4 ms·

> Mozilla doesn't have a real sustainable business model right now. I've said this many times and I'm going to repeat it again; I wish Mozilla would offer me a

by Uninen 6y ago

> Mozilla doesn't have a real sustainable business model right now. I've said this many times and I'm going to repeat it again; I wish Mozilla would offer me a way to purchase a monthly subscription for Firefox. I want to support the open Web and I want to support FireFox development (but not any n+1 random Mozilla products / experiments) and I hate that they don't offer this.

pldr1234 6y ago
I actually love this concept. Though would Mozilla grant some type of premium version of Firefox or premium support for your subscription monies?
twblalock 6y ago
You can donate to the foundation. I'm not sure why that would turn out any different -- even if you paid a subscription for Firefox directly, what would prevent Mozilla from using that money for their other products? The problem with optional subscriptions is that most people will never opt-in. If subscriptions are made mandatory, the general public will be driven to one of the other major browsers.
- dralley 6y ago
  The difference is that the Foundation legally cannot spend their tax-free money paying the salaries of employees of a for-profit entity, to develop a product that pulls in significant revenue. It's a matter of "can't", not "won't". Subscription revenue would go to Mozilla Corp directly and therefore has no restrictions, because it's taxed as income. It at least has the possibility of being spent on Firefox development even if it actually goes to Rust maintainence or whatever else.
  - thayne 6y ago
    However, money can go the other way. Paying a subscription might end up just sending at least some of the money to the Foundation, rather than Firefox (or even Rust) development.
jshen 6y ago
I think they own pocket, which you can pay for.
- twblalock 6y ago
  I don't think very many people actually like Pocket. I wish it would die. It makes Firefox look like it's no better than any commercial browser -- not even Chrome installs that kind of stuff in my toolbar by default!
  - sfink 6y ago
    Pocket is easy to dislike before you start using it -- it's just UI bloat, as you point out. But the feedback from people who do use it is overwhelmingly positive. A lot of people love Pocket. It's enormously popular, despite the impression you would get if you exclusively went by HN comments. Personally, I've just recently started to try using it. It hasn't really captured my enthusiasm yet, despite addressing one of my larger pain points with a browser. I still think I'd prefer management capabilities that felt more built into the standard (well, Tree-Style Tabs) tabs/history experience. But it's early days, I'll have to see how my Pocket experiment goes. They're certainly good at surfacing appealing-looking content that isn't vapid when I try reading it. That's worth something.
  - jshen 6y ago
    I love pocket. What do you use instead of pocket?

by Uninen 6y ago

pldr1234 6y ago

I actually love this concept. Though would Mozilla grant some type of premium version of Firefox or premium support for your subscription monies?

twblalock 6y ago

You can donate to the foundation. I'm not sure why that would turn out any different -- even if you paid a subscription for Firefox directly, what would prevent Mozilla from using that money for their other products? The problem with optional subscriptions is that most people will never opt-in. If subscriptions are made mandatory, the general public will be driven to one of the other major browsers.

dralley 6y ago
The difference is that the Foundation legally cannot spend their tax-free money paying the salaries of employees of a for-profit entity, to develop a product that pulls in significant revenue. It's a matter of "can't", not "won't". Subscription revenue would go to Mozilla Corp directly and therefore has no restrictions, because it's taxed as income. It at least has the possibility of being spent on Firefox development even if it actually goes to Rust maintainence or whatever else.
- thayne 6y ago
  However, money can go the other way. Paying a subscription might end up just sending at least some of the money to the Foundation, rather than Firefox (or even Rust) development.

jshen 6y ago

I think they own pocket, which you can pay for.

twblalock 6y ago
I don't think very many people actually like Pocket. I wish it would die. It makes Firefox look like it's no better than any commercial browser -- not even Chrome installs that kind of stuff in my toolbar by default!
- sfink 6y ago
  Pocket is easy to dislike before you start using it -- it's just UI bloat, as you point out. But the feedback from people who do use it is overwhelmingly positive. A lot of people love Pocket. It's enormously popular, despite the impression you would get if you exclusively went by HN comments. Personally, I've just recently started to try using it. It hasn't really captured my enthusiasm yet, despite addressing one of my larger pain points with a browser. I still think I'd prefer management capabilities that felt more built into the standard (well, Tree-Style Tabs) tabs/history experience. But it's early days, I'll have to see how my Pocket experiment goes. They're certainly good at surfacing appealing-looking content that isn't vapid when I try reading it. That's worth something.
- jshen 6y ago
  I love pocket. What do you use instead of pocket?