2 ms·

Mediocre web browsers aren't making them money though. The search partnership royalties are. If it is still making them money, why try harder? Is Firefox-centr

Mediocre web browsers aren't making them money though. The search partnership royalties are. If it is still making them money, why try harder? Is Firefox-centric Mozilla still relevant in 2023? No, not really. People also assume that x is a distraction to the goal of y, but why would it be? If it hasn't happened yet, it probably isn't going to. At this point, they arguably lost the browser war, even if they made a great browser, it is going to struggle to win meaningful marketshare, and even then, how many people are going to subscribe to Pocket or a VPN? Nowhere near as much as what their search royalties make them, which likely isn't going to last forever in this climate. What about if Google pulls the plug on their search partnership due to declining Firefox numbers? They're largely dependent on Google. They probably can't pay their CEO $3m salary if that goes South.

gnicholas 4y ago
> Mediocre web browsers aren't making them money though. The search partnership royalties are. If it is still making them money, why try harder? Wouldn't they get more royalties if they could attract more users to their web browser?
- hammyhavoc 4y ago
  It's a coin-flip. Google could just decide to pull the deal if consumers end up using AI more than search engines. AI is the next warfront for Google. The browser war isn't going to be won by Mozilla at this point. It's been and gone. Most consumers live in non-browser apps most of the time.
  - kjkjadksj 4y ago
    Sure, most consumers have marched off desktop os entirely to walled garden mobile apps. That probably also means whats left of the desktop browser users are perhaps more likely to be firefox users than beforehand when it was more of a mass market.
    - hammyhavoc 4y ago
      Why are they more likely? The browser statistics paint a completely different picture about Firefox usage.
      - kjkjadksj 4y ago
        I’d imagine firefox usage is enriched among techies who are enriched among desktop os users, increasingly so as aunt sally moves to the ipad.
        hammyhavoc 4y ago
        Your imagination aside, the statistics show a decline in Firefox numbers, and it has a woefully small marketshare (~4% across all devices). It's been declining for 12 years. They lost ~50m users in ~3y. "Techies" have or are moving on because Mozilla's pace of development is woeful, and compatibility is poor. Killing the RSS reader was the final straw for many. Disney advertising in-browser was another major moment.

gnicholas 4y ago

> Mediocre web browsers aren't making them money though. The search partnership royalties are. If it is still making them money, why try harder? Wouldn't they get more royalties if they could attract more users to their web browser?

hammyhavoc 4y ago
It's a coin-flip. Google could just decide to pull the deal if consumers end up using AI more than search engines. AI is the next warfront for Google. The browser war isn't going to be won by Mozilla at this point. It's been and gone. Most consumers live in non-browser apps most of the time.
- kjkjadksj 4y ago
  Sure, most consumers have marched off desktop os entirely to walled garden mobile apps. That probably also means whats left of the desktop browser users are perhaps more likely to be firefox users than beforehand when it was more of a mass market.
  - hammyhavoc 4y ago
    Why are they more likely? The browser statistics paint a completely different picture about Firefox usage.
    - kjkjadksj 4y ago
      I’d imagine firefox usage is enriched among techies who are enriched among desktop os users, increasingly so as aunt sally moves to the ipad.
      - hammyhavoc 4y ago
        Your imagination aside, the statistics show a decline in Firefox numbers, and it has a woefully small marketshare (~4% across all devices). It's been declining for 12 years. They lost ~50m users in ~3y. "Techies" have or are moving on because Mozilla's pace of development is woeful, and compatibility is poor. Killing the RSS reader was the final straw for many. Disney advertising in-browser was another major moment.