Firefox wants a bit of ads+AI

[Retrograde]

From the «browser game is lost?» department:
Title: Mozilla once again confirms it’s all about ads and “AI” now
Author: Thom Holwerda
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2025 00:42:27 +0000
Link: https://www.osnews.com/story/141757/mozilla-once-again-confirms-its-all-about-ads-and-ai-now/


We’ve recognized that Mozilla faces major headwinds in terms of both
financial growth and mission impact. 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; and creating online fundraising campaigns that
will draw a bigger circle of supporters over the long run. Mozilla’s impact
and survival depend on us simultaneously strengthening Firefox AND finding
new sources of revenue AND manifesting our mission in fresh ways. That is why
we’re working hard on all of these fronts.
↫ Mark Surman on the Mozilla blog[1]

None of this is new to anyone reading OSNews. I’ve been quite vocal about
Mozilla’s troubles and how it intends to address those troubles, and I’m
incredibly worried and concerned about the increasing efforts by Mozilla to
push advertising and “AI” to somehow find more revenue streams. I think this is
the wrong direction to take, and will not make up for the seemingly inevitable
loss of the Google search deal – and my biggest fear is that Firefox will get a
lot worse before Mozilla realises advertising and “AI” just aren’t compatible
with their mission and the morals and values of the last few remaining Firefox
users.

I don’t have any answers either, of course. Making a competitive browser is
hard, and clearly requires a lot of people and a lot of time. Donations are
fickle, nobody will pay for a browser, and relying on corporate sponsoring in
other forms than the Google search deal will just mean Firefox will become like
Chrome even faster, with more and more exceptions for “allowed” ads and
additional roadblocks for adblockers to try and work around. In essence, I
strongly believe that it is impossible to both earn money from online ads and
make a good browser. It’s one or the other – not both.

There’s basically no competition in the browser space, and if we lose Firefox,
the only other option is Chrome and its various skins. Not a future I’m looking
forward to.

Links:
[1]: https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/mozilla-leadership-growth-planning-updates/ (link)

[Marco Moock]

Post by Retrograde
Title: Mozilla once again confirms it’s all about ads and “AI” now

Confirms again that my choice of Pale Moon was a good decision.

[D]

Post by Marco Moock

Title: Mozilla once again confirms it’s all about ads and “AI” now

Confirms again that my choice of Pale Moon was a good decision.

This is the truth! But it has the weakness of being a fork of FF, so when
FF dies, so will Pale moon. =(

I hope the ladybug browser will really take off! That could be exactly
what we are all looking for! I do hope that ublock origin and privacy
badger will be the two first extensions to be able to get to run on
ladybug. ;)

Ladybug also had the wisdom to not cave in to demands from political
activists to turn it into a DEI project. They said that they focus on
technology and not on politics. I think this was a very wise move from
them.

[Marco Moock]

Post by D

Post by Marco Moock

Post by Retrograde
Title: Mozilla once again confirms it’s all about ads and “AI” now

Confirms again that my choice of Pale Moon was a good decision.

This is the truth! But it has the weakness of being a fork of FF, so
when FF dies, so will Pale moon. =(

It diverged that much that the current FF is almost irrelevant for it.

Post by D
I hope the ladybug browser will really take off! That could be
exactly what we are all looking for!

I hope too, but I have serious doubt.

Post by D
Ladybug also had the wisdom to not cave in to demands from political
activists to turn it into a DEI project. They said that they focus on
technology and not on politics. I think this was a very wise move
from them.

A wise choice for every software.

[D]

Post by Marco Moock

Post by D

Post by Marco Moock

Title: Mozilla once again confirms it’s all about ads and “AI” now

Confirms again that my choice of Pale Moon was a good decision.

This is the truth! But it has the weakness of being a fork of FF, so
when FF dies, so will Pale moon. =(

It diverged that much that the current FF is almost irrelevant for it.

That's great news! Then there is hope!

Post by Marco Moock

Post by D
I hope the ladybug browser will really take off! That could be
exactly what we are all looking for!

I hope too, but I have serious doubt.

