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Before blindly jumping on Firefox bandwagon, think about the fact that Firefox exists only in shape and form Google lets it, as it contributes almost all (as in

Before blindly jumping on Firefox bandwagon, think about the fact that Firefox exists only in shape and form Google lets it, as it contributes almost all (as in >90%) of Mozilla’s revenue through the search affiliation deal. Believing that an entity sponsored by Google will save us from Google dominance is paradoxical. Instead how about finding a different businesses model for browsers like a premium browser that would truly allow it to be independent.

doliveira 6y ago
There is value in the indirection, though: Mozilla acts mostly independently.
- freediver 6y ago
  In the same way politicians act mostly independently.
em-bee 6y ago
that may be so (although i thought that firefox has diversified recently and doesn't depend as much on google anymore) but: who else is going to do it? firefox still has the best chance. the more popular firefox gets the easier it should be to get alternate funding. a premium browser would not sell. browsers are like operating systems. they only provide value through the content snd applications they enable. browsers are no longer interesting in themselves. noone actually cares. the only thing that matters is, how many websites are not broken. that's why edge is building on chrome. it's the only way to ensure that they stop breaking websites. brave has an interesting business model (and i am not saying i like it) by motivating its users to pay for content and taking a cut.
omnimus 6y ago
Will Google renew the deal? It seems to me that mozilla is trying to move the "premium" direction you are suggesting. They are building services that could be monetized. But it might fail pretty hard because it's pretty different model.
nikitaga 6y ago
Google paying Mozilla hundreds of millions of dollars isn't exactly a charity. Google care very much about the complete and utter ubiquity of their search. Using Firefox more will put Mozilla in a stronger position to negotiate a better deal, whether with Google or someone else. Worst that could happen is Firefox turning into some kind of boutique browser for connoisseurs willing to pay. That's uncompetable. They might be able to raise revenue using other innovative methods eventually, but that won't amount to anything if we aren't using the hell out of their (very good) browser.
- smnthermes 6y ago
  > Google care very much about the complete and utter ubiquity of their search. Google doesn't even need Mozilla to increase/maintain their search market share. When Firefox's default search engine was changed to Yahoo! in the U.S., many users switched back to Google [1]. Also, people who care about privacy use things such as DuckDuckGo anyway. [1] https://searchengineland.com/report-yahoo-search-losing-firefox-users-switchback-google-212472 https://searchengineland.com/report-yahoo-search-losing-fire...

doliveira 6y ago

There is value in the indirection, though: Mozilla acts mostly independently.

freediver 6y ago
In the same way politicians act mostly independently.

em-bee 6y ago

that may be so (although i thought that firefox has diversified recently and doesn't depend as much on google anymore) but: who else is going to do it? firefox still has the best chance. the more popular firefox gets the easier it should be to get alternate funding. a premium browser would not sell. browsers are like operating systems. they only provide value through the content snd applications they enable. browsers are no longer interesting in themselves. noone actually cares. the only thing that matters is, how many websites are not broken. that's why edge is building on chrome. it's the only way to ensure that they stop breaking websites. brave has an interesting business model (and i am not saying i like it) by motivating its users to pay for content and taking a cut.

omnimus 6y ago

Will Google renew the deal? It seems to me that mozilla is trying to move the "premium" direction you are suggesting. They are building services that could be monetized. But it might fail pretty hard because it's pretty different model.

nikitaga 6y ago

Google paying Mozilla hundreds of millions of dollars isn't exactly a charity. Google care very much about the complete and utter ubiquity of their search. Using Firefox more will put Mozilla in a stronger position to negotiate a better deal, whether with Google or someone else. Worst that could happen is Firefox turning into some kind of boutique browser for connoisseurs willing to pay. That's uncompetable. They might be able to raise revenue using other innovative methods eventually, but that won't amount to anything if we aren't using the hell out of their (very good) browser.

smnthermes 6y ago
> Google care very much about the complete and utter ubiquity of their search. Google doesn't even need Mozilla to increase/maintain their search market share. When Firefox's default search engine was changed to Yahoo! in the U.S., many users switched back to Google [1]. Also, people who care about privacy use things such as DuckDuckGo anyway. [1] https://searchengineland.com/report-yahoo-search-losing-firefox-users-switchback-google-212472 https://searchengineland.com/report-yahoo-search-losing-fire...