
Mozilla: The Greatest Tech Company Left Behind - kiyanwang
https://medium.com/young-coder/mozilla-the-greatest-tech-company-left-behind-9e912098a0e1
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rvz
> How could an organization that had its hand in so many world-changing
> technologies fail to thrive?

The reasons are simply because:

(A): The users don't care about the technologies (Firefox, Rust, Privacy)

(B): No one wants to pay for a web browser; i.e Mozilla can't monetize it.

Which is why they rely on a partnership with Google (as the default search
engine on Firefox) to fund the majority of their operations. This is similar
to how Google is paying Apple to be the default search engine in Safari on iOS
[0] but the figure for Mozilla is much less [1] than with Apple.

From a high-level standpoint of Mozilla's future, it is literally in Google's
hands and they also compete against them. Why use Firefox when there is
Chrome? Rust, Firefox and Privacy are really not selling points here for the
user who doesn't care about the "technologies".

At the end of the day, Mozilla has to stand on its own if it wants to live
true to its mission of "privacy" rather than taking funds from a privacy
hostile company.

[0] [https://assets.mozilla.net/annualreport/2018/mozilla-
fdn-201...](https://assets.mozilla.net/annualreport/2018/mozilla-
fdn-2018-short-form-final-0926.pdf)

[1] [https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/1/21310591/apple-google-
sear...](https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/1/21310591/apple-google-search-
engine-safari-iphone-deal-billions-regulation-antitrust)

~~~
luckylion
> (B): No one wants to pay for a web browser; i.e Mozilla can't monetize it.

Has Mozilla ever tried? Opