This was really well written because I have zero knowledge of this entire subject matter and I could comprehend the situation. I force myself to read tech articles because from my vantage point, growing up in the late 50’s, it all seems like science fiction. It’s like Dick Tracy and the Jetson’s are real!
I’m with you, Pegeen. I’m always learning something new on Readup about the tech world. I’d heard of Mozilla but had no idea what it was. I also had never heard of Qanon till a Readup article. Now it’s unfortunately making national news with one of its cult winning an election in Georgia!
Ha! I'm an older Millennial and I can't keep up. Although now I'm thinking not keeping up has its advantages as I never got on twitter, instagram, or most other social media platforms.
A sad situation, but an understandable choice too.
senior management of the Mozilla Corporation seem very attached to the idea of software being a “force multiplier” for the Mozilla Foundation’s efforts, supplementing advocacy efforts by creating software that implements the public benefit ideals of the nonprofit.
Advocacy was the original mission of the Foundation, by dropping Firefox they would lose a lot of reach and credibility for that advocacy.
Another out there scenario: Firefox (Mozilla Corp) moves back into the Foundation, becoming more insistently donation-based (like Wikipedia, with ~110 million revenue in 2019 and ~90% coming from donations). It might not work, but it would align the revenue model more with their values. Even more out there: the EU allocates some of its income from GDPR/internet antitrust fines (e.g. 5 billion from Google) to an "internet rights" fund that the Mozilla Foundation could then appeal to.
Damn, this is a bleak outlook. I'd hate to see Firefox turn in to a shell of its former self like Opera. This article was very helpful for understanding the differences between the Mozilla Foundation and the Mozilla Corporation and how they fit together. I remember being totally shocked when I first learned how much Google was paying to be the default search provider in Firefox. I hope they can figure out a more sustainable business model.
True, for me this was also an unsettling discovery. Firefox has been positioned increasingly as the for-privacy browser choice, using the Mozilla Foundations' reputation of independence as an argument for trust. However, if their activities stand and fall at the mercy of Google, this independence is questionable.
That said, cutting out Firefox would be a loss for the open internet. Even if Firefox doesn't always match Chrome in performance or features, they do represent the consumers' interest in the future of the web. A recent example is how Firefox didn't blindly accept Google's new v3 standard for Web Extensions, but kept an eye out for user freedom. It's remarkable actually how Mozilla has been able to operate like that for years, with the only for-profit concession being the search engine defaults!
It is looking rather bleak... However, there is one thing that none of these articles seem to mention: Mozilla just finished their biggest project since Quantum; Fenix, their new built-from-scratch browser for Android that can finally match Chrome in performance. Truth is they probably don't need as many developers now as they did last month, and hopefully they won't be needing to scale up that much for many years, which means the company can survive on a lower income for the foreseeable future.
There will always be a core of enthusiastic Firefox users, but a lot of them switch their search engine to something other than Google, run ad blockers, and don’t click on online ads. Thus they are for the most part irrelevant from Google’s point of view.
Interesting, would love to do more to support Mozilla and/or really just any service that isn't Google. Sad to see Mozilla may not make it, as we have another tech company falling to Google.
This was really well written because I have zero knowledge of this entire subject matter and I could comprehend the situation. I force myself to read tech articles because from my vantage point, growing up in the late 50’s, it all seems like science fiction. It’s like Dick Tracy and the Jetson’s are real!
I’m with you, Pegeen. I’m always learning something new on Readup about the tech world. I’d heard of Mozilla but had no idea what it was. I also had never heard of Qanon till a Readup article. Now it’s unfortunately making national news with one of its cult winning an election in Georgia!
Ha! I'm an older Millennial and I can't keep up. Although now I'm thinking not keeping up has its advantages as I never got on twitter, instagram, or most other social media platforms.
Thanks, makes me feel less ancient! Amazing you have not joined the other platforms. Glad you are on this one!
A sad situation, but an understandable choice too.
Advocacy was the original mission of the Foundation, by dropping Firefox they would lose a lot of reach and credibility for that advocacy.
Another out there scenario: Firefox (Mozilla Corp) moves back into the Foundation, becoming more insistently donation-based (like Wikipedia, with ~110 million revenue in 2019 and ~90% coming from donations). It might not work, but it would align the revenue model more with their values. Even more out there: the EU allocates some of its income from GDPR/internet antitrust fines (e.g. 5 billion from Google) to an "internet rights" fund that the Mozilla Foundation could then appeal to.
Damn, this is a bleak outlook. I'd hate to see Firefox turn in to a shell of its former self like Opera. This article was very helpful for understanding the differences between the Mozilla Foundation and the Mozilla Corporation and how they fit together. I remember being totally shocked when I first learned how much Google was paying to be the default search provider in Firefox. I hope they can figure out a more sustainable business model.
True, for me this was also an unsettling discovery. Firefox has been positioned increasingly as the for-privacy browser choice, using the Mozilla Foundations' reputation of independence as an argument for trust. However, if their activities stand and fall at the mercy of Google, this independence is questionable.
That said, cutting out Firefox would be a loss for the open internet. Even if Firefox doesn't always match Chrome in performance or features, they do represent the consumers' interest in the future of the web. A recent example is how Firefox didn't blindly accept Google's new v3 standard for Web Extensions, but kept an eye out for user freedom. It's remarkable actually how Mozilla has been able to operate like that for years, with the only for-profit concession being the search engine defaults!
It is looking rather bleak... However, there is one thing that none of these articles seem to mention: Mozilla just finished their biggest project since Quantum; Fenix, their new built-from-scratch browser for Android that can finally match Chrome in performance. Truth is they probably don't need as many developers now as they did last month, and hopefully they won't be needing to scale up that much for many years, which means the company can survive on a lower income for the foreseeable future.
Interesting, would love to do more to support Mozilla and/or really just any service that isn't Google. Sad to see Mozilla may not make it, as we have another tech company falling to Google.
Ouch, I knew there were problems, but not how severe they are. I use Firefox and Chrome both, I'd miss either one of them badly.