I really wouldn't mind paying for Firefox. Why can't I pay for not having ads?
Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions
591–600 of 721 posts
Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions
#592Earlier quoted context omitted.
Remember Mozilla is ultimately a non profit and must spend a healthy percentage of their income every year. Mozilla is just representing the collective self interest of those it employs. People wanting to keep their cushy job.
"Mozilla" isn't a non-profit. Mozilla, as such, isn't a thing. Mozilla Corporation (which is where your donations go - you can't donate to Firefox as such) is a taxable, profit-making company. Mozilla Foundation wholly owns Mozilla Corporation, and is a non-profit. But you can't donate to Mozilla Foundation. (I don't know how you can be a non-profit that wholly owns a profit-making corporation; I'm not an accountant,…
Donations go to the Foundation, not the Corporation: https://donate.mozilla.org
Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions
#593Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 wh…
The non-profit Foundation is wholly-owned by the profit-making Corporation.
I have no idea how that works.
[Edited, because I got it 180deg arse-over-tit]
Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions
#594Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have a source showing the vast majority of revenue goes to leadership? In 2018, the CEO’s salary equaled 0.64% of revenue. Before we discuss whether that is right or wrong, we should at least agree on a set of facts. https://itdm.com/mozilla-firefox-usage-down-85-but-why-are-e...
they generally get more then 400 million yearly revenue, though there was one outlier with over 800 million. this is money they generally don't have to pay taxes on because of their status as a non-profit. mozilla employs at the moment around 800 people. according to their FAQ > https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2015/f... > More than 75% of Mozilla spending is on people-related investments to prod…
Mozilla Corporation is a for profit subsidiary of the non profit Mozilla Foundation.
A common rule of thumb is employees cost a company 2x salary.
The 2019 combined financial statements show $210 million for program salaries and benefits. Management and general salaries and benefits were $109 million.[1] Program means software development basically.[2]
[1] https://assets.mozilla.net/annualreport/2019/mozilla-fdn-201...
[2] https://assets.mozilla.net/annualreport/2019/mozilla-fdn-201...
Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions
#595Earlier quoted context omitted.
Worst thing is that every single time they do this kind of bullshit, they do it without asking for opt-in and enable it sneakily by default. Absolutely the worst.
The blog seems pretty clear they will be asking for permission? Tho not in the best way, I feel, but at least this is opt-in?
I just checked, and it is on by default for me, too.
Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions
#596Earlier quoted context omitted.
Outsider here: whats wrong with brave? I haven’t touched it but have no reason to distrust it, happy for you to change that for me though
Brave's business model is based on crypto-speculation. Think of the type of business involved with that, and there's your answer.
No? They sell ad space, people buy ad space. Brave shows you ads, gets paid and keeps a cut from that payment, they give their users a cut from that payment.
Brave has a tipping service which lets users tip sites they like. End result is advertisers can advertise, and people making content get some of the ad money, the setup's just built to not track people.
They're very straightforwardly ad salesmen like every other browser out there, they've just tried to build an ad ecosystem that doesn't track users.
Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions
#597Meh, 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…
>easily deactivable Each time I install Firefox, I end up wasting a non-trivial amount of time carefully working my way through the settings in order to disable the pile of defaults that are as 'easy' to deactivate as they are infuriating. When updating the browser, some of these changes get rolled back, and some of them become more difficult to adjust, either by being removed from the options menu, or by being obscu…
>Ever noticed how forced automatic updates in software get pushed by security fanaticism, but mostly exist to steal your data and ruin your day while they're at it?)
Would you mind expanding on this one so I can better understand what you mean?
I'm guessing the "ruin your day" part is that you have to interrupt your workflow for some minutes? But it's not entirely clear to me how automatic updates "mostly exist to steal your data" -- excepting software which is already stealing your data anyways (so I don't understand how automatic updates factor in). Does manually updating somehow protect your data from being stolen in a way that automatic updates don't? Or you just don't update?
Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions
#598Stupid question, but with FF being open source, would it be possible to provide alternative builds without much of the recent bullshit? It seems the browser gets more and more useless or user-hostile "features" with every new version.
Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions
#599I stuck with Firefox when Chrome stormed the market with a faster browser. Mozilla has had a highly respected name. I'm not so convinced about that anymore... For me the core values of the browser are: - free software, open source, as in freedom - independent (mozilla is weak here) - developer friendly, good debugging/dev interface (they are slowly losing here) - keeping up with web standards, letting me play with pr…
I guess you can use chromium browser (https://www.chromium.org/) ?
Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions
#600Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Firefox gets hundreds of millions from Google alone in royalties, that is not enough to build a web browser? Empirically, it is not. Even Microsoft gave up that chase. Browsers are staggeringly complex and expensive to build. Which may be an indictment of the Web itself, but in the absence of a simpler alternative (Gemini?), the Web we have is the Web we've got, and browsers have to meet it where it is.
But the Web we have is not a monolith. If freedom/ethics/privacy/etc. are important to a browser user, they should realize that there's a subset of the Web that they need, and one they can do without. "I need to be able to discover and consume every work in every medium from everyone immediately and have it be secure and efficient" is the unspoken mindset that enables this kind of decay in the browser world. Essentia…
There is no need to "do without". Firefox should adversarially interoperate with the web.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/adversarial-interopera...
Today that means it should actively subvert the business interests of the web. Advertisers want to show ads? Block them and make no exceptions. Surveillance capitalists want data? Give them fake data or no data at all whenever possible. Sites start detecting Firefox? Start pretending to be Chrome.
It doesn't matter what these companies want or need. Firefox needs to take the user's side every single time. This arms race is absolutely necessary. Firefox needs to be a true user agent. If it ever stops being one, it's over for Mozilla.