4 ms·

Mozilla makes a gazillion dollars from Google for being the default search engine. They get free labor from volunteers all over the world, being OSS and all tha

Mozilla makes a gazillion dollars from Google for being the default search engine. They get free labor from volunteers all over the world, being OSS and all that. So what do they need extra money for??

ChrisSD 6y ago
Mozilla gets a few hundred million from Google. This may sound like a lot to you but it's pocket change to Google. They spend way more on their own browser as well as getting "free labor from volunteers". There's a reason there's now so few independent browser engines.
- throwaway2048 6y ago
  A lot of it has to do with how much parties like Google have driven up the complexity of web standards.
  - dageshi 6y ago
    In the old days we used to complain about Microsoft for not keeping up with standards and holding the web back. We can't have it both ways.
    - bartvk 6y ago
      Aren't you painting it a bit as an either-or situation? It's clear to me that Google is moving towards a web where the browser basically discloses all OS-level APIS on the Javascript level. But browser makers can pick and choose what they want to implement. And we end users can pick the browers we like.
      - franga2000 6y ago
        > But browser makers can pick and choose what they want to implement. And we end users can pick the browers we like. Unfortunately that doesn't actually work like that in practice. We don't get to pick all of the websites we use and we certainly don't get to pick which APIs their developers use to make them. This in turn limits both your freedom to choose the browser you want and the browser vendor's freedom to choose what to implement. As fun as it is to blame Google for the fall of the open Web, a big part of the blame lies with the developers that use those APIs without regard for their status.
colejohnson66 6y ago
Because a single source of income (Google) isn’t smart for anyone. And the more money is involved (in this case, a gazillion), the worse it is to do so. What if Google just one day decides to not renew their contract? Mozilla’ll be out a gazillion dollars a year.
- 1024core 6y ago
  That's a hypothetical scenario. I'm talking about the reality: Google was paying Mozilla close to a billion/year to be the default search agent. That is a shit-ton of money.
PCChris 6y ago
Mozilla files IRS form 990 ("Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax") annually due to their nonprofit status. This can be found at the bottom of their "State of Mozilla 2018" annual report [1] and contains some details about their financials (as of November, 2019 at least). The linked page itself also contains some information about how Mozilla Corporation and Mozilla Foundation are structured and operate. [1] https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2018/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2018/

ChrisSD 6y ago

Mozilla gets a few hundred million from Google. This may sound like a lot to you but it's pocket change to Google. They spend way more on their own browser as well as getting "free labor from volunteers". There's a reason there's now so few independent browser engines.

throwaway2048 6y ago
A lot of it has to do with how much parties like Google have driven up the complexity of web standards.
- dageshi 6y ago
  In the old days we used to complain about Microsoft for not keeping up with standards and holding the web back. We can't have it both ways.
  - bartvk 6y ago
    Aren't you painting it a bit as an either-or situation? It's clear to me that Google is moving towards a web where the browser basically discloses all OS-level APIS on the Javascript level. But browser makers can pick and choose what they want to implement. And we end users can pick the browers we like.
    - franga2000 6y ago
      > But browser makers can pick and choose what they want to implement. And we end users can pick the browers we like. Unfortunately that doesn't actually work like that in practice. We don't get to pick all of the websites we use and we certainly don't get to pick which APIs their developers use to make them. This in turn limits both your freedom to choose the browser you want and the browser vendor's freedom to choose what to implement. As fun as it is to blame Google for the fall of the open Web, a big part of the blame lies with the developers that use those APIs without regard for their status.

colejohnson66 6y ago

Because a single source of income (Google) isn’t smart for anyone. And the more money is involved (in this case, a gazillion), the worse it is to do so. What if Google just one day decides to not renew their contract? Mozilla’ll be out a gazillion dollars a year.

1024core 6y ago
That's a hypothetical scenario. I'm talking about the reality: Google was paying Mozilla close to a billion/year to be the default search agent. That is a shit-ton of money.

PCChris 6y ago

Mozilla files IRS form 990 ("Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax") annually due to their nonprofit status. This can be found at the bottom of their "State of Mozilla 2018" annual report [1] and contains some details about their financials (as of November, 2019 at least). The linked page itself also contains some information about how Mozilla Corporation and Mozilla Foundation are structured and operate. [1] https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2018/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2018/