7 ms·

How much are you willing to pay for a browser?

by eamsen 6y ago

panpanna 6y ago
How did people pay for opera back in the days?
typon 6y ago
For loyalty to Firefox? Probably $10/month.
burkaman 6y ago
I would pay $100 or $5/month or something for Firefox. I don't really understand why they don't have a pay-if-you-want model. I donate to nonprofit news organizations I read even though I can get their news for free, and I pay for a couple Android apps I want to support even though the "premium" versions don't have any meaningful extra features. I'm sure they wouldn't get enough revenue to replace Google's support, but maybe it would make a dent? Why not try it?
- takluyver 6y ago
  They do take donations: https://donate.mozilla.org/ https://donate.mozilla.org/
  - dx87 6y ago
    Donations to the Mozilla Foundation have no guarantee of going to the browser. From their website: > The not-for-profit Mozilla Foundation supports open-source apps, web literacy curriculum, gender equality in tech and more.
  - dblohm7 6y ago
    While donating to Mozilla Foundation is a great cause [1], none of those funds go to funding Mozilla Corporation, and thus Firefox. If you want your funds to go toward MoCo (and thus Firefox development), your best bet is to subscribe to Mozilla VPN or Pocket Premium. [1] https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/initiatives/ https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/initiatives/
    - staktrace 6y ago
      This is a bit of a silly argument, because money is fungible and dollars are dollars. Donating money to the Foundation means less of the Corporation's dollars have to go to supporting the Foundation (Edited to add: which they do via dividend payments), and so more of the Corporation's dollars go to Firefox.
      - dblohm7 6y ago
        I don't disagree with your concept in theory, but I also don't think there is any evidence to suggest that MoCo's trademark royalty payments (as IIRC that's how they are structured according the financial docs) are adjusted based on MoFo's needs. Has that been mentioned in a meeting somewhere?
        staktrace 6y ago
        > Has that been mentioned in a meeting somewhere? Not explicitly, but I do recall meetings where the announcement was along the lines of "we are choosing to make a dividend payment to fund the Foundation work..." which implies some amount of adjustment based on needs.
    - godzillabrennus 6y ago
      The VPN still doesn’t support Mac and costs half as much as it should but I’m a subscriber to support them. We need Mozilla. The VPN is their best way to monetize.
  - burkaman 6y ago
    I do donate to the foundation, but as others have said, that's a separate organization. I guess I could "donate" to Firefox by getting a VPN subscription, but I don't want a VPN and I think that would send the wrong message. I would like to monetarily indicate that I value Firefox specifically.
    - staktrace 6y ago
      Maybe you should contribute to one of the many "fix bugs for money" websites where you can specifically donate money to get bugs in open source products fixed. It's even better because it doesn't have to be a Mozilla employee who does the actual fix.
      - JohnBooty 6y ago
        That's very very cool, but I too would specifically like to pay Mozilla for Firefox. I have been a dedicated user since Phoenix 0.2 and it is near to my heart, my soul, and my profession.
jacquesm 6y ago
Let's turn that around: How much would it cost to run a lean-and-mean Mozilla that just focuses on FireFox? How much does it cost to run an unfocused Mozilla that tries very hard to compete with all those huge platforms out there? It's the latter company that I would not be willing to pay for, the former would have my cash, and more than they would likely expect from one single user. That's because I think that ceding the territory to Chrome/Edge is exactly what we do not need. (oh, and there is of course Safari, but Apple has other problems)
- calcifer 6y ago
  OK, let's play this game: You are now fully in control of Mozilla - projects, finances, it's all on you. How would you turn Firefox into a browser with significant market share in an increasingly mobile world where two competitors control default applications and most users newer change any defaults?
  - CameronNemo 6y ago
    I like this question. Not as a way to argue, but as actual productive discussion. I would work with the LineageOS, Replicant, Ubuntu Touch, postmarketOS, microG, Fairphone, Pinephone, etc. folks to integrate the Gecko engine as much as possible into their offerings. Or at least offer flavors that do so, or prompts to select a browser engine on first boot. If necessary and economical I would pay LOS to ship Firefox by default.
    - ac29 6y ago
      Even if you got 100% of those projects committed to integrating Mozilla technology, you'd have a infinitesimal fraction of the browser market. Furthermore, those users are already probably fairly anti-Google, so it would be preaching to the converted.
      - CameronNemo 6y ago
        You have to start somewhere... and many LOS users do not mind Google. They just want an up to date ROM.

