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Which is why Mozilla are getting desperate to diversify their revenue.

Mailtemi 2y ago
Mozilla diversifies by increasing the CEO's salary for nothing. Wiki: In 2020, after returning to the position of CEO, Baker's salary was more than $3 million. In 2021, her salary rose again to more than $5 million, and again to nearly $7 million in 2022. The new CEO brings computing for AI money bleed that almost no one wants.
- bad_user 2y ago
  I don't agree with Mozilla paying that huge CEO salary, but… Do you know Firefox's handy new offline translation feature? That's AI a well. And Firefox is the only browser that doesn't leak your web page when translating it. There are plenty of other uses for AI, such as describing images without alt-text for the blind, or summarization. I, for one, want AI in my browser, you can't really say that “nobody wants it”, when many people clearly do.
  - Mailtemi 2y ago
    Really? Fire the Rust Servo team and double the CEO's salary in the same year? Almost the same money.
    - bad_user 2y ago
      I said I don't agree with them wasting that much money on the CEO, maybe I wasn't clear (perhaps it's due to English not being my first language).
      - ziddoap 2y ago
        You were clear. Mailtemi is just talking past the point of your comment, rather than engage with it.
- glenstein 2y ago
  What's the news on them getting into AI?
  - ac29 2y ago
    Firefox translate uses an on device language model to do webpage translations. There's also an experimental chatbot integration in Firefox. It seems to be opt in at least for now.
- culi 2y ago
  We know this because of Mozilla's commitment to transparency. These figures come from their annual reports https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2024/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2024/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2023/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2023/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2022/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2022/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2021/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2021/ etc I'm not defending it at all, but I think it's worth pointing out this pay rate is below the rate most CEOs of tech companies of this size are making. I don't really know what the solution here is but I imagine any CEO they replace her with would also seek a high salary. I'd love for them to become a worker-owned cooperative like Igalia but I really don't see that happening any time soon
nottorp 2y ago
If only their goal would be to provide an excellent privacy browser, instead of getting revenue :) All they need is to accept donations that go strictly to the browser and not to the latest blockchain/AI hysteria.
- bad_user 2y ago
  Name a project whose development costs as much as Firefox and that survives from donations. Many people want AI in their browser. And what does Firefox have to do with crypto?
  - jordanb 2y ago
    > Name a project whose development costs as much as Firefox and that survives from donations. Wikipedia.
    - bad_user 2y ago
      Wikimedia does not raise $200 million per year.
      - jordanb 2y ago
        You're right. They only raise $180 million a year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Fundraising_statistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Fundraising_statisti... Still feels like it aught to be enough to make a browser.
    - forgotpwd16 2y ago
      Similar to Mozilla & Firefox, there isn't an exact breakdown for Wikimedia expenditures to know the costs associated with Wikipedia. For Firefox, it's often stated its costs are ~200m but those are all expenses Mozilla categorizes under software development. For Wikimedia, within their operation expenses, ~3m were in hosting and ~84m in salaries (related to programs). The salaries are stated to be for multiple initiatives, among which platform development is mentioned*. *Although arguably the most important part of Wikipedia, and their other collaborative projects, are the volunteers maintaining and contributing to it, rather the developers.

Mozilla diversifies by increasing the CEO's salary for nothing. Wiki: In 2020, after returning to the position of CEO, Baker's salary was more than $3 million. In 2021, her salary rose again to more than $5 million, and again to nearly $7 million in 2022. The new CEO brings computing for AI money bleed that almost no one wants.

bad_user 2y ago
I don't agree with Mozilla paying that huge CEO salary, but… Do you know Firefox's handy new offline translation feature? That's AI a well. And Firefox is the only browser that doesn't leak your web page when translating it. There are plenty of other uses for AI, such as describing images without alt-text for the blind, or summarization. I, for one, want AI in my browser, you can't really say that “nobody wants it”, when many people clearly do.
- Mailtemi 2y ago
  Really? Fire the Rust Servo team and double the CEO's salary in the same year? Almost the same money.
  - bad_user 2y ago
    I said I don't agree with them wasting that much money on the CEO, maybe I wasn't clear (perhaps it's due to English not being my first language).
    - ziddoap 2y ago
      You were clear. Mailtemi is just talking past the point of your comment, rather than engage with it.
glenstein 2y ago
What's the news on them getting into AI?
- ac29 2y ago
  Firefox translate uses an on device language model to do webpage translations. There's also an experimental chatbot integration in Firefox. It seems to be opt in at least for now.
culi 2y ago
We know this because of Mozilla's commitment to transparency. These figures come from their annual reports https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2024/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2024/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2023/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2023/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2022/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2022/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2021/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2021/ etc I'm not defending it at all, but I think it's worth pointing out this pay rate is below the rate most CEOs of tech companies of this size are making. I don't really know what the solution here is but I imagine any CEO they replace her with would also seek a high salary. I'd love for them to become a worker-owned cooperative like Igalia but I really don't see that happening any time soon

nottorp 2y ago

If only their goal would be to provide an excellent privacy browser, instead of getting revenue :) All they need is to accept donations that go strictly to the browser and not to the latest blockchain/AI hysteria.

bad_user 2y ago
Name a project whose development costs as much as Firefox and that survives from donations. Many people want AI in their browser. And what does Firefox have to do with crypto?
- jordanb 2y ago
  > Name a project whose development costs as much as Firefox and that survives from donations. Wikipedia.
  - bad_user 2y ago
    Wikimedia does not raise $200 million per year.
    - jordanb 2y ago
      You're right. They only raise $180 million a year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Fundraising_statistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Fundraising_statisti... Still feels like it aught to be enough to make a browser.
  - forgotpwd16 2y ago
    Similar to Mozilla & Firefox, there isn't an exact breakdown for Wikimedia expenditures to know the costs associated with Wikipedia. For Firefox, it's often stated its costs are ~200m but those are all expenses Mozilla categorizes under software development. For Wikimedia, within their operation expenses, ~3m were in hosting and ~84m in salaries (related to programs). The salaries are stated to be for multiple initiatives, among which platform development is mentioned*. *Although arguably the most important part of Wikipedia, and their other collaborative projects, are the volunteers maintaining and contributing to it, rather the developers.