Sarah Jamie Lewis
Really sad to see Mozilla committed to such a dystopian vision of the future of the web.
"While Firefox remains the core of what we do, we also need to take steps to diversify: investing in privacy-respecting advertising to grow new revenue in the near term; developing trustworthy, open source AI to ensure technical and product relevance in the mid term"
source: https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/mozilla-leadership-growth-planning-updates/
Tim Chambers
@sarahjamielewis Frankly loosing faith in Mozilla (sadly) is why i moved over to @Vivaldi browser.
Sarah Jamie Lewis
There is no such thing as privacy-respecting advertising. At least not for any sane definition of "respect"
The arguments are technically nuanced, but I went into it a little a while back: https://mastodon.social/@sarahjamielewis/113199184170538484
Raising money is pointless if doing so compromises the values you claim to stand for.
Sarah Jamie Lewis
Firefox, or at least the ideal of Firefox - an open browser that serves the interests of people rather than corporations is so important.
It's also an incredibly expensive proposition (in part because of how the web has evolved complexity, thanks in part to how corporations have driven, and ultimately practically captured various standards)
I deeply understand Mozilla's desire to continue existing to serve that mission...but it can't be like this.
Sarah Jamie Lewis
Many people are in my mentions talking about and/or promoting various firefox forks.
Look, if Mozilla can't afford to keep developing/maintaining firefox without resorting to the sad path, then the question that needs to be asked is how any other organization can? What about the approach is different?
It's one thing to package firefox with some of the bad things turned off. It's another to take on the responsibility of maintaining that codebase sans-mozilla.
Sarah Jamie Lewis
There is clearly a lot of effort fractured over a lot of projects, perhaps enough to actually take on the task, but I'm not aware of any project committed to a hard fork of firefox, with everything that entails (and if you had the resources to go that route, I'm not convinced that is the best path to take either)
I can only really think of a handful of groups I think have a chance at success, but I don't think any of them are currently considering it.
Sarah Jamie Lewis
I think Tor Project are probably best placed to do it - they are already as close to maintaining a hard fork of firefox you can be without actually maintaining a hard fork. I understand why they don't - but, if anyone has a shot of making that path work, I think it's them.
Rich Felker
@sarahjamielewis I really think Tor is the right umbrella to do it under. Not only do they have the right technical expertise working on Firefox features, but they have the right mission/values for the future of the project.
Nazo
@sarahjamielewis What is your opinion on LibreWolf? It has a lot of the same sorts of things, just sans the TOR networking. They even have most of the stuff for connections to Mozilla disabled or removed and some nice anti-fingerprinting stuff.
Though, long term, I'm holding out hopes for Servo to be a thing and give us an option that isn't beholden to any corporations.
Rich Felker
@nazokiyoubinbou @sarahjamielewis They ripped out accessibility functionality AIUI... That doesn't speak well for having right values.
Rich Felker
@nazokiyoubinbou @sarahjamielewis I don't know exactly but it's what I've been told.
Nazo
@dalias @sarahjamielewis Which functions are you referring to? I must admit I haven't needed them, so hadn't noticed.
Evan Prodromou
@sarahjamielewis I agree that we need AP baked into a browser.
Sarah Jamie Lewis
That or the dozen+ firefox forks agree to combine their efforts and maintain a shared hard-forked base.
That could work, but it might be a bigger ask.
Sarah Jamie Lewis
Really, what I would love to see is a project with a vision and principles.
Where is the browser with activity pub integration? Where is the browser with rss feeds? Where is the browser that doesn't have to disable the tracking crap, because it simply doesn't exist in the first place?
If we want a web that works for the people, we need to build a browser that takes responsibility for those values.
While understanding that that is a damn expensive thing to ask.
rakoo
Stefan Thöni
@sarahjamielewis We need a clean fork of #Firefox without ads, without Google and without collecting any user data.
I would be willing to donate the cost of my internet connection every month.
Who is with me?
Remi Gacogne
@rakoo @exception @sarahjamielewis Perhaps Firefox could follow the path taken by Thunderbird, a different structure with separate funding. I'm currently happy to fund Thunderbird but I don't want to give money to Mozilla as I really don't want anything AI-related, for example.
F. Maury ⏚
@rgacogne
I second that opinion, but the structure has to be a non-profit. This is why I refuse to fund Thunderbird.
@rakoo @exception @sarahjamielewis
SuperDicq
@sarahjamielewis@mastodon.social if Mozilla can't afford to keep developing/maintaining firefox without resorting to the sad path, then the question that needs to be asked is how any other organization can?The answer is very easy. The Mozilla Corporation is a commercial organization seeking profit by doing a lot of things that have absolutely nothing to do with improving the browser.
In the early 00s Mozilla used to invest almost all of the money that it made into software development.
If you look at recent financial reports the amount of money it puts into software development is only about 50% of their total expenses.
Like at the moment they are wasting money on like 12 different AI and web3 meme projects that nobody cares about.
Also as the icing on the cake they give absolutely insane multi-million dollar bonuses to their top executives.
It should not be very hard to turn Mozilla into a sustainable organization focused primarily on browser development. They definitely have enough means to do but the way they are currently using their capital is absolutely misguided.
Badly Timed Luck
@sarahjamielewis shout out to ecosia.org. I'll admit I haven't dug into their background, but I like the initial mission of planting trees with the ad revanue they gain
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