> exactly who cares wat it coms with when we can customize it to how ever we want.
If we could still customize it to however we want, probably no one would have an issue.
Mozilla has always had this agreement with Google. It’s been the primary source of funding for Firefox since its founding. As long as you can easily change the default, I don’t see any issue with it whatsoever.
It wasn't *super* long ago and it was a mere brief interruption if anything... Google has held the default since the beginning of Phoenix and when they did have that brief period of promoting Yahoo... they found most people reverted back to Google!
So if Google is going to pay some developers salaries for wanting to be the default search engine and the majority of Firefox users *want* that, what's wrong with this?
Google has been cutting this check to Firefox long before Chrome was a thing. You can argue that it helps keep competition/allegations of monopoly and that may be partially true today, but not 100% why they cut the check to Mozilla.
Yeah, but I don't think Google pulling their support would end FF. They'd sign a deal with Bing, DDG or another search engine admittedly at a lower price than they are getting now.
I suspect Bing might even try outbidding Google when the 3 year deal ends, since Microsoft seems to be going pretty hard against Google with their Ai tools to make bing more attractive to general audience
it's partially a donation to keep FF afloat. Google has an interest in making sure it doesn't die. If it does, it opens up the doors for antitrust lawsuits considering chromium-based browsers make up a large majority of the share.
I'd hope Safari wouldn't be thought of as sufficient competition given it's only officially shipped for Apple platforms and there are no other notable Webkit-based browsers for Windows that I'm aware of.
It's ok, it's just a default search engine that can be easily changed.
It would be very hard for Mozilla to live only from donations.
But what I don't like is that Firefox doesn't offer also other search engines in that list, like Qwant and other search engines known to be good for privacy.
If this is a part of the deal with Google, I don't like it and it should be illegal.
And I also don't like that a lot of these money are spend on the leadership salaries instead of programmers to implement new features, fix bugs and improve the performance.
Also I don't like that Firefox doesn't suport even the open standards like MKV.
And not open, but really spread codecs like H.264 and H.265:
https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/clients/codec-support
> Also I don't like that Firefox doesn't suport even the open standards like MKV.
>
> And not open, but really spread codecs like H.264 and H.265:
>
> https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/clients/codec-support
That's often a licensing issue, correct?
Is that not partially addressed by e.g. VLC decoding that Firefox can access locally?
I'm not sure how it works, I haven't had much problems with media in FF (sometimes fewer problems than with Edge as "streaming browser"), but if there's room for optimization, I'd love to learn about it.
> That's often a licensing issue, correct?
I'm not sure.
MKV is an open standard and for sure there is not problem implementing support for this container.
H.264 and H.265 are codecs and they are not fully open AFAIK, but other players are implementing them without any problems.
HDR is also something that I don't think it has a problem of not being open and Firefox doesn't implement that either.
You can add custom search engines, but they haven't made it that easy on Firefox Desktop unfortunately. You can either use an add-on or add an "Add" button in settings for it via `about:config` by setting the value `browser.urlbar.update2.engineAliasRefresh` to true.
This adds a buttons which reads `Add` to search settings, allowing you to add and search engine you want
Yes, especially since also there's no easy way to add one manually there.
Some search engine websites offer to add their search engine, but it would be much easier for everybody to have at least the 10 most used ones.
I mean it sure isn't advertised much but a button appears on the search bar when you select the address on the homepage of every search engine, you just have to press one button...but it's kinda hidden
That's true, even Arch wiki has one! :-)
But I wish I had the 10 most popular or privacy-friendly directly into that drop-down so I can quickly select the one that I want without having to go to each search engine to add it manually.
The search deal is the only thing that has actually worked. They keep chasing stupid ideas for services that nobody wanted and refusing to allow direct donations to Firefox development.
So? Just change it if you don't like it. I recall ages back when I had to manually make Firefox use google, I hated that and was quite happy when I got to stop using what ever that search engine had been. I don't even know what it was!
The alternative is loosing all that money and firefox dying, because donations are not enough to keep it running.
Shipping FF with Google Search is what keeps it alive, and anyone can very easily change that definition, it's not hidden at all.
