Mastodawn

The new Mozilla CEO says he could block ad blockers in Firefox and estimates that it would bring in another $150 million, but he doesn't want to do that. Lmao. This guy has really lost the plot. Is he issuing threats to the users of an open-source project? Boy, what a disaster.

https://infosec.press/brunomiguel/is-mozilla-trying-hard-to-kill-itself

nixCraft 🐧Dec 17

People use ad blockers to protect their computers from scams and malware because Google and other ad companies have failed to do so. They put profit above everything else. I can't believe this guy is on a mission to kill Firefox by the end of this year. People who use ad blockers are also less likely to buy your product if you bug them too much. I can't believe Mozilla has fallen to this level, where the CEO openly issues soft threats for a product that has little market share left.

@nixCraft I would guess the intended meaning was just to point out that, as a function of the mission of Firefox, there are plenty of ways that other browsers might choose to make money that are not open to Firefox.

Bakunin Boys Dec 19

@internic @nixCraft this is why they pay him the big bucks. A lesser CEO just wouldn't spend energy thinking about things they'd never do, but this guy is ready with a monetary estimate meaning he had someone do the math on it, and then later decide that's "off mission". That's true leadership.

I bet he knows to the litre (gallon?) how much blood his users have. Not that he'd do anything with that, that'd probably be off mission, but it's good to know. It's just responsible leadership!

doragasu Dec 17

@nixCraft Did he say where would that $150 million come from? Google maybe? It's just insane. After so much damage Firefox brand and users have been suffering since they decided to install on your system a "Mr. Robot ad" extension years ago, they are going to completely kill the browser soon if they do not abruptly change route.

@nixCraft
I use ad blockers because they make the web more barrier free for me. Without I'm not able to read most texts on websites.

mike morris Dec 17

@nixCraft
I'd guess that he doesn't give a shit about the *existing* Firefox userbase, but expects to attract a whole *new* bunch of users with this change. Let's be honest: if FF loses the tiny percentage of browser users it currently has, but gains a whole new. much larger cohort of adherents... that's a win for them.

I don't like it any better than you do. I guess we'd better go fund/code for Servo or something...

Leonardo Ferreira Fontenelle Dec 17

@nixCraft I wonder after the "experiment" providing a mastodon instance for users, if Mozilla stopped reading posts here altogether. It's to imagine the organization pushing this forward and still reading what people say about it here.

FreeBall fights fascism Dec 17

@lffontenelle @nixCraft
I have been using the Mozilla browser since before the time FireFox was launched, but if they really want to piss me off, I will be gone in a flash. I always thought that the day would come - Google practically owns Mozilla.

Lord Caramac the Clueless, KSC Dec 17

@nixCraft We just need to get a large enough number of FF developers to leave Mozilla an start their own fork.

Quincy ⁂Dec 17

Also people use ad blockers to protect their minds from vandalism, so the mozilla bro can go f** himself!

toPodiki Dec 17

@nixCraft
I hate seeing Mozilla turning to the "evil side" step by step for so long. I use firefox since 2005 or something and for the first time I consider seriously switching to another browser.

I believe the problem with the web in general is capitalism, not just ads or privacy invasion. Unfortunately Mozilla staff (and staff in general) has to get paid each month. Mozilla started with good intentions, faced a lot of tough decisions and keeps taking the bad ones.

I actually use adblockers because ads are detrimental to my mental health as I don't like feeling manipulated.

Jacqueline Dec 17

@nixCraft fuckin suits man.

Jacqueline Dec 17

@nixCraft death to the Suits

Alavi | علوی Dec 17

@burnoutqueen @nixCraft
I just like wearing suits man :(

🌙 Rynn Beaumont 🌙Dec 17

@nixCraft I'm frustrated and depressed by the direction Mozilla has gone in. I hope that forks are able to fully shift, or that independent browsers like konquror are able to get better add-on support/development

France Jor☝️

blob_disapproval

Anthropy Dec 17

@nixCraft as much as i get why people want to dunk on firefox, trying so hard to read between the lines and then exclaim things they clearly didn't say feels weird. we don't need this, there are plenty of reasons to move to a firefox fork without it.

but that's just my two cents. I get the frustration and I've been a big sponsor of Servo for a long time and I'm definitely hoping they get to a point where we have an open independent browser again

@anthropy @nixCraft
firefox has sold its soul when DRM became part of it

Lost the plot? I'm not sure he's in the same movie as me. He's reading an entirely different script.

