Hi all,
It is no secret that the Mozilla Corporation is looking to diversify its income sources, in order to become less dependent on search deals. Products such as Mozilla VPN, Pocket Premium, Hubs … are introduced to tap into new revenue. At the same time, Firefox is struggling to retain its market share, and 70 + 250 (often very experienced) employees were dismissed in 2020 (https://www.zdnet.com/article/mozilla-lays-off-250-employees-while-it-refocuses-on-commercial-products/).
As a long-time and happy Firefox user, this saddens me a lot. I don’t think people realize how important Firefox’s role is in a world dominated by chromium-based browsers. I shiver when thinking about a chromium monoculture.
Therefore, I’d like to ask an often returning question: why can’t we support Firefox product development through direct donations? I’m convinced that many, many users (including me) would support a yearly, Wikipedia-style call for donations. Donating to the Foundation is recommendable, but doesn’t support development at all? Or does it?
I know the Mozilla Corporation being a ‘for-profit’ has something to do with this, but can somebody elaborate on this? Has Mozilla investigated ways to tap into donations to support FF development?
Is our only option to buy Firefox products that we possibly don’t really need?
Thanks in advance!