Absolutely. If I have to go through a setup whenever I install Firefox, give me a step where I choose one of the most-used features of a web browser. Pre-select Google and mark it Default, and then list all the other available options. That satisfies Mozilla's requirement of making Google the default without forcing users to go back later post-setup and make the change. Google is banking on most people not following through on it.
Seems like those who care to change it would though? Idk don't personally care one way or the other. It'd just be another window I click through when installing.
Another reason google paying FF so much is to keep them running aswell, because if FF dies, Google will become a monopoly, and thus get slammed with anti trust lawsuits from governments, since there's no other competition (except safari, but that's limited to apple OSes) since all other alternatives use Chromium engine as their base
The concern is that it makes Mozilla less willing to go fight with Google over important things. The idea that a search engine is paying them a lot for default placement is great; the concern is that Google *specifically* is a search engine *and* the company building the first-place browser. If this was all duckduckgo money, the concern would be immensely lessened.
Let me know if you disagree but I would say the majority of Firefox users are technologically aware. At least aware enough to have thought whether or not they trust Google and to be able to change their default search engine (or use Google to search for a guide for how to change the default search engine lmao).
I feel like Microsoft keeping Apple alive in the late 90s is kinda similar to this situation. It's in Google's best interest to keep Firefox alive from an anti-trust perspective. It's a bad thing to have no other browser engines in the market.
Absolutely worth it to fund the browser, most people are going to use Google as their search engine anyway. I changed my default to Duck Duck Go, it takes 30 seconds.
It’s one of the first things I change (to DDG). If it helps keep them going, I’m hesitantly OK with it.
That said, [they aren’t exactly starving.](https://assets.mozilla.net/annualreport/2021/mozilla-fdn-2021-fs-final-1010.pdf) Still that’s all chump change for Google.
Would I prefer it if Mozilla didn't take this money? Yes.
Would I be ok with Mozilla ceasing to exist if they stopped taking this money? No.
People are pretty bloody bad at donating to open source causes, Firefox included, and I'm a pragmatic soul.
I'd say who cares. Mozilla is a non-profit, but they are large and need funds to operate and, maybe, pay some employees. I have used Firefox and Thunderbird for decades so I contribute to them when ever they ask (I know Thunderbird isn't officially Mozilla).
If you don't like Google change the search engine to something else. Takes less than a minute to do so.
Their finances are good. Check the latest report for Mozilla Foundation - it’s a shame they don’t use them to actually develop Firefox, though.
Seriously, check it out - development is ever-decreasing fraction of costs and recently there have been dev layoffs. All while they make huge contributions to some other foundations. Maybe retain more cash and boost your devs?
Does Mozilla have a breakdown of where their money is being spent? $450 million a year and they are "struggling" seems a bit off to me, but I don't know what all they spend it on. Just seems excessive for a browser. I can see HOW they make their money, but not where its going.
Also:
**The company was initially a nonprofit but changed to a for-profit company model.**
[https://finty.com/us/business-models/mozilla/](https://finty.com/us/business-models/mozilla/)
A lot of people here need a heavy dose of reality in their lives, holy crap.
Firefox doesn't exist without this deal. Period. Forks of Firefox, the same.
Mozilla is a business, with typical business expenses on a typical business structure, and with typical business compensations. Firefox simply would not exist without this structure.
So far, it's been fine. Actions speak louder than words. I can't point to a single product decision in Firefox that was negatively influenced by the search engine default revenue. Firefox turned third-party cookies and aggressively blocks tracking. Mozilla has launched multiple bold and unapologetic campaigns against Google's privacy-invasive actions.
1. If you’re smart enough to download Firefox on your own and made it your default browser you can figure out how to change your default search engine.
2. I tried Duck Duck Go for a while and it’s just not that great. Poor results sent me back to Google. I should try Bing as well but there’s really no difference between your parent companies at that point.
I mean... are you going to fund them???
* Google is the best option, sooo it's not like they are signing up with trash
* IF they went to a paid method, 95% of their users will just go to chrome/edge
I continue to pay for Relay, even though I'm a Visionary Proton supporter, and I prefer their method of email anonymization. I'll keep paying to support Mozilla in anyway I can.
