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Mozilla’s reliance on Google is increasing: 90% of 2012 revenue

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Re: Mozilla’s reliance on Google is increasing: 90% of 2012 revenue

#11
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Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet they get solicited all the time but there aren't many ways to make money on a web browser without ruining the user experience.

You could just sell a copy, but hey I guess I'm old fashioned thinking selling a product in exchange for money is better than selling eyeballs to advertisers.

You are old fashioned, even commercial browsers abandoned that strategy years ago.

Re: Mozilla’s reliance on Google is increasing: 90% of 2012 revenue

#12

I am surprised by this. Mozilla is literally pumping out good open source software and no other company except Google is backing them?

Two points:

Mozilla is pumping out mostly user facing open source software, which will probably attract less money than, say, Red Hat.

Also, it's not that no company except Google is backing them. It's that they get a huge amount of money from their search box - currently paid by Google. Microsoft might well be happy to become the default and pay just as much.

Re: Mozilla’s reliance on Google is increasing: 90% of 2012 revenue

#13

I'm so sick of this argument about Mozilla. It is like saying a Principal Engineer at Microsoft relies on Microsof because it provides 90% of his income. Last time Mozilla's contract was up for negotiation, they caused bidding war that increased their value over the previous contract...it wasn't Google's generosity. You are a fool if you think Mozilla is beholden to Google.

Or just ignorant, like me. Thanks for the info.

Re: Mozilla’s reliance on Google is increasing: 90% of 2012 revenue

#14
what other options exist for funding this organization ?

If I were to brainstorm, I would recommend that Mozilla folks start go after enterprise market; almost every bank I have consulted for uses awful and poorly made GUI application using Swing or C# and most are struggling with Mobile. Since Mozilla is crossplatform and secure , I do think there is opportunity to offer training and support for customizing and hardening Firefox for enterprise business applications.

Re: Mozilla’s reliance on Google is increasing: 90% of 2012 revenue

#15
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If I were at Mozilla my #1 priority would be fixing this situation. Google has been less and less "not evil" lately, and this is not a position that I'd feel comfortable in long term. Alternative revenue models are needed. Unfortunately, reducing costs is probably also necessary.

As long as Firefox has good marketshare Google will want to be its default search engine.

And if they ever don't, Microsoft would love the opportunity to take that market.

Re: Mozilla’s reliance on Google is increasing: 90% of 2012 revenue

#16
post #12

I am surprised by this. Mozilla is literally pumping out good open source software and no other company except Google is backing them?

Two points: Mozilla is pumping out mostly user facing open source software, which will probably attract less money than, say, Red Hat. Also, it's not that no company except Google is backing them. It's that they get a huge amount of money from their search box - currently paid by Google. Microsoft might well be happy to become the default and pay just as much.

Mozilla works on some services too.

Re: Mozilla’s reliance on Google is increasing: 90% of 2012 revenue

#17
post #10
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet they get solicited all the time but there aren't many ways to make money on a web browser without ruining the user experience.

You could just sell a copy, but hey I guess I'm old fashioned thinking selling a product in exchange for money is better than selling eyeballs to advertisers.

It's pretty hard to that and keep the project open-source. If you don't keep it open-source, the amount of bugs to fix will overwhelm you and it will be just a failure.

Re: Mozilla’s reliance on Google is increasing: 90% of 2012 revenue

#19
post #16
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two points: Mozilla is pumping out mostly user facing open source software, which will probably attract less money than, say, Red Hat. Also, it's not that no company except Google is backing them. It's that they get a huge amount of money from their search box - currently paid by Google. Microsoft might well be happy to become the default and pay just as much.

Mozilla works on some services too.

For instance, Mozilla Persona is a simple sign-in solution for the web. Learn more at https://www.mozilla.org/persona/

Edit 3: Fixed link for international readers

Re: Mozilla’s reliance on Google is increasing: 90% of 2012 revenue

#20
post #11
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could just sell a copy, but hey I guess I'm old fashioned thinking selling a product in exchange for money is better than selling eyeballs to advertisers.

You are old fashioned, even commercial browsers abandoned that strategy years ago.

Out of curiosity, has anyone tried that strategy with any success post-Opera? They're the last I remember to sell significant numbers of copies of a browser. Depending on how you count, that ended in either 2000 (when they introduced a free ad-supported version, though you could still pay for a registered, ad-free version), or 2005 (when the paid version was phased out entirely).
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