[abdullahkhalids]

> Tangentually, I wish Mozilla also offered paid email hot (or email with a premium plan), which is another service that requires a lot of trust. It would help provide alternative sources of income to keep Firefox alive.

1. If Mozilla email is used to support Firefox in part, then it will be overpriced. I am not sure if many would like to pay more than a token amount for charity.

2. Generally, software companies have increased tendency and incentive to horizontally expand because of the low barriers of entry. These incentives and tendencies are exactly what led to Microsoft and Google become these monopolies that exploit other players in the market to their advantage. I would rather Mozilla remain small, neither vertically integrated (like that attempt at FirfoxOS), or horizontally integrate (like offering email on top of a browser). I say this as someone who uses Thunderbird as their primary email client. The bazaar model of software development protects user freedoms more than the Cathedral model.

[partialrecall]

> 1. If Mozilla email is used to support Firefox in part, then it will be overpriced.

That's true only if a typical commercial email provider has no profit margin, which I don't believe to be the case.

[criley2]

Firefox is successfully funded by Google through selling default search options. Unless Firefox's revenue were to suddenly and dramatically drop I don't see why they'd need to increase new product prices to fund an already funded project.

And Google, of course, with a 50 state anti-trust probe opening against them, would probably fund Firefox for free just to desperately promote the idea of competition. I'm reminded about how Microsoft funded Apple during the MS monopoly era as a "see, we have competition" response to investigators.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/29/steve-jobs-and-bill-gates-wh...

https://www.wired.com/2009/08/dayintech-0806/