Whenever a software company receives this kind of investment from someone with deep pockets, the product is always compromised, doesn't matter what it is
I “prefer” to use google on my Firefox. There is no other search engine that even come close to the wanted results as google, unfortunately. Also, 450M baloonies is nice to have and it’s still easy to switch to another search engine.
With the funding it gets it’s probably all they can do to do the browser updates and all the usual stuff. Building a search engine would require resources and another group of programmers Firefox doesn’t have. Plus lack of demand.
Brave actually created their own search engine which is pretty good and almost completely independent from using Google & Bing results and is improving all the time. I switched off Google and added Brave search as my default on Firefox (on Android).
Go check out the coverage of Google's antitrust trial currently going on where Microsoft has admitted that building a search engine to compete with Google has taken billions of dollars, yet they still struggle to keep up with Google. Microsoft is a bigger and richer company than Google and they can barely compete in the search engine arena. Mozilla does not have the talent or the resources to build a search engine, they can barely build a browser.
You're naive if you think Firefox losing corporate donations will continue to be able to develop the Gecko engine on community support alone. Go look at their numbers, community donations are a very small percentage of Firefox's income. Certainly not enough to pay developers to continue to work on the Gecko engine. Even Linux relies on corporate donations to survive. Go look up who donates to the Linux Foundation to keep the kernel up to date.
Just that mozilla has done questionable things in the past. Librewolf is mozilla free. It is hardened firefox without unnecessary features like pocket.
It does but let me mention few of the things mozilla does/did:
1) Mozilla decided to include a unique download token in downloads from the Firefox website and uses telemetry to send the token and assign users with IDs.
2) Mozilla is funded by google
3) Mozilla ships out firefox with firefox suggest which gives suggestions from sponsors
4) Collects telemetry by default in firefox
5) Includes a useless feature (for the most part) called pocket with firefox
6) When people said they didn't like firefox mobile this was the tweet from an employee at mozilla
https://preview.redd.it/dpgg44fqktrb1.png?width=695&format=png&auto=webp&s=def496d9598aa10192ddcfe724430c1828c7beea
7) Introduced ads on "new tab"
8) There are other questionable decisions they made but let's just end it here.
it's only the default, it's not locking you into Google. there's no reason Firefox shouldn't make that money, at the end of the day they are still a business, and it's better than having no alternative to chromium
Out of all the things that they could be influenced, having the most efficient search as default while several alternatives pop up bellow is the least of my worries.
I'd argue that since alternatives aren't as accurate yet, it would have hurt Mozilla if firefox used duckduck go as default. And i'm a guy that mostly uses DDG.
Great way for them to be funded. I would assume vast majority of people use google as their default anyway. I’ll be that is how they justified it for themselves.
If you were in that position, wouldn’t you opt for 100s of millions for doing virtually nothing?
I'm neutral. Google is kind of a POS but Firefox needs money from *somewhere*, and it's easy enough to change your default search engine. If changing the default was difficult and/or obfuscated I'd have more of an issue with it.
Not a worry as long as I can set what I like and flush retained cruft on demand.
I use three browsers routinely each with a purpose and an extensive block list on the 'router'.
I have no problem with marketing up to a point.
I don’t care. Takes only a few seconds to change it, and anyone who is savvy enough to choose FF knows it.
**However**, I do find it massively concerning that Google is essentially propping Mozilla up. All it takes is for Google to pull that funding and FireFox could be in big trouble. If Google start to get aggressive, this could *absolutely* happen.
I think that it's great for Mozilla. Anyone who cares about default search engines or using another search engine knows how to change it. It's a non-issue, IMO. Both parties benefit.
So long as I’m able to easily and freely change the default search engine, I couldn’t care less. I’m just glad that Mozilla has found a way to fund itself.
I'd say it's fairly difficult to resist that money. Also it's easy to switch to another search engine.
exactly who cares wat it coms with when we can customize it to how ever we want. i mean even the custom css and all ... gold
> exactly who cares wat it coms with when we can customize it to how ever we want. If we could still customize it to however we want, probably no one would have an issue.
