5 ms·

Let me pay for Firefox, please!

by dmitrij 5y ago

sersi 5y ago
Exactly, I would not mind paying 50 usd a year (it's what I already have paid in donation for mozilla).
- melomal 5y ago
  1 user at $4.16 per month is not going to help, support and develop a competitive browser or search engine. 1mn users paying $4/m is going to be just over $40mn per year. There's no way any company can compete with MS or Google on that revenue stream. Get investors and they will enforce whatever it takes to build revenue = ads.
  - rightbyte 5y ago
    The main software design problem Mozilla is facing is their urge to add user hostile anti-feutures. MS and especially Google are way better at those, so why compete on that? It is a losing game ...
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - DoingIsLearning 5y ago
    Get your facts right, FF has 870 million YAUs. You're off by several orders of magnitude. This whole argument that only ads can save FF is weak and unfounded. Also I don't want a "competitive browser", I want a simple browser that is customizable and that if needed, developers can run more complex addons on top of it. That is it. I am sure I am not alone in this. And I most certainly don't want FF to spend money/time on "search engine" features. Let the search engines companies do that.
    - melomal 5y ago
      Wait a minute. Are you saying that FF users are all going to pay? How many free Versus paid users are on Youtube Premium? There are billions of Youtube users I would imagine, certain they are not paying. >> Also I don't want a "competitive browser", I want a simple browser that is customizable and that if needed, developers can run more complex addons on top of it. That is it. I am sure I am not alone in this. Get your wallet out, hire some developers, build it, share it. You want a lot and make demands but I don't see how what you said is economically viable.
      - DoingIsLearning 5y ago
        > You want a lot and make demands but I don't see how what you said is economically viable. FF _is_ already what I "demand" they just need to stop copying every UX feature of chromium under the ilusion that it will make them "competitive" with Chrome. And they need to stop spending money on all these side projects and focus on the core products FF and TB. These corporate people need to step aside and stop chasing an impossible goal of FF market share growth. They can never compete with behemoths like Google or Microsoft or Apple. The funding disparity and they way the competition setup mottes and baileys is just not realistic. Google paying Mozilla for default search engine privilege is just a way for google to go CYA, in case they get into anti-trust litigation ("we even fund the small players"). The moment FF actually make a dent in market share is the moment that Google closes the tap on funding.
monooso 5y ago
Okay. https://donate.mozilla.org https://donate.mozilla.org Edit: My assumption was that a proportion of the money donated to the Mozilla Foundation is used to fund Mozilla Firefox. I stand corrected (but I still consider the foundation worth supporting). A follow up question for those replying to this comment: does the revenue from Pocket and/or the Mozilla VPN help to fund Firefox?
- Eikon 5y ago
  Well, no. Donating to mozilla does not equals funding the browser. They also have some more or less questionable initiatives.
- fguerraz 5y ago
  nope, this doesn't go to development, only to their community and outreach programs. Mozilla Foundation != Mozilla Corporation
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- bennyp101 5y ago
  That donates to Mozilla, not Firefox. That is what people have the problem with, they cannot directly donate to a /product/
heurisko 5y ago
I expect if Mozilla made opt-out a paid feature, then all that would happen is that Firefox would be forked without ads, and the general public use Chrome or Edge anyway.
- Hendrikto 5y ago
  Nobody asked for or wants that. Just let people donate directly to Firefox development, instead of towards a bloated foundation funding millions in exec salaries and project nobody wants.
  - heurisko 5y ago
    That is the situation already. Evidently they're not attracting enough donations to not consider advertisements. https://donate.mozilla.org/ https://donate.mozilla.org/
    - Hendrikto 5y ago
      > That is the situation already. No it isn’t. Please stop spreading misinformation. You can donate to the Mozilla foundation, which wastes copious amounts of money. It is NOT possible to donate towards Firefox development directly.
Vinnl 5y ago
You can pay for Mozilla VPN, which goes to the Corporation: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/products/vpn/#pricing https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/products/vpn/#pricing
- fguerraz 5y ago
  It mostly goes to Mullvad though (which is great company) and to developing the client.
- toastal 5y ago
  Not available in my region, and doesn’t support a server in my country
zh3 5y ago
There's always Palemoon [0] (for anyone who likes the classic firefox interface). I've been using it for years (and have donated), plus I like the fact it can be installed just by unpacking a tarball/zip file (as well as the more usual methods). [0] http://www.palemoon.org/ http://www.palemoon.org/
- dblohm7 5y ago
  Palemoon, the same guys who mock sandboxing and multiprocess browsing? No thanks.
  - zh3 5y ago
    Ah, the old, now-deleted (and much-refuted) reddit post [0], I assume? [0] https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=22270#p168679 https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=22270#p16867...
    - dblohm7 5y ago
      No, the things they post on their own forum! https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=17442#p127695 https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=17442#p12769... https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15168#p109681 https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15168#p109681
      - zh3 5y ago
        Thanks, I didn't know that was an even older version version of the same claim. I imagine that's one of the reasons for the developers being tired of the same (incorrect in their view) claims. The only remaining issue with Palemoon for me is webrtc (which is selectively disabled). For those that value stability (especially on Windows) that's no bad thing (personally, I'm not a fan of being forced to use a specific browser to access some sites). It's like the IE6 days.
- bserge 5y ago
  Wow, thanks, I need to try it!

