine in Safari. I’m sure Mozilla could make a deal with Microsoft.
I also wonder if they could just prompt the user to select a search engine from a randomized list, and then get paid from whichever service the user picks?
Some browsers sell placement spaces on the default start page to make money as well. It would be another revenue stream for Mozilla and it’s easily updatable by the user directory don’t want any of these default sites.
how is ditching Google for Microsoft better?
What's the financial plan there? Or do you just want them to drop 80% of their budget or whatever it is and work for free?
Back when they were "Netscape" you could buy a box off a shelf with the current version for a flat fee. I'd be okay with a paid version with zero ad inserts, and zero leaky telemetry. I'd even be okay if it was $X for the base product and $Y for $Z years of security updates.
As long as they've got the Point of Sale going for the purchase, if they also want to include addons that I could select to donate to in the same transaction where they pass through those funds to the addon developer, I'd be good with that too.
Netscape went bankrupt so might not be the most solid idea for funding. Wasn't opera paid before too, but abandoned that model?
Netscape went bankrupt when Microsoft started giving out Internet Explorer for free. So, today, would you prefer to use a free Microsoft Edge or would you prefer to pay for Firefox that is telemetry and ad free?
If Netscape had a large paid install base and still failed because a free browser became ubiquitous, what makes you think doing that now when the free browsers are already ubiquitous would work? Especially when it also has to compete with what is essentially already what you're describing, Librewolf (or just Firefox + Arkenfox).
Paying for privacy should not be necessary though, its a right
Paying for privacy should be necessary because it's the only way to fund development of the software you rely on. If you're not paying, you're the product.
I pay for email and a handful of other services online. I would be happy to pay for online content if that eliminated ads and tracking. I want to help fund Firefox, but my only option is Mozilla VPN/Relay. Donations don't fund development, and the rest of the paid products have privacy issues. I also have concerns about Mozilla VPN, why wouldn't I just go to Mullvad directly instead of adding another party that can potentially track me?
I'm happy to pay, let me pay.
Paying for privacy should not be necessary though, its a right
This is an incredibly myopic statement in this context. In the case of Firefox here, you have total power over your privacy. Don't use the software.
The money to actually create and maintain the product has to come from somewhere. Expecting the software developers at Mozilla to work totally for free is greedy on your part. One way they can pay for the development of Firefox is through selling advertising to users. As long as these advertisements are able to be turned off, I don't have a problem with that (historically they were). Its not my preference, but another way is to sell your activity in some capacity which is what the Telemetry since 2017 has been doing apparently. I don't like that at all. Finally the last way is for the users to pay for it.
Pick one. I pick the one that maintains my privacy and my eyeballs, paying for the product myself. That is why I want that as an option.
Mozilla is also ded.
Signed ✅