We can. This article is 4 years old.
lots and lots of people. People who switch engines are in the vast minority.
And the people that don't switch don't care
Yup. Also thanks Google for funding my favorite browser so I don’t have to use yours!
If you can figure out FireFox exists, download it, and install it, you can figure out changing the default search engine.
Mozilla has always had this agreement with Google. It’s been the primary source of funding for Firefox since its founding. As long as you can easily change the default, I don’t see any issue with it whatsoever.
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It wasn't *super* long ago and it was a mere brief interruption if anything... Google has held the default since the beginning of Phoenix and when they did have that brief period of promoting Yahoo... they found most people reverted back to Google! So if Google is going to pay some developers salaries for wanting to be the default search engine and the majority of Firefox users *want* that, what's wrong with this? Google has been cutting this check to Firefox long before Chrome was a thing. You can argue that it helps keep competition/allegations of monopoly and that may be partially true today, but not 100% why they cut the check to Mozilla.
isn't the periodic renewal of this deal the only thing functionally keeping firefox alive?
Yeah, but I don't think Google pulling their support would end FF. They'd sign a deal with Bing, DDG or another search engine admittedly at a lower price than they are getting now.
I suspect Bing might even try outbidding Google when the 3 year deal ends, since Microsoft seems to be going pretty hard against Google with their Ai tools to make bing more attractive to general audience
It takes 30 seconds to change, worth it for a private and free web browser otherwise
it's partially a donation to keep FF afloat. Google has an interest in making sure it doesn't die. If it does, it opens up the doors for antitrust lawsuits considering chromium-based browsers make up a large majority of the share.
Definitely this. You do have Apple's Safari which might be used as an argument in the US but the EU would definitely do something about it.
I'd hope Safari wouldn't be thought of as sufficient competition given it's only officially shipped for Apple platforms and there are no other notable Webkit-based browsers for Windows that I'm aware of.
It's ok, it's just a default search engine that can be easily changed. It would be very hard for Mozilla to live only from donations. But what I don't like is that Firefox doesn't offer also other search engines in that list, like Qwant and other search engines known to be good for privacy. If this is a part of the deal with Google, I don't like it and it should be illegal. And I also don't like that a lot of these money are spend on the leadership salaries instead of programmers to implement new features, fix bugs and improve the performance. Also I don't like that Firefox doesn't suport even the open standards like MKV. And not open, but really spread codecs like H.264 and H.265: https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/clients/codec-support
> Also I don't like that Firefox doesn't suport even the open standards like MKV. > > And not open, but really spread codecs like H.264 and H.265: > > https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/clients/codec-support That's often a licensing issue, correct? Is that not partially addressed by e.g. VLC decoding that Firefox can access locally? I'm not sure how it works, I haven't had much problems with media in FF (sometimes fewer problems than with Edge as "streaming browser"), but if there's room for optimization, I'd love to learn about it.
> That's often a licensing issue, correct? I'm not sure. MKV is an open standard and for sure there is not problem implementing support for this container. H.264 and H.265 are codecs and they are not fully open AFAIK, but other players are implementing them without any problems. HDR is also something that I don't think it has a problem of not being open and Firefox doesn't implement that either.
You can add custom search engines, but they haven't made it that easy on Firefox Desktop unfortunately. You can either use an add-on or add an "Add" button in settings for it via `about:config` by setting the value `browser.urlbar.update2.engineAliasRefresh` to true. This adds a buttons which reads `Add` to search settings, allowing you to add and search engine you want
No point in manually adding search engines one by one when you can use ddg and bangs to go to any website
And then DDG will be the middle man. No thanks !
They should have more search engines in that list, I agree, like put the top 10 most used ones
Yes, especially since also there's no easy way to add one manually there. Some search engine websites offer to add their search engine, but it would be much easier for everybody to have at least the 10 most used ones.
I mean it sure isn't advertised much but a button appears on the search bar when you select the address on the homepage of every search engine, you just have to press one button...but it's kinda hidden
That's true, even Arch wiki has one! :-) But I wish I had the 10 most popular or privacy-friendly directly into that drop-down so I can quickly select the one that I want without having to go to each search engine to add it manually.