How much are you willing to pay for a browser?

by eamsen 6y ago

How much are you willing to pay for a browser?

panpanna 6y ago

How did people pay for opera back in the days?

typon 6y ago

For loyalty to Firefox? Probably $10/month.

burkaman 6y ago

I would pay $100 or $5/month or something for Firefox. I don't really understand why they don't have a pay-if-you-want model. I donate to nonprofit news organizations I read even though I can get their news for free, and I pay for a couple Android apps I want to support even though the "premium" versions don't have any meaningful extra features. I'm sure they wouldn't get enough revenue to replace Google's support, but maybe it would make a dent? Why not try it?

takluyver 6y ago
They do take donations: https://donate.mozilla.org/ https://donate.mozilla.org/
- dx87 6y ago
  Donations to the Mozilla Foundation have no guarantee of going to the browser. From their website: > The not-for-profit Mozilla Foundation supports open-source apps, web literacy curriculum, gender equality in tech and more.
- dblohm7 6y ago
  While donating to Mozilla Foundation is a great cause [1], none of those funds go to funding Mozilla Corporation, and thus Firefox. If you want your funds to go toward MoCo (and thus Firefox development), your best bet is to subscribe to Mozilla VPN or Pocket Premium. [1] https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/initiatives/ https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/initiatives/
  - staktrace 6y ago
    This is a bit of a silly argument, because money is fungible and dollars are dollars. Donating money to the Foundation means less of the Corporation's dollars have to go to supporting the Foundation (Edited to add: which they do via dividend payments), and so more of the Corporation's dollars go to Firefox.
    - dblohm7 6y ago
      I don't disagree with your concept in theory, but I also don't think there is any evidence to suggest that MoCo's trademark royalty payments (as IIRC that's how they are structured according the financial docs) are adjusted based on MoFo's needs. Has that been mentioned in a meeting somewhere?
      - staktrace 6y ago
        > Has that been mentioned in a meeting somewhere? Not explicitly, but I do recall meetings where the announcement was along the lines of "we are choosing to make a dividend payment to fund the Foundation work..." which implies some amount of adjustment based on needs.
  - godzillabrennus 6y ago
    The VPN still doesn’t support Mac and costs half as much as it should but I’m a subscriber to support them. We need Mozilla. The VPN is their best way to monetize.
- burkaman 6y ago
  I do donate to the foundation, but as others have said, that's a separate organization. I guess I could "donate" to Firefox by getting a VPN subscription, but I don't want a VPN and I think that would send the wrong message. I would like to monetarily indicate that I value Firefox specifically.
  - staktrace 6y ago
    Maybe you should contribute to one of the many "fix bugs for money" websites where you can specifically donate money to get bugs in open source products fixed. It's even better because it doesn't have to be a Mozilla employee who does the actual fix.
    - JohnBooty 6y ago
      That's very very cool, but I too would specifically like to pay Mozilla for Firefox. I have been a dedicated user since Phoenix 0.2 and it is near to my heart, my soul, and my profession.

jacquesm 6y ago

Let's turn that around: How much would it cost to run a lean-and-mean Mozilla that just focuses on FireFox? How much does it cost to run an unfocused Mozilla that tries very hard to compete with all those huge platforms out there? It's the latter company that I would not be willing to pay for, the former would have my cash, and more than they would likely expect from one single user. That's because I think that ceding the territory to Chrome/Edge is exactly what we do not need. (oh, and there is of course Safari, but Apple has other problems)

calcifer 6y ago
OK, let's play this game: You are now fully in control of Mozilla - projects, finances, it's all on you. How would you turn Firefox into a browser with significant market share in an increasingly mobile world where two competitors control default applications and most users newer change any defaults?
- CameronNemo 6y ago
  I like this question. Not as a way to argue, but as actual productive discussion. I would work with the LineageOS, Replicant, Ubuntu Touch, postmarketOS, microG, Fairphone, Pinephone, etc. folks to integrate the Gecko engine as much as possible into their offerings. Or at least offer flavors that do so, or prompts to select a browser engine on first boot. If necessary and economical I would pay LOS to ship Firefox by default.
  - ac29 6y ago
    Even if you got 100% of those projects committed to integrating Mozilla technology, you'd have a infinitesimal fraction of the browser market. Furthermore, those users are already probably fairly anti-Google, so it would be preaching to the converted.
    - CameronNemo 6y ago
      You have to start somewhere... and many LOS users do not mind Google. They just want an up to date ROM.