Post by D
Ladybug also had the wisdom to not cave in to demands from political
activists to turn it into a DEI project. They said that they focus on
technology and not on politics. I think this was a very wise move
from them.

A wise choice for every software.

This is the way!

[Theo]

Post by Marco Moock

Post by D

Post by Marco Moock

Post by Retrograde
Title: Mozilla once again confirms it’s all about ads and “AI” now

Confirms again that my choice of Pale Moon was a good decision.

This is the truth! But it has the weakness of being a fork of FF, so
when FF dies, so will Pale moon. =(

It diverged that much that the current FF is almost irrelevant for it.

How is Pale Moon funded?

[Marco Moock]

Post by Theo

Post by Marco Moock

Post by D

Post by Marco Moock

Post by Retrograde
Title: Mozilla once again confirms it’s all about ads and “AI” now

Confirms again that my choice of Pale Moon was a good decision.

This is the truth! But it has the weakness of being a fork of FF,
so when FF dies, so will Pale moon. =(

It diverged that much that the current FF is almost irrelevant for it.

How is Pale Moon funded?

By its users
(https://ko-fi.com/palemoon) and by refunds for using DuckDuckGo with the URL parameter.

[Jim Jackson]

Post by Marco Moock

Title: Mozilla once again confirms it???s all about ads and ???AI??? now

Confirms again that my choice of Pale Moon was a good decision.

Quick question: do you know if I switch to palemoon will it pick up and
use my existing profiles etc?

[D]

Title: Mozilla once again confirms it’s all about ads and “AI” now
Author: Thom Holwerda
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2025 00:42:27 +0000
Link: https://www.osnews.com/story/141757/mozilla-once-again-confirms-its-all-about-ads-and-ai-now/

It is very sad. They should remove the current CEO. Maybe it is time for
me to step in, and drag Mozilla back to basics. Do a browser, fund it with
donations, and that's it. Let's say I take 200k USD per year for the job,
just the savings on CEO salary alone could fund an army of developers!

We’ve recognized that Mozilla faces major headwinds in terms of both
financial growth and mission impact. 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; and creating online fundraising campaigns that
will draw a bigger circle of supporters over the long run. Mozilla’s impact
and survival depend on us simultaneously strengthening Firefox AND finding
new sources of revenue AND manifesting our mission in fresh ways. That is why
we’re working hard on all of these fronts.
↫ Mark Surman on the Mozilla blog[1]
None of this is new to anyone reading OSNews. I’ve been quite vocal about
Mozilla’s troubles and how it intends to address those troubles, and I’m
incredibly worried and concerned about the increasing efforts by Mozilla to
push advertising and “AI” to somehow find more revenue streams. I think this is
the wrong direction to take, and will not make up for the seemingly inevitable
loss of the Google search deal – and my biggest fear is that Firefox will get a
lot worse before Mozilla realises advertising and “AI” just aren’t compatible
with their mission and the morals and values of the last few remaining Firefox
users.
I don’t have any answers either, of course. Making a competitive browser is
hard, and clearly requires a lot of people and a lot of time. Donations are
fickle, nobody will pay for a browser, and relying on corporate sponsoring in
other forms than the Google search deal will just mean Firefox will become like
Chrome even faster, with more and more exceptions for “allowed” ads and
additional roadblocks for adblockers to try and work around. In essence, I
strongly believe that it is impossible to both earn money from online ads and
make a good browser. It’s one or the other – not both.
There’s basically no competition in the browser space, and if we lose Firefox,
the only other option is Chrome and its various skins. Not a future I’m looking
forward to.
[1]: https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/mozilla-leadership-growth-planning-updates/ (link)

[Salvador Mirzo]

Post by D

Post by Retrograde
Title: Mozilla once again confirms it’s all about ads and “AI” now
Author: Thom Holwerda
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2025 00:42:27 +0000
https://www.osnews.com/story/141757/mozilla-once-again-confirms-its-all-about-ads-and-ai-now/

It is very sad. They should remove the current CEO. Maybe it is time
for me to step in, and drag Mozilla back to basics. Do a browser, fund
it with donations, and that's it. Let's say I take 200k USD per year
for the job, just the savings on CEO salary alone could fund an army
of developers!

Well said.