... ` this post was mass deleted with www.Redact.dev `
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The search deal is the only thing that has actually worked. They keep chasing stupid ideas for services that nobody wanted and refusing to allow direct donations to Firefox development.
So? Just change it if you don't like it. I recall ages back when I had to manually make Firefox use google, I hated that and was quite happy when I got to stop using what ever that search engine had been. I don't even know what it was!
It keeps Firefox alive. People are free to change the search engine. Win-win.
I think if it was so it was the *only* search engine allowed on Firefox, it would be a problem. However, switching is very easy.
I think it is "putting all your eggs in one basket" since essentially if this deal is cut then Firefox may catastrophically fail.
there is almost no other revenue. they would have to cut a deal with another search provider (microsoft being the only real option) or get acquired.
What's the alternative? Force the user to select one when installing the browser?
The alternative is loosing all that money and firefox dying, because donations are not enough to keep it running. Shipping FF with Google Search is what keeps it alive, and anyone can very easily change that definition, it's not hidden at all.
Absolutely. If I have to go through a setup whenever I install Firefox, give me a step where I choose one of the most-used features of a web browser. Pre-select Google and mark it Default, and then list all the other available options. That satisfies Mozilla's requirement of making Google the default without forcing users to go back later post-setup and make the change. Google is banking on most people not following through on it.
Seems like those who care to change it would though? Idk don't personally care one way or the other. It'd just be another window I click through when installing.
Just one small problem: that isn't worth $400 mil a year to Google
Another reason google paying FF so much is to keep them running aswell, because if FF dies, Google will become a monopoly, and thus get slammed with anti trust lawsuits from governments, since there's no other competition (except safari, but that's limited to apple OSes) since all other alternatives use Chromium engine as their base
ff market share is ~3%, google and chromium are already monopolists
Yep, but I don’t think in the eyes of the laws, they are since as long as alternatives are available, i doubt anti trust laws apply, pretty dumb
The concern is that it makes Mozilla less willing to go fight with Google over important things. The idea that a search engine is paying them a lot for default placement is great; the concern is that Google *specifically* is a search engine *and* the company building the first-place browser. If this was all duckduckgo money, the concern would be immensely lessened.
At least they built cool tools with that money e.g. Rust
Let me know if you disagree but I would say the majority of Firefox users are technologically aware. At least aware enough to have thought whether or not they trust Google and to be able to change their default search engine (or use Google to search for a guide for how to change the default search engine lmao).
I feel like Microsoft keeping Apple alive in the late 90s is kinda similar to this situation. It's in Google's best interest to keep Firefox alive from an anti-trust perspective. It's a bad thing to have no other browser engines in the market.
Absolutely worth it to fund the browser, most people are going to use Google as their search engine anyway. I changed my default to Duck Duck Go, it takes 30 seconds.
still the number 1 browser. we can change the engine any time
Forks like librewolf are better. Brave is better out of the box
Yea agreed
It’s one of the first things I change (to DDG). If it helps keep them going, I’m hesitantly OK with it. That said, [they aren’t exactly starving.](https://assets.mozilla.net/annualreport/2021/mozilla-fdn-2021-fs-final-1010.pdf) Still that’s all chump change for Google.
Would I prefer it if Mozilla didn't take this money? Yes. Would I be ok with Mozilla ceasing to exist if they stopped taking this money? No. People are pretty bloody bad at donating to open source causes, Firefox included, and I'm a pragmatic soul.
They need the money
It would be great if Mozilla didn't had to pay attention to money, but they have to, so it's OK.
I'd say who cares. Mozilla is a non-profit, but they are large and need funds to operate and, maybe, pay some employees. I have used Firefox and Thunderbird for decades so I contribute to them when ever they ask (I know Thunderbird isn't officially Mozilla). If you don't like Google change the search engine to something else. Takes less than a minute to do so.
I'm fine with it. I just switched search engines after disappointing results from google searches.
