[takluyver]

So the monetary part of your plan is to get subsidies from the EU, to the tune of maybe $100 million per year, if we optimistically assume that you can keep going with several times less revenue.

Google, irritated by your ad-blocking-by-default, sues you. Maybe directly about the damage to their business model, maybe over the state aid you're getting from the EU. Whether or not they ultimately prevail, they can definitely tie you up for years spending lots of money on lawyers.

Meanwhile, Google's websites aren't working so well in your browser. Your support for CSS 9 and Javascript 11 was in an optional upgrade, and a load of users haven't upgraded. Even those who have are noticing problems. You suspect Google is deliberately degrading the experience, but the only chance of proving that or stopping it is another big court case. Meanwhile, users who use GMail or Youtube (i.e. most users) are slipping away.

Neither Apple nor Google are convinced they are on the wrong path on mobile.

[jacquesm]

How much money would it take to run a FireFox Inc. laser focused on just the browser?

Google is welcome to sue, they can do that anyway. But since the user is free to install any browser Google would be in very hot water with the EU anti-trust commission if they decided to mess with that right by targeting FireFox with default ad-block. I highly doubt they would do that, and if FF were 'my' company (which is the theory here) then I'd be happy to take that gamble. It would also provide some very much needed free advertising that FireFox are 'the good guys' and Google is 'the bad guys'.

FWIW I've been sued by large companies in the past and successfully gained the upper hand every time. The trick is to know how to enter that battle. One possible way would be to move the FF headquarters and legal seat to Brussels, Belgium.

Good luck with that lawsuit.

Google's websites are still supposed to be standards compliant. Users have the option to stay on their older browsers but will - of course - at some point notice that. But Google - wary of that anti-trust law - will do what they can to ensure that their stuff still works. Which they do today as well.

Apple and Google own mobile. To believe that they can be unseated there on the kind of budget that FireFox Inc, can dispose of is not going to get you a good outcome.

[GordonS]

> FWIW I've been sued by large companies in the past and successfully gained the upper hand every time. The trick is to know how to enter that battle.

OT, but this sounds very interesting! Have you by chance blogged about these experiences, or posted them on HN? I'd love to read more!

[jacquesm]

I think I have about one case, but very indirectly:

https://jacquesmattheij.com/when-crisis-hits/

https://jacquesmattheij.com/my-brush-with-a-patent-troll/

The most interesting one isn't mentioned in either of those, in a nutshell, one arm of Logitech sued us for Trademark infringement because our 'mascot' Chico looked too much like their camera. At the same time another arm of Logitech was making all kinds of ouvertures.

I played the one against the other and ended up with a super good relationship with Logitech upper management (board, two of the directors and founders). I guess they liked the fact that we didn't roll over just like that because they were a 500 pound gorilla. In the end the relationship worked out in our favor, Logitech did invest in a company called Spotlife and when that went belly up they sent us the traffic for nearly a decade.

Finally, I had a run-in with KPN, at the time the largest telco in nl (probably still are) and forced them to pay 300K, a lot of money at the time.

There were some other lawsuits but with smaller parties. We won all of them, mostly because if there was a chance of losing a suit we would simply find another way to solve them, preferably by standing next to much larger people who would take care of the problem long before we had to get worried.