MJ Luna no Fireplume Dec 17

@nixCraft I was using Firefox until literally yesterday and guess what? I'm the newest user of Waterfox now. You can't threat open-source users, we are very willingly to find alternatives for anything. I'm Linux user for fuck's sake.

Stumpy The Mutt Dec 17

@nixCraft I will not use a browser that prevents ad blocker use.

@nixCraft Someone should ask him how having their entire userbase abandon ship could possibly earn them a single cent, let alone billions of them.

@nixCraft killing adblock was the move that made me switch to Firefox and its forks, so yeah

BlobhajTransPrideHeart

@nixCraft "yknow i could kill one of two reasons people use our browser haha jk unless"

@nixCraft
This reminds me of OpenOffice and MySQL.

Number1SummerJam Dec 17

@nixCraft conspiracy theory: new Mozilla CEO is a Google plant to destroy their competitor from the inside 🤔

@Number1SummerJam @nixCraft When almost all of Mozilla's money comes from Google (I heard it's currently about 80 percent), then Firefox is already effectively a Google product.

We need an independent third browser with a web engine not based on Chrome and not based on Firefox, and we need it now before Google orders Mozilla to block uBlock Origin in Firefox.

And this third browser needs to be developed outside of the politically unstable and unpredictable USA, by a FOSS project, not company.

Martin Angelo 🏳️‍🌈Dec 17

@harmone @Number1SummerJam @nixCraft

Not solving "we need it now" (Alpha version targeted for Summer 2026), but https://ladybird.org/ might cover some of your criterias. Downsides seem to be: 1. based in US (but as a non-profit organization) and 2. The current architecture doesn't plan for windows and mobile versions. Future plans to develop versions for non unix-like environments will require very big efforts ("considerable changes required to make it work well outside a Unix-like env…")

Ladybird

Ladybird is a truly independent web browser, backed by a non-profit.

DFX4509B (Joshua Mason)Dec 18

@nixCraft @Number1SummerJam @harmone

...and we need it now before Google orders Mozilla to block uBlock Origin in Firefox.

Couldn't Google just *buy* Firefox at this point, and then close the source down?

Lorraine Lee Dec 20

@nixCraft @Number1SummerJam Like the Democrats, they're "controlled opposition."

astoundingteam.com/2022/07/22/…

Mozilla is like the Democratic Party – In Defense of Anagorism

Zło To 🏴‍☠️ ᵗʰʳᵉᵉᶠᶦᵈᵈʸ Dec 17

@nixCraft firefox has a bunch of derivatives, they should all meet and take over the main development

1nine6three Dec 17

@nixCraft i would like to reply: there is no more need to think any further in this matter, especially for me, I am not longer using Firefox. But what gives, you have so many loyal Users, you’ll barely see any difference even after threatening them like you did. Please carry on.

1nine6three Dec 17

@nixCraft i would like to reply: there is no more need to think any further in this matter, especially for me, I am not longer using Firefox. But what gives, you have so many loyal Users, you’ll barely see any difference even after threatening them like you did. Please carry on.

1nine6three Dec 17

@nixCraft i would like to reply: there is no more need to think any further in this matter, especially for me, I am not longer using Firefox. But what gives, you have so many loyal Users, you’ll barely see any difference even after threatening them like you did. Please carry on.

@nixCraft crazy!

Eric Schutte Dec 17

@nixCraft
Deleted #Firefox, installed #Waterfox.

ity [unit X-69] - VIOLENT FUCK Dec 17

@nixCraft oh wow the new one is even stupider than the last one ?

@nixCraft I'm pretty sure that number has some very bad assumptions. If he blocked the blockers, the people he thinks would have generated him the extra revenue would have largely abandoned his product.

Eric McCorkle Dec 17

Here we have a little fishie who fancies himself a shark, who thinks that just because we can swim when it suits our purpose to do so, that we must play by the rules of his pond.

He's about to find out why OSS can't be monopolized, bought out, coerced, or bribed.

Morten Juhl-Johansen Dec 17

@nixCraft It does have a Trumpian "sure, we could nuke them. We're not going to do that, 'cause we're nice guys, but, I mean, if we wanted, we could totally do that" vibe

11SprongingProngs11 Dec 18

Yeah maybe we shouldn't stand for the emotional abuse.

vepř jako pepř Dec 17

@nixCraft servo seems like a good rally point, it is embeddable

2something Dec 17

@nixCraft Reminds me of ~10 years ago, some folks were complaining that the rulebook to a certain tabletop RPG was badly edited, making it hard to understand the rules. Players requested that the publisher release errata to fix the editing errors, with some going as far as saying they would not buy another product from that publisher until they saw errata.