Let me pay for Firefox, please!

sersi 5y ago

Exactly, I would not mind paying 50 usd a year (it's what I already have paid in donation for mozilla).

melomal 5y ago
1 user at $4.16 per month is not going to help, support and develop a competitive browser or search engine. 1mn users paying $4/m is going to be just over $40mn per year. There's no way any company can compete with MS or Google on that revenue stream. Get investors and they will enforce whatever it takes to build revenue = ads.
- rightbyte 5y ago
  The main software design problem Mozilla is facing is their urge to add user hostile anti-feutures. MS and especially Google are way better at those, so why compete on that? It is a losing game ...
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- DoingIsLearning 5y ago
  Get your facts right, FF has 870 million YAUs. You're off by several orders of magnitude. This whole argument that only ads can save FF is weak and unfounded. Also I don't want a "competitive browser", I want a simple browser that is customizable and that if needed, developers can run more complex addons on top of it. That is it. I am sure I am not alone in this. And I most certainly don't want FF to spend money/time on "search engine" features. Let the search engines companies do that.
  - melomal 5y ago
    Wait a minute. Are you saying that FF users are all going to pay? How many free Versus paid users are on Youtube Premium? There are billions of Youtube users I would imagine, certain they are not paying. >> Also I don't want a "competitive browser", I want a simple browser that is customizable and that if needed, developers can run more complex addons on top of it. That is it. I am sure I am not alone in this. Get your wallet out, hire some developers, build it, share it. You want a lot and make demands but I don't see how what you said is economically viable.
    - DoingIsLearning 5y ago
      > You want a lot and make demands but I don't see how what you said is economically viable. FF _is_ already what I "demand" they just need to stop copying every UX feature of chromium under the ilusion that it will make them "competitive" with Chrome. And they need to stop spending money on all these side projects and focus on the core products FF and TB. These corporate people need to step aside and stop chasing an impossible goal of FF market share growth. They can never compete with behemoths like Google or Microsoft or Apple. The funding disparity and they way the competition setup mottes and baileys is just not realistic. Google paying Mozilla for default search engine privilege is just a way for google to go CYA, in case they get into anti-trust litigation ("we even fund the small players"). The moment FF actually make a dent in market share is the moment that Google closes the tap on funding.

monooso 5y ago

Okay. https://donate.mozilla.org https://donate.mozilla.org Edit: My assumption was that a proportion of the money donated to the Mozilla Foundation is used to fund Mozilla Firefox. I stand corrected (but I still consider the foundation worth supporting). A follow up question for those replying to this comment: does the revenue from Pocket and/or the Mozilla VPN help to fund Firefox?

Eikon 5y ago
Well, no. Donating to mozilla does not equals funding the browser. They also have some more or less questionable initiatives.
fguerraz 5y ago
nope, this doesn't go to development, only to their community and outreach programs. Mozilla Foundation != Mozilla Corporation
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
bennyp101 5y ago
That donates to Mozilla, not Firefox. That is what people have the problem with, they cannot directly donate to a /product/

heurisko 5y ago

I expect if Mozilla made opt-out a paid feature, then all that would happen is that Firefox would be forked without ads, and the general public use Chrome or Edge anyway.

Hendrikto 5y ago
Nobody asked for or wants that. Just let people donate directly to Firefox development, instead of towards a bloated foundation funding millions in exec salaries and project nobody wants.
- heurisko 5y ago
  That is the situation already. Evidently they're not attracting enough donations to not consider advertisements. https://donate.mozilla.org/ https://donate.mozilla.org/
  - Hendrikto 5y ago
    > That is the situation already. No it isn’t. Please stop spreading misinformation. You can donate to the Mozilla foundation, which wastes copious amounts of money. It is NOT possible to donate towards Firefox development directly.

Vinnl 5y ago

You can pay for Mozilla VPN, which goes to the Corporation: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/products/vpn/#pricing https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/products/vpn/#pricing

fguerraz 5y ago
It mostly goes to Mullvad though (which is great company) and to developing the client.
toastal 5y ago
Not available in my region, and doesn’t support a server in my country

zh3 5y ago

There's always Palemoon [0] (for anyone who likes the classic firefox interface). I've been using it for years (and have donated), plus I like the fact it can be installed just by unpacking a tarball/zip file (as well as the more usual methods). [0] http://www.palemoon.org/ http://www.palemoon.org/

dblohm7 5y ago
Palemoon, the same guys who mock sandboxing and multiprocess browsing? No thanks.
- zh3 5y ago
  Ah, the old, now-deleted (and much-refuted) reddit post [0], I assume? [0] https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=22270#p168679 https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=22270#p16867...
  - dblohm7 5y ago
    No, the things they post on their own forum! https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=17442#p127695 https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=17442#p12769... https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15168#p109681 https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15168#p109681
    - zh3 5y ago
      Thanks, I didn't know that was an even older version version of the same claim. I imagine that's one of the reasons for the developers being tired of the same (incorrect in their view) claims. The only remaining issue with Palemoon for me is webrtc (which is selectively disabled). For those that value stability (especially on Windows) that's no bad thing (personally, I'm not a fan of being forced to use a specific browser to access some sites). It's like the IE6 days.
bserge 5y ago
Wow, thanks, I need to try it!