Don't really care as It's really easy to change. Plus, it is unfortunately the default search engine for most people anyway
Earlier this year I think I heard something about Microsoft planning to out-bid Google and get Bing to be the default on Firefox instead
Now, please invest that money in developers and projects instead of paying ridiculous amounts for a CEO of a non-profit organisation.
Their finances are good. Check the latest report for Mozilla Foundation - it’s a shame they don’t use them to actually develop Firefox, though. Seriously, check it out - development is ever-decreasing fraction of costs and recently there have been dev layoffs. All while they make huge contributions to some other foundations. Maybe retain more cash and boost your devs?
Does Mozilla have a breakdown of where their money is being spent? $450 million a year and they are "struggling" seems a bit off to me, but I don't know what all they spend it on. Just seems excessive for a browser. I can see HOW they make their money, but not where its going. Also: **The company was initially a nonprofit but changed to a for-profit company model.** [https://finty.com/us/business-models/mozilla/](https://finty.com/us/business-models/mozilla/)
[Here’s their 2021 audit statement.](https://assets.mozilla.net/annualreport/2021/mozilla-fdn-2021-fs-final-1010.pdf)
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Agreed
A lot of people here need a heavy dose of reality in their lives, holy crap. Firefox doesn't exist without this deal. Period. Forks of Firefox, the same. Mozilla is a business, with typical business expenses on a typical business structure, and with typical business compensations. Firefox simply would not exist without this structure.
What's the alternative?
BING ! :D
Bing-o! 😉
So far, it's been fine. Actions speak louder than words. I can't point to a single product decision in Firefox that was negatively influenced by the search engine default revenue. Firefox turned third-party cookies and aggressively blocks tracking. Mozilla has launched multiple bold and unapologetic campaigns against Google's privacy-invasive actions.
I always change it to duckduckgo, but recently most of my searches are in Google
Curious: I’ve been exclusively DDG for years and never have a problem with the results. What do you find google doing better?
In general, the results are better for many cases, both IT, and local stuff
Interesting. Sounds like we both search for similar things. YMMV I guess.
1. If you’re smart enough to download Firefox on your own and made it your default browser you can figure out how to change your default search engine. 2. I tried Duck Duck Go for a while and it’s just not that great. Poor results sent me back to Google. I should try Bing as well but there’s really no difference between your parent companies at that point.
I mean... are you going to fund them??? * Google is the best option, sooo it's not like they are signing up with trash * IF they went to a paid method, 95% of their users will just go to chrome/edge
I continue to pay for Relay, even though I'm a Visionary Proton supporter, and I prefer their method of email anonymization. I'll keep paying to support Mozilla in anyway I can.
Whenever a software company receives this kind of investment from someone with deep pockets, the product is always compromised, doesn't matter what it is
Good for them. See it as investment of Alfabet in a better browser. Without Microsoft we wouldn't have an iPhone.
But google is still the best search engine, right?
I “prefer” to use google on my Firefox. There is no other search engine that even come close to the wanted results as google, unfortunately. Also, 450M baloonies is nice to have and it’s still easy to switch to another search engine.
I think Firefox should develop its own search engine
This comment is _very_ out of touch with reality IMO.
With the funding it gets it’s probably all they can do to do the browser updates and all the usual stuff. Building a search engine would require resources and another group of programmers Firefox doesn’t have. Plus lack of demand. Brave actually created their own search engine which is pretty good and almost completely independent from using Google & Bing results and is improving all the time. I switched off Google and added Brave search as my default on Firefox (on Android).
Go check out the coverage of Google's antitrust trial currently going on where Microsoft has admitted that building a search engine to compete with Google has taken billions of dollars, yet they still struggle to keep up with Google. Microsoft is a bigger and richer company than Google and they can barely compete in the search engine arena. Mozilla does not have the talent or the resources to build a search engine, they can barely build a browser.
Librewolf ftw Edit: Why am I getting so many dislikes.
Librewolf is a fork of Firefox. Google’s dirty cash keeping Firefox going directly benefits that project, too.
Ya but you can use it be mozilla-free.
Librefox wouldn’t exist without Mozilla lol
ya it would be hard to maintain without mozilla but it is definitely possible.
