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Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

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Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#81

Post by daptaq »

Adrig wrote: post #34

Meh, the feature is easily deactivable, the settings are clear and extensive. As far as ads go, it's one of the best implementations. Firefox still has no alternative in the privacy / user-centric space (don't mention Brave, I'm gonna get mad). Mozilla has done a lot for the web, I can give them some slack for exploring different revenue models. Still, I'm going to keep on eye for this kind of practices in the future…

Knowing Mozilla, the option will be changed and renamed every version and will have to be re-enabled manually again and again.

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#82

Post by 57844743385 »

tokai wrote: post #55
57844743385 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s wrong with paying market rates for a CEO? Do you think they should find a CEO below market rates? Have you donated money to Mozilla or Wikipedia?

> What’s wrong with paying market rates for a CEO? The rates have bubbled, and do not reflect the value CEO's provides for their organisations. > Do you think they should find a CEO below market rates? Yes. A dedicated person, at home - in a bathrobe, approving code merges would do.

Right. So a company with 750 employees should be run at discount rates by someone sitting in a bathrobe in their kitchen .

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#84

Post by AegirLeet »

Certhas wrote: post #56
AegirLeet wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it really sucks. I've been using Firefox for 15 years or so but this shit is just so discouraging. Can't we have one piece of good software that doesn't try to shove "relevant" "suggestions" from "trusted" "partners" down our throats? I just want a browser that isn't controlled by the ad mafia.

A browser is expensive. Currently Firefox is funded (though not controlled) by Google's Ad business. I am all for them reducing their reliance on Google's Ad business. In this sense this is a step _towards_ what you want. I really really dislike them double speaking about this though.

Reducing reliance on Google by partnering up with a different ad company instead. What good does that do? I don't want ads anywhere near my browser.

Here's what I'd really like them to do:

* Stop paying out millions to execs

* Focus more on Firefox instead of other side projects

* Let me pay for Firefox development directly

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#85

Post by exar0815 »

By the love of all thats holy, I still don't understand how the development of an entire operating system can be reasonably coordinated by a (admittably singlularly competent) sole finnish guy in a bathrobe from home, while a comparably simple webbrowser needs a foundation, a company, a ceo, a code of conduct, all those outreach and social-action programmes etc... Or maybe, is all that cesspool of ineffectiveness and virtue-signaling the product and the webbrowser just the cashcow and the name at this point?

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#86

Post by worble »

vitro wrote: post #20
closewith wrote: post #8

Is it time to fork Firefox under a browser-focused organisation? I wish I could donate directly towards the development of Firefox to avoid this kind of deterioration, without funding Mozilla at all.

Yep, same with Thunderbird. I'd like to donate directly to the development of those, but it is not possible, AFAIK.

You can donate directly to Thunderbird

https://give.thunderbird.net/

From the FAQ:

>How will my gift be used?

>Thunderbird is the leading open source cross-platform email and calendaring client, free for business and personal use. Your gift will help ensure it stays that way, and will support future development.

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#87

Post by fguerraz »

Vinnl wrote: post #61
dmitrij wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me pay for Firefox, please!

You can pay for Mozilla VPN, which goes to the Corporation: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/products/vpn/#pricing

It mostly goes to Mullvad though (which is great company) and to developing the client.

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#88

Post by blippage »

sva_ wrote: post #2

I've been looking for an alternative recently anyways. Haven't quite found the right catch yet. Sad to surrender to Chromium after all these years, but Firefox seems to get worse and worse.

I've used Dillo. It's amazing how snappy a browser can be. Alas, it's an impractical browser to use, as most sites require JavaScript.

The real problem is websites, ever-increasing the capabilities of browsers. If that went away then the whole problem of choosing a browser would be solved.

All browsers are capable of rendering vanilla HTML, and even graphics, so there's usually very little need for JavaScript. There's always the option of processing dynamic content on the backend.

I heard that Google Maps originally spat out pages that were in the region of a few 10's of kb. Imagine that!

We live in curious times. Engineers used to design for simplicity, now we seem to just sling more mud onto the pile. It's also curious that environmentalism is such a hot-button topic these days, yet manufacturers are pushing out stuff that makes it harder to repair.

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#89

Post by callahad »

skywal_l wrote: post #69
Certhas wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A browser is expensive. Currently Firefox is funded (though not controlled) by Google's Ad business. I am all for them reducing their reliance on Google's Ad business. In this sense this is a step _towards_ what you want. I really really dislike them double speaking about this though.

Is there a way to know how the Mozilla Foundation spend its money? They've stopped updating this page[0] in 2019. Maybe a way to rely less on Google and "trusted partners" money is just to spend less. [1] https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/who-we-are/public-records/

They've not stopped updating that page; it just takes longer than you would otherwise expect to get final numbers, prepare the reports, run them past auditors, etc. The 2019 statements were published in October of 2020, so I'd expect the 2020 numbers some time this month.

It's also worth noting that there is a strict separation between the Mozilla Foundation (the tax exempt non-profit) and Mozilla Corporation (the wholly owned, for-profit subsidiary which builds Firefox). The Foundation is not directly involved in the creation of Firefox.

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#90

Post by strogonoff »

…In which Mozilla buys into the two-sided market craze and starts exploiting its users for ad money.

And here I was hoping that the industry would start recognizing the poison of this business model, exemplified by FB. Instead, we see it spread. (And, notably, in case of Firefox is no overwhelming network effect or potential for user lock-in, unlike with Facebook et al.; so this seems obviously, possibly intentionally short-sighted.)

Meanwhile, Firefox could have been such an opportunity to deliver the first actually paid product in the market, and to use direct revenue to make it superior and keep aligned with paying customers’ interests. Such a waste of reputation, which would’ve made this so much easier to pull off.

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