Isn't it actually whoever will pay the most to be the default search? I mean, I <3 google search, but i'd bet microsoft could pony up quite a bit of cash as well.
Once upon a time, you could come across a post like this and confidently respond to it by pointing out that, no, Google's position as the default search engine in Firefox is not for sale to the highest bidder. So that even if, e.g.:
a) the "deal" with Google had never happened, and
b) Microsoft came out of nowhere and began offering to pay what Google is actually presently paying (or, let's say, just for fun, even double or triple that), all while
c) Google were making no offer to start paying
... then Google would still be the default search engine in Firefox, regardless.
Years ago, Google was head and shoulders above all other search engines. Today Google's competition are almost as good, so other parameters might affect Mozilla's search engine defaults.
We are not talking about whether or not other search engines are probably, maybe now in a better place to compete with Google in terms of quality. Let's assume that they are, even. In fact, let's assume that they are, in fact, better. What we are talking about is this question:
Is the default search position in Firefox for sale to the highest bidder?
If Bing today is the better search engine, or if it's slightly inferior to Google, or if your perspective is that when Bing debuted it was terrible and it's even worse today--these are all absolutely immaterial. They have no bearing on the answer to this question.
Well the set of Mozillians today is not the same as the set of Mozillians in 2009, which is not the same as the set of Mozillians in 2004. It's such a facile thing point out, but it has a huge impact on a project.
Then, it's another very facile thing, but a person involved with Mozilla today who was involved X years ago differs from themselves by X years of experiences. X years' difference also produce X years' worth of changes in the externalities on a project. For example, what impact did the timbre of HN alone have on Mozilla in 2011? What impact was it having in 2008?
So pick how far back you want to go, and then enumerate events that have happened since then. The establishment of Mozilla Corporation. Key developers exiting the project to go work on what would become Chrome. Working with Google on VP8 before the public announcement at Google I/O 2010. The reality of a company that had a couple hundred employees or so for years and then quickly grew to one that now has 1000+, and dealing with that. The shift in focus from the Internet to a focus on the Web, and coping with a lack of influence on the direction of both. The shift in focus on users to a focus on designers and Web developers. The not-terrible idea but also not-amazing idea to try out directory tiles, then dooming it and destroying all kinds of public goodwill in a single stroke by doing this: < https://blog.mozilla.org/advancingcontent/2014/02/11/publish... >. Coping with a number of other failed projects and initiatives over the years like: Theora+VP8 for free video, BrowserID, Do Not Track and changes to third-party cookie policy, and Firefox OS.
Those are some changes Mozilla has been through.
(Note that this is a list of changes Mozilla has gone through, not a "list of bad things about Mozilla". If I were trying to make that kind of list, there are things on there that I wouldn't have put there, and things that aren't on there that should be. But it's not that kind of a list.)
> Don't forget that a large chunk of Mozilla's revenue comes from Google
I'd love to support Mozilla as much as possible, but no way I'm keeping the default Google-search when you have stuff like DDG around.
Hopefully me wanting privacy doesn't impact Mozilla's financials too hard. Firefox + DDG only seems like the most natural combination: both are powerful and privacy-centric.
IMHO, Mozilla only appears to be privacy centric, in reality the way they hide the 3rd-party-cookie on-by-default setting shows that the user's privacy is not their top priority. I'm pretty sure that they are paid for hiding it like that and not blocking third party cookies by default (like Safari).
Disappointing.
The slogan on their page ("Committed to you, your privacy and an open Web") sounds hollow when considering this and their recent support for DRM.
Plus it doesn't forbid people to make a donation to support the software they like right ? That's what I do, knowing FFx isn't making any money from me, and knowing that I'm using years and years of development is a good enough reason for me.
When you donate it goes to Mozilla Foundation while search deal money goes to Mozilla Corporation AFAIK.
That means they actually need donations for the foundation to run (but its not 800 employees so its much less money). Legally you can't fund the Foundation with the Corporation money - since that would make 2 Corporation and zero Foundation then :)
I don't know if the opposite is possible (send donations from Foundation to the Corporation) but I suspect it has the same problem/effect.
> Legally you can't fund the Foundation with the Corporation money
The Foundation is the sole owner of the Corporation. The Corporation pays dividends to the Foundation.
Now the amount of those dividends can't be too much if the Foundation wants to keep its nonprofit status. "Too much" is determined by how much people donate: the restriction is on fraction of money that comes from non-donations.
(Disclaimer: as a Mozilla employee, that includes my salary :)