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Firefox Was Always Enough

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Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#31

Post by D13Fd »

etempleton wrote: post #2

I will make the same comment I made on another post regarding Firefox and Mozilla: a few tips from from no one: 1. Rewrite the Mozilla mission statement. I read that and have no idea what your organization does. Mission statements seem like corporate naval gazing, but if it is honest and well written it keeps everyone focused on what you are working towards. 2. Refocus on Firefox R&D and core technologies - Firefox n…

I agree with your numbers 1 and 2.

But I couldn't disagree more with number 3. Thunderbird is always going to be a niche product with a much smaller potential user base than Firefox.

More or less every corporation and every individual user out there is a potential consumer of Firefox--every single one who uses the web.

Thunderbird? Not so much. Many consumers prefer web-based e-mail clients or e-mail clients tied directly to the e-mail platform they are using (Gmail, Outlook.com, etc.). And Thunderbird is never going to replace Outlook for corporate mail. Thunderbird is only useful when you want a generic feature set, and it mostly competes with other niche mail clients.

Basically, every dollar invested in Thunderbird is a dollar that could be better spent on Firefox (or MDN). If anything, they should spin off development of Thunderbird into a separate company with its own independent funding structure.

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#32

Post by kozhevnikov »

bzb6 wrote: post #13
SimeVidas wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about a @firefox.com webmail service. I’d pay for it.

Way to devalue the brand. Would be like Google giving away @google.com addresses.

In countries where GMail is/was a pre-existing trademark Google is/was giving away @googlemail.com, didn't seem to devalue the brand.

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#33

Post by GordonS »

Miraste wrote: post #7
etempleton wrote: post #2

I will make the same comment I made on another post regarding Firefox and Mozilla: a few tips from from no one: 1. Rewrite the Mozilla mission statement. I read that and have no idea what your organization does. Mission statements seem like corporate naval gazing, but if it is honest and well written it keeps everyone focused on what you are working towards. 2. Refocus on Firefox R&D and core technologies - Firefox n…

> 3. Invest more in Thunderbird the application and develop Thunderbird the privacy focus email service for independent professionals and small businesses. I know Mozilla's non-Firefox projects aren't popular here, but if Thunderbird really wanted a niche in the business world Mozilla would need to start an email service to go with it. The age of non-integrated email clients for the average user ended a while ago.

I think you're spot on here. The only people using desktop mail clients are techies with multiple accounts (such as us HN users), and business users (who all use Outlook).

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#34

Post by yabatopia »

Miraste wrote: post #7
etempleton wrote: post #2

I will make the same comment I made on another post regarding Firefox and Mozilla: a few tips from from no one: 1. Rewrite the Mozilla mission statement. I read that and have no idea what your organization does. Mission statements seem like corporate naval gazing, but if it is honest and well written it keeps everyone focused on what you are working towards. 2. Refocus on Firefox R&D and core technologies - Firefox n…

> 3. Invest more in Thunderbird the application and develop Thunderbird the privacy focus email service for independent professionals and small businesses. I know Mozilla's non-Firefox projects aren't popular here, but if Thunderbird really wanted a niche in the business world Mozilla would need to start an email service to go with it. The age of non-integrated email clients for the average user ended a while ago.

Agree. Mozilla should focus more on online services, nicely integrated in the browser. Online email, password management, vpn services, file storage and sharing, ... All privacy focused and with paid offerings, to make them more independent from Google.

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#35

Post by pushrax »

bzb6 wrote: post #13
SimeVidas wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about a @firefox.com webmail service. I’d pay for it.

Way to devalue the brand. Would be like Google giving away @google.com addresses.

The parallel there would be giving away @mozilla.org addresses. @firefox.com to me feels somewhere closer to @gmail.com, both being products, not companies.

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#36

Post by bzb6 »

kozhevnikov wrote: post #32
bzb6 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Way to devalue the brand. Would be like Google giving away @google.com addresses.

In countries where GMail is/was a pre-existing trademark Google is/was giving away @googlemail.com, didn't seem to devalue the brand.

I’m not against that. They could sell @firefoxmail.com addresses

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#37

Post by thefrog »

eplanit wrote: post #12

" remember when Brendan Eich was briefly the Mozilla CEO." Odd phrasing that glosses over how he was ousted by the early days "woke" mob (before they self-identified as such).

Sad this is getting downvoted, as you speak only the truth.

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#38

Post by kibwen »

Scarbutt wrote: post #9

Firefox lacks in the default UX area, just from the top of my head: Print to PDF is better in Chrome, comes with a preview. Search marks matches in the scroll bar. Opening a recently closed tab opens a new tab in Chrome instead of replacing the existing one. There were probably 5-10 more annoyances in Firefox for me that I don't recall right now. Maybe it was my familiarity with Chrome but overall I still think Chrom…

> Opening a recently closed tab opens a new tab in Chrome instead of replacing the existing one.

Hm? I reopen closed tabs all the time in Firefox and have never encountered this. They open in a new tab. Maybe you changed an about:config pref?

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#39

Post by leadingthenet »

yummypaint wrote: post #19
etempleton wrote: post #2

I will make the same comment I made on another post regarding Firefox and Mozilla: a few tips from from no one: 1. Rewrite the Mozilla mission statement. I read that and have no idea what your organization does. Mission statements seem like corporate naval gazing, but if it is honest and well written it keeps everyone focused on what you are working towards. 2. Refocus on Firefox R&D and core technologies - Firefox n…

Firefox is already the best browser and has been for a long time. The problem is that most laypeople don't even know it exists. Combined with dark patterns used by microsoft and google to steer users toward their own browsers, it's an uphill battle. I'll stick firefox and appropriate extensions on a friends computer so they can watch youtube etc completely ad free, which is a major tangible QOL improvement, but then…

It's definitely not the best browser on macOS.

Re: Firefox Was Always Enough

#40

Post by soniman »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #4

I dont think I understood the point about mozilla wanting to influence the web being bad for firefox. Particlulalry if having lots of users is how you influence things, since then you need to provide a good product (or lock users in via some external ecosystem). Maybe some recent EU legislation moves can help them in the same way the browser choice thing helped.

The point is that the if you do x for the sake of y, then you really don't care about x, and x will suffer as a result.
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