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Mozilla will reportedly launch a paid version of Firefox this fall

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Re: Mozilla will reportedly launch a paid version of Firefox this fall

#21

Post by headsoup »

hajxg wrote: post #16
HugoDaniel wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The logic here is that Google will never send/sell your data to third parties ? How do you think Facebook et al gets a hold of your google data ? How do you think companies like Cambridge Analytica thrive ? I am genuinely curious to know what your view of the world on these topics is and why are you so insistently (and apparently naively) defending google in this regard.

I said Firefox is bad at protecting my privacy. Someone compared Mozilla to Google, so I said that even Google is better. In other words I'm not defending Google, I'm saying Mozilla is even worse. I despise Google, too. What's your proof that Google gives your data to Facebook? That doesn't sound right. On the other hand, I showed proof that Mozilla gives your personal data (list of URLs you visit, no less!) to a thi…

Are you hoping people don't read the article you linked or do you not understand the approach Mozilla used?

The data is not used to identify the user by building a profile and the source IP is removed on collection. Now of course there's a level of trust required in them doing what they say, but this is nowhere near Google et al's levels of data hoarding and reselling anyway.

Re: Mozilla will reportedly launch a paid version of Firefox this fall

#22

Post by miohtama »

hajxg wrote: post #2

If it's a paid version of Firefox this means it will respect our privacy by having no telemetry, no remote code execution via Normandy, etc, or will it be the same thing in that regard?

Would privacy oriented use pay for anything in the first place? Based on my experience they are quite a tough audience to sell any products. No enterprise sales, and the small privacy oriented userbase usually has less disposable income.

As far as I understood Firefox is already very pro privacy and, unlike some competition, telemetry and others must be explicit opt-ins from the users.

Where the paid offering would shine is the bundled services: password manager, notification center, etc. All those features already there, but having a sustainable business model around them. Though not sure how free offering vs. paid offering can be discriminated so that the latter is attractive.

Re: Mozilla will reportedly launch a paid version of Firefox this fall

#24

Post by libeclipse »

A centralized VPN solution for all users is a terrible idea, and what is "secure cloud storage" going to offer that Dropbox doesn't?

I understand that developing a browser is expensive work and Mozilla need money to do it. I support them in this effort. But honestly no ones gonna buy this

Re: Mozilla will reportedly launch a paid version of Firefox this fall

#25

Post by weinzierl »

I'd be happy to pay for Firefox, but I have a few points that are important to me. They are probably not very realistic but here they are anyway:

1. I would like my money to go into Firefox development and nowhere else.

I certainly don't want my money spent on their content business, even if it is used as a leverage to generate more money for Firefox development. I'm torn about Rust development because I certainly would love to see Rust flourish, but if we allow the money go into personally preferred projects it becomes hard to draw the line.

2. I would like a Firefox with absolutely no strings attached.

- No Pocket, not even a trace of it. The proper place for Pocket is a plugin.

- No experiments, labs or whatever they call it (see Mr. Robot for an example)

- No network connections to third party hosts as long I haven't explicitly opted in.

- Safe search off by default

- No predefined search engines

- No predefined start page

3. I would like Mozilla (as a whole and not only the Firefox branch) to be more careful with the selection of their businesses partners.

I'm am not aiming at their co-operations with Google, Yandex and the like, which are OK for me. At least as long as my points from above are respected. Specifically I'm OK if the free version of Firefox continues to be sponsored mainly by Google. I'm not OK with business deals of the kind they had with Cliqz for example.

4. I would like to be able to pay without having to be logged into a Firefox account.

This is actually davidhyde's idea from another thread [1] but I added it here because I fully agree.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20144726

Re: Mozilla will reportedly launch a paid version of Firefox this fall

#27

Post by Millennium »

nexuist wrote: post #23
jasonhansel wrote: post #18

As long as it's all FOSS, this sounds like an excellent idea. I'd gladly pay for Mozilla to stop being beholden to Google.

Is it still FOSS if it's paid?

As long as all of the source is available under FOSS licenses, yes. Free as in speech, not free as in beer, remember?

Question is, will Mozilla actually stick to that? What the paid features also be open-source, at least to whatever extent the concept of source code applies?

Re: Mozilla will reportedly launch a paid version of Firefox this fall

#29

Post by t0t4lnoo3 »

headsoup wrote: post #17
t0t4lnoo3 wrote: post #15

This is really scary. I keep getting messages from friends I converted to Signal, asking me to go back to WhatsApp since Facebook has a deal with their providers to not charge WhatsApp data. Now picture those able to afford their first mobile plan, they don’t have disposable income, they don’t have the option to pay for Firefox, I’m afraid this will drive people to use Google even more.

It's a paid premium service, the free version will still be there. People need to also stop thinking free internet services are genuinely free. Pay for things that provide value and if it's free, ask what value is in it for the provider instead.

I’m referring to those with no money to pay for anything, no wifi at home, no computer, their mobile phone is the first chance to access the web, so they are 100% on Android which already comes with Chrome.

Chances are very small they will download a new browser (they don’t have much data to download stuff) even if it’s free. But once the word gets out that you have to pay for Firefox, it won’t matter if the free version is still there or if it’s as good as the paid one, Google broadcasts a louder message that it’s definitely free.

Re: Mozilla will reportedly launch a paid version of Firefox this fall

#30

Post by boudin »

weinzierl wrote: post #25

I'd be happy to pay for Firefox, but I have a few points that are important to me. They are probably not very realistic but here they are anyway: 1. I would like my money to go into Firefox development and nowhere else. I certainly don't want my money spent on their content business, even if it is used as a leverage to generate more money for Firefox development. I'm torn about Rust development because I certainly wo…

Yes, I couldn't agree more. I'm a Firefox user, never switched to chrome because I always had concerned with it. If this an attempt to switch the business model and become independent from search engines, it needs to do it properly. If it's the case, I would be a happily paying as, as much as I'm not fond of some of the decisions made by Mozilla like pocket or labs as you mentioned, it's the only browser I feel I can use without spitting on my beliefs.
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