Arne Babenhauserheide
Dear #Mozilla,
Please stop trying to tell us, what we’re supposed to want, and start accepting that we want a fucking great webbrowser.
You have a fucking great webbrowser.
Don’t ask me to pay for pocket or VPN that I don’t need. Do a fun yearly fundraising drive with crazy cool perks like a button saying "Friend of #Firefox".
Shipped worldwide. Payable in a way that as many people worldwide as possible can pay easily — e.g. from EU with bank transfer.
That’s my with for a present from you.
Arne Babenhauserheide
PS: yes, there is a fundraising. For "a future where our privacy is protected, where AI is trustworthy, and where irresponsible tech companies are held accountable."
If that is what you want from #Mozilla: go for it ⇒ https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/?form=eoy-pencil-aa
I want a future where my browser works for me. That is the essential foundation of online freedom, and if we lose that — as Chrome developments threaten more and more — all those other wishes come crashing down.
Where is #Firefox in that fundraising?
Arne Babenhauserheide
@olifantoliver I said button, because that’s cheap to send worldwide.
I’d go for a sticker that can be shipped in a plain letter.
And I’d wish them not to ask for my address details before telling me that I’ll get a perk per snail mail. Yes, they likely need my address for tax reasons, but I’d much prefer telling my bank to send money to Mozilla’s IBAN than telling Mozilla my IBAN.
And then they’ll get my address for the perk.
Oliver
@ArneBab I’d really fucking love a shirt or hoodie from Mozilla which would also help them raise money.
Arne Babenhauserheide
@flod Is there a Firefox fundraiser, too?
Francesco Lodolo
@ArneBab Firefox is not a Mozilla Foundation project, donations go to advocacy projects. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Corporation
Arne Babenhauserheide
@bohwaz Firefox is funded by Google — that’s not sustainable funding and risks corrupting Firefox development in favor of Google ads (which is where the money actually comes from).
Francesco Lodolo
@ArneBab Unfortunately no (although a lot of people would love to).
Only Thunderbird has direct fundraising, but they can as they're yet another company (MZLA).
And yes, it's extremely confusing.
BohwaZ
@flod
Also Firefox doesn't need money. It is very profitable so far.
@ArneBab
Arne Babenhauserheide
@flod Since the fraction of fans is pretty high among Firefox users, that could actually work (though not from day 1: I expect that they’d need several years of campaigning to get enough people on board.
And at expenses 500m / year,¹ 160 million monthly active users² the 30 USD by 10% of the users (so $3 per month) looks like the right ballpark.
Servo isn’t really comparable, because Servo isn’t the day-to-day browser for many.
@bohwaz
¹ https://www.soeren-hentzschel.at/mozilla-umsatz/en/
² https://data.firefox.com/dashboard/user-activity
Francesco Lodolo
@ArneBab @bohwaz That would be the ideal solution, yes. Or with some government funding (e.g. from EU) without strings attached, although there is a different set of risks there.
But would you assume that 10% of the current monthly active users would pay 30–40USD/year to use Firefox, when there are free alternatives? I don't, and sadly Servo's funding progress kind of shows that.
Arne Babenhauserheide
@bohwaz I understand that, but I also understand that with Edge being a fake competitor that may protect Google against antitrust measures, Google may soon have no need for the existence of Firefox anymore.
It’s not that I expect that Mozilla wants to change the deal: half a billion revenue per year for setting the default of the search engine is a deal any company would wish for.
But the deal may no longer be on the table the next time it needs renewal.
@flod
BohwaZ
@ArneBab @flod A funding model that has been lasting for 20 years seems quite sustainable for me, most companies haven't been able to get the same level of funding for so long…
I agree with you, but you don't understand that Mozilla has zero will to get away from Google, they are built on Google money and use Google tools everyday.
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