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submitted 1 year ago by golden_zealot@lemmy.ml to c/firefox@lemmy.ml
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[-] modulus@lemmy.ml 57 points 1 year ago

I kept giving Mozilla the benefit of the doubt and telling myself things weren't so bad.

I was wrong.

I'll continue using Firefox because it's the least bad option, but I can't advocate for it in good faith anymore, and I don't expect it to last long with this orientation.

So it goes.

[-] Redex68@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

Ok sure, what do you want them to do instead then? 80% of their income is reliant on a tech giant's grace and is seemingly more and more likely to be cutoff soon. They need to survive somehow, and every monetised service they tried flopped thusfar.

[-] doleo@lemmy.one 19 points 1 year ago

How about not have a multi-million-dollar-costing CEO? Seems a bit rich (pun intended) for a supposed non-profit org.

[-] LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah I'm not defending that but CEO pay only rounds to like 1% of their total expenditures. Developing a browser is expensive.

[-] doleo@lemmy.one 8 points 1 year ago

only 1%? That's about on par with a fortune 500 company, which supposedly Mozilla is not.

[-] tux0r@feddit.org 6 points 1 year ago

What makes you think that developing a free web browser needs to grant anyone any income?

[-] Metz@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

Do you think developers don't have to eat? or pay rent? And donations alone do not cut it.

[-] tux0r@feddit.org 5 points 1 year ago

Being a developer myself (with no ads in his software), I don’t think you understand my point. The software I write in my free time does not pay my bills. That’s why I also have an actual job.

[-] Metz@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You are aware that there are full-time developers working at Mozilla, yes? Developing a browser is not a hobby-project that you can pull off with some volunteers in their free time. You need professionals that work on such a giant project with their full attention.

Developing Firefox is their job. And of course they want to get paid for that (and deserve it). Just like you get paid for your actual job.

[-] tux0r@feddit.org 4 points 1 year ago

(and deserve it)

Please enlighten me: how do they deserve to be paid for a non-profit product?

[-] Metz@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

How does someone deserve to be paid for work done? Is that your question?

Is this some kind of pathetic troll attempt?

I will not reward that with further attention.

[-] tux0r@feddit.org 3 points 1 year ago

There is exactly no single reason to make this personal. What I meant is that writing a free piece of software does not necessarily have to be paid work. A variety of popular software tools, including a few web browsers, by the way, is written and maintained in the developers’ free time.

“Doing stuff” is not the same thing as “doing paid work”.

[-] Blisterexe@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 year ago

You simply cannot have a project the size of firefox without paid employees, why do you think chromium, webkit and gecko are the only three webengines

[-] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

What's making it personal?

Stop being a sophist, you'll have more meaningful conversations.

[-] nitefox@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 year ago

Non profit means their earnings must match their expenses or be used to actually improve the product/service, not that they earn nothing at all

[-] abbenm@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago

Non-profit doesn't mean that there's no employees. They're still organizations that have a cash flow, seek to raise funds, and employ people to serve their mission. Most non-profits have paid employees.

[-] prole 8 points 1 year ago

People who work at non-profits aren't volunteering.

[-] hangonasecond@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Non profit does not mean what you think it means

Ideas:

  • directly ask for donations, and actually use those donations to fund browser development
  • build an add-on to pay sites instead of seeing ads - Mozilla could take a cut here
  • push harder on existing, optional add-ons that generate revenue, like their VPN

But the article here reads like, "we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas. Have ads..."

[-] Joeffect@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I could see them trying to take themselves away from Google which wouldn't be a bad thing as that's where most of the money comes from for them ... Unless that's changed recently..

[-] GetOffMyLan@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago

I'm afraid it won't last long without it. That's the key problem.

People hate ads, as do I, but what's the alternative?

[-] doubtingtammy@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

Pay executives less. Focus on grants and PBS-style 'underwriting'. Subscription services like email and VPN.

Getting into advertising is just jumping into an intractable conflict of interest.

[-] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago
[-] GetOffMyLan@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago

People need money mate. Not everyone can afford to run a website.

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Ideas:

  • donations - these need to actually go toward Firefox development, they don't, so I don't donate
  • paid services (e.g. their white-labeled VPN, they could also white-label Tuta or Proton services)
  • and add-on that pays sites to not see ads (my preference)
  • funding of privacy-oriented startups - they have something like this, so do more of it
this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2024
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