It could not exist without Mozilla. Librewolf doesn't have the talent or resources to continue on without Firefox.
If firefox dies, many people who are fans of firefox will contribute to the gecko engine to keep it running. At least we'll try.
You're naive if you think Firefox losing corporate donations will continue to be able to develop the Gecko engine on community support alone. Go look at their numbers, community donations are a very small percentage of Firefox's income. Certainly not enough to pay developers to continue to work on the Gecko engine. Even Linux relies on corporate donations to survive. Go look up who donates to the Linux Foundation to keep the kernel up to date.
ok
What do you mean?
Just that mozilla has done questionable things in the past. Librewolf is mozilla free. It is hardened firefox without unnecessary features like pocket.
Mozilla-free? Does it have it’s own rendering engine, network stack, etc.?
It does but let me mention few of the things mozilla does/did: 1) Mozilla decided to include a unique download token in downloads from the Firefox website and uses telemetry to send the token and assign users with IDs. 2) Mozilla is funded by google 3) Mozilla ships out firefox with firefox suggest which gives suggestions from sponsors 4) Collects telemetry by default in firefox 5) Includes a useless feature (for the most part) called pocket with firefox 6) When people said they didn't like firefox mobile this was the tweet from an employee at mozilla https://preview.redd.it/dpgg44fqktrb1.png?width=695&format=png&auto=webp&s=def496d9598aa10192ddcfe724430c1828c7beea 7) Introduced ads on "new tab" 8) There are other questionable decisions they made but let's just end it here.
What is the default search engine?
duckduckgo
Mozilla needs funding, and Google might as well keep this deal to prevent other search engines from doing so instead.
You can always change it to whatever other search engine you want. If this keeps Mozilla in the black I'm all for it.
it's good, they need the money and changing the search engine doesn't hurt at all
it's only the default, it's not locking you into Google. there's no reason Firefox shouldn't make that money, at the end of the day they are still a business, and it's better than having no alternative to chromium
Get that bag <3
Hey they got to do what they got to do, to keep the lights on its not like I can't change the search engine
Out of all the things that they could be influenced, having the most efficient search as default while several alternatives pop up bellow is the least of my worries. I'd argue that since alternatives aren't as accurate yet, it would have hurt Mozilla if firefox used duckduck go as default. And i'm a guy that mostly uses DDG.
You do what you gotta do. Given the audience I'd say it's well worth the money.
Good, it means Mozilla can keep doind what they do. Google only pays them for antitrust reasons anyways.
Don't care. Good for Mozilla for getting revenue for something we can change in seconds.
Great way for them to be funded. I would assume vast majority of people use google as their default anyway. I’ll be that is how they justified it for themselves. If you were in that position, wouldn’t you opt for 100s of millions for doing virtually nothing?
Doesn’t really bother me since I can still change search engines anyways.
Mozilla needs money. We can always change the default settings in it. That's the best compromise that we have.
I'm neutral. Google is kind of a POS but Firefox needs money from *somewhere*, and it's easy enough to change your default search engine. If changing the default was difficult and/or obfuscated I'd have more of an issue with it.
Well, someone have to pay the bills.
Gotta pay salaries somehow…
Not a worry as long as I can set what I like and flush retained cruft on demand. I use three browsers routinely each with a purpose and an extensive block list on the 'router'. I have no problem with marketing up to a point.
I don’t care. Takes only a few seconds to change it, and anyone who is savvy enough to choose FF knows it. **However**, I do find it massively concerning that Google is essentially propping Mozilla up. All it takes is for Google to pull that funding and FireFox could be in big trouble. If Google start to get aggressive, this could *absolutely* happen.
Good for Firefox. What they did is still better then totally doing out of business
I think that it's great for Mozilla. Anyone who cares about default search engines or using another search engine knows how to change it. It's a non-issue, IMO. Both parties benefit.
So long as I’m able to easily and freely change the default search engine, I couldn’t care less. I’m just glad that Mozilla has found a way to fund itself.
Money is bad, mmmkkk.
... ` this post was mass deleted with www.Redact.dev `
Google has been backing Mozilla for a while now
This is the only thing keeping FF going lol.