Whatever it takes to get reduce their reliance on Google. Mozilla’s goals are at odds with the direction in which Google is taking Chrome, so their dependency on Google is unhealthy at best.
This. And since I've been looking for a new VPN provider after recent issues with PIA and NordVPN, I'd be happy to pay Mozilla for it. I've also heard a lot of good things about Mullvad so I'm definitely a customer when it's available here.
I still have a PIA subscription for a few months, which I'm now planning on using until this becomes available in more regions (+ on more platforms, Linux and Android in my case), but as soon as it does, I'll be happy to switch over.
It's a great idea to use Firefox like Wirecutter, as a recommendation for the best of each service type. Combine that with some thin interface over the top, like an OS, to control all the services you subscribe to with unified billing. Password leaks, manager, file sharing, bookmark sync, vpn, dns, newsfeed. Now a new person starting out on the internet doesnt need to learn about haveibeenpwned, dropbox, mullvad, cloudflare, and facebook/pocket. They can let Firefox (hopefully) select the best of each product type, and white label it as part of the Firefox family.
I feel we have reached peak Firefox. I have no qualms about supporting Mozilla by going with their VPN offering, even it costs a little more. I don't particularly have any objections to some of the recent features like Monitor, DoH, Sync etc. Once the rollout of their VPN product is complete, sometime next year, I would expect them to work with what they have at hand, rather than having too many balls in the air ie. instead of chasing down Chrome or integrating even more services, I hope they will concentrate on staying close to their values and committed to strengthening the core products.
Money is a necessary evil, choices must be made.