cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/46655413

The Mozilla Foundation, the non-profit arm of the Firefox browser maker Mozilla, has laid off 30% of its employees as the organization says it faces a “relentless onslaught of change.”

      • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
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        18 days ago

        Let’s just separate GOOG from Chrome / Chromium and Google Search completely. So that the direction of the most used browser, most used search engine and the biggest advertiser don’t circle jerk each other.

      • Gemini24601@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        Also, Ladybird is looking very promising, so in a few years we should have a true fourth browser engine.

    • T156@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      If Mozilla does become defunct, it does raise the question of whether Chrome would be considered a Google monopoly, and therefore subject to antitrust legislation.

      I can’t imagine any governments would look kindly upon internet access being guarded behind a single company’s product.

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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        18 days ago

        I can’t imagine any governments would look kindly upon internet access being guarded behind a single company’s product.

        laughs in 2001

      • douglasg14b@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        Google should be subject to antitrust legislation regardless.

        Their position as a monopoly is what enables this.

      • WldFyre@lemm.ee
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        18 days ago

        Splitting Chrome from Google wouldn’t make Chrome not a monopoly, though, right?

        • T156@lemmy.world
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          18 days ago

          The split might leave a monopoly still, if it’s the only major browser.

          • ChapulinColorado@lemmy.world
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            18 days ago

            It would be a lot easier to compete with though, since Google couldn’t treat it as a loss leader that still bring them in search revenue by default.

      • ravhall@discuss.online
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        18 days ago

        There is a new browser based on WebKit (safari), called Orion that looks promising. However, it’s only on macOS and iOS at this point. Hopefully Linux and Android will be a consideration at some point.

        • grue@lemmy.world
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          18 days ago

          Chrome’s engine was originally forked from WebKit. That makes them too similar (even years later) for WebKit to count as a real alternative.

          • ravhall@discuss.online
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            18 days ago

            The point is to leave a google controlled ecosystem… which means it counts as a valid alternative. What would you suggest besides chromium and gecko?

          • bamboo@lemm.ee
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            18 days ago

            I strongly disagree with this. In practice, supporting chrome does not imply supporting safari and vice versa. In particular, Safari is much, much slower about adopting new web technologies. Google basically implements support for anything they can think up, Apple waits for it become a ratified standard and then implements it only if they want to. Their JavaScript implementations are also completely different.

      • drathvedro@lemm.ee
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        18 days ago

        They could try to employ some kind of Apple defense, like, you wouldn’t hit Apple for having monopoly on iOS. As long as it’s not the only solution on the market. And for web, most of time, you could access the same resources and get similar experience by downloading… the apps… wait, they have a monopoly on that, too. Well, they are completely screwed in that case.

      • ravhall@discuss.online
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        18 days ago

        That’s good. Are you happy with the built-in privacy, or do you find extensions are needed?

        I’d still argue it’s chromium.

        • grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org
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          17 days ago

          I’m happy with the built-in privacy, muchly because I’m using it on a work computer so I have no expectation of real privacy anyway.

          And fair.

  • PetteriPano@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    Gee, I can’t imagine why they chose to drop this bomb today.

    It’s like they wanted it to be drowned in other news.

  • linearchaos@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    I suspect their financial position has changed. Perhaps Google’s being found as a monopoly has made them decide not to help fund Mozilla’s efforts as substantially.

    Ashley Boyd lead the advocacy team, here’s the kind of stuff they were doing:

    https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/mozilla-welcomes-ashley-boyd-vp-of-advocacy/

    In fall of 2016, Mozilla fought for common-sense copyright reform in the EU, creating public education media that engaged over one million citizens and sending hundreds of rebellious selfies to EU Parliament. Earlier in 2016, Mozilla launched a public education campaign around encryption and emerged as a staunch ally of Apple in the company’s clash with the FBI. Mozilla has also fought for mass surveillance reform, net neutrality and data retention reform.

    https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/05/mozilla-foundation-lays-off-30-staff-drops-advocacy-division/

    “The Mozilla Foundation is reorganizing teams to increase agility and impact as we accelerate our work to ensure a more open and equitable technical future for us all. That unfortunately means ending some of the work we have historically pursued and eliminating associated roles to bring more focus going forward,” read the statement shared with TechCrunch.

    Reading between the lines, I’d keep an eye on them collecting your data and consider one of the privacy-focused forks.

  • Reygle@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    All of my favorite browsers are forks of Firefox. Lately it’s been Zen browser. Watching Firefox smoulder and collapse over the years has been truly painful and makes me fear a chromium future in hell.

    • Nino477@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      Same. In the late 2000s or so my father knew ot so much about computers so some family friend set it up and he installed Firefox. I ve been using Firefox my whole life since. I tried switching to ungoogled chromeium, Brave and cromite on mobile but just can’t. Like Firefox and its forks are in my muscle memory. It’s over. I won’t be able to use the internet anymore. Bye guys 👋

  • snowcrushed573@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    Everytime I see comments regarding Mozilla’'s financials,I have the same effing question: How does a company like brave or opera maintain their browser ?? AFAIK both don’t have the level of community backing that Mozilla does nor do they have any (again AFAIK) agreement with a company like google for default search engine placement

    • sibachian@lemmy.ml
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      18 days ago

      those are just rebranded chrome(ium). all browsers except firefox and safari are rebranded chromium or firefox. edit: there are some other projects but none are mature.

      • tb_@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        Apple also maintains their own browser engine, but that’s Apple.

          • tb_@lemmy.world
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            18 days ago

            Ah, I guess I read over the first bit to where you mentioned the rebrands, which didn’t include Safari.

            To still add some useful information: all browsers on iOS are rebranded Safari, because Apple only permits their own browser engine.

            (The EU ruling may change this, however)

    • douglasg14b@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      They use chromium.

      Firefox does not.

      The grand majority of software engineering effort goes into the browser development that they never have to work on for the most part.

    • fatalicus@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      Brave just tries to scam their users for money.

      Like when they added “donate to the content creator” links on YouTube and such, then didn’t actually give the money to the content creators.

    • morrowind@lemmy.ml
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      18 days ago

      Alongside what the other guy said, Opera definitely does have search engine deals, idk about brave since they launched their own. But brave has their own private advertising system

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      BTW, about Opera - the newest events with OpenAI and other stuff and Winamp devs not being prosecuted for GPL violations all lead me to one thought.

      Are leaked Presto sources really-really illegal to use?

  • Marthirial@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    Their question is: how much would you pay for not using a Chromium based browser?

    People switching to the browser and zapping all ads, demanding open source and vitriol for any kind of monetization. How can they survive? They would have to become a subsidized utility, which not even the Internet as a whole has achieved.

    • panicnow@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      I get not wanting to use a google, microsoft or crypto laden browser, but I would be willing to use a well supported browser that used chromium as the page rendering engine. It seems to be extremely difficult to get another engine to be competitive in the marketplace. Maybe the resources would be better spent putting the chromium engine inside a different container. I’m sure there would be drawbacks, but I think there would be compatibility benefits too.

    • GreenKnight23@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      well you see. all the cool kids are laying off staff and Mozilla wants to hang out at their pool next summer.

  • hypertown@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    I really wish Mozilla the best but if it were to fail I sure hope Ladybird will be stable by then.

  • btaf45@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    Why the heck did Mozilla need 120 employees for anyway? I hate that Firefox is updated so often because I always get Firefox Update Fatigue. I hope that fewer employees means fewer Firefox updates.