The co-owner of the publisher said (paraphrased) "We only issue errata when the first printing sells out and we do a reprint. If you don't buy the book as it is, we will never sell out, and it will be your fault that we don't publish errata!"

Hans van Zijst Dec 17

@nixCraft 🐧 Maybe I read it the wrong way, but he says he could block ad blockers to win 150M, but he doesn't.

What exactly are you criticizing here? His choice not to block ad blockers? You think he should do that and take the 150M?

SethMelton Dec 17

@hans I agree I don't see this as a threat at all.

Hans van Zijst Dec 17

@SethMelton Vivaldi goes all in, saying "our roadmap: not AI". That's a silly promise they can't keep, mark my words.

Firefox makes AI optional, so users can choose whether or not to use it, and if so: which model.

@nixCraft 🐧

SethMelton (@[email protected])

1.7K Posts, 291 Following, 75 Followers · SE, MI Girl Dad, Music Lover, Linux / FOSS Lover Jack of all trades, master of none. :f91w: :linux: :fedora: :gnome: :nixos: : :fosstodon: :fediverse: :garfield: :homeassistant: :matrix: :vim: :xscreensaver:

Fosstodon

11SprongingProngs11 Dec 18

What a privledge :)

SethMelton Dec 18

Nothing was said that indicates a change… yet. Don’t get me wrong I assume Mozilla is almost always going to make the wrong choice now. He’s stating a fact we all know to be true. I like to take a more measured approach to these statements. So far they haven’t taken that route, which is true.

@hans Mozilla is under a magnifying glass, at the moment, partially deservedly so — they keep making choices that rub their most vocal and loyal users the wrong way. They add ML stuff but it's not opt-in, you have to dive into deeper settings to disable all of it. The whole thing with the TOS change. Them buying an ad company. Them axing 30% of their staff, but not the highly paid management.

We're at a certain point in a certain timeline where almost all, if not all, for-profit companies start shitting (or intensify their shitting) on their users, people are understandably wary. And people expect Mozilla, of all companies, to not shit on them, but the track record isn't stellar.

Hans van Zijst Dec 17

@Max I get that, I'm anxiously following what's happening. I've used Firefox since it was called Netscape (yes, even before the "Navigator" bit was added), and I don't see many alternatives for it these days.

Mozilla is in a difficult position, living mostly off what Google, their biggest competitor by far, gives them.

It's pretty impossible to be friends with everybody, I'm sure they're trying to keep as many friends as possible.

AI or no AI, that is the question.

The idea of adding the functionality but leaving the choice to use it to the user, seems a fantastic solution to me.

@hans Yeah, I've been using it for a while, as well — 0.96 if I'm not mistaken, no idea why that particular version number got stuck in my head.

Anyway, yes, fully agreed that there should be choice, that it's good that FF still offers that, I'd just be so much happier if that stuff was opt-in, not opt-out and partially hidden like it is now. That just reeks of dark patterns.

cynical melomaniac

@nixCraft Mozilla having a for-profit side might unironically kill them.

Nick Karpowicz Dec 17

@nixCraft Just switched to Waterfox. Might consider Firefox again if this CEO is fired.

11SprongingProngs11 Dec 18

Don't hold your breath, though.

@nixCraft Is this guy a moron? Literally only reason Firefox exists is adblockers, privacy and lack of cloud and ai bullshit. Screw that up and they'll lose the remaining user share they even still have...

@nixCraft I invite all my friends to read my article _"Why I Stopped Using Firefox and Adopted Brave (and Librewolf for Enhanced Privacy)"_

https://pepo.xyz/posts/why-i-switched-from-firefox-to-brave-and-librewolf

Why I Stopped Using Firefox and Adopted Brave (and Librewolf for Enhanced Privacy) - Pepo Blog

This article explains the author's decision to stop using Firefox after new Terms of Use raised concerns about data handling. It details how Brave now serves as the everyday browser for its robust, privacy-focused defaults, while Librewolf is used for tasks that demand extra security.

The Blog of Pepo

nicole mikołajczyk 🔜 linux app summit ➡️ piwo ➡️ gpn Dec 17

@p3p0 @nixCraft you switched from Firefox to a product of a company doing advertisment business?

mausmalone Dec 17

@mkljczk @p3p0 @nixCraft then watermarked obvious AI slop for the thumbnail.

John Deters Dec 20

@mkljczk @p3p0 @nixCraft Don't forget that Brave is also pushing cryptocurrency. Worse than AI on my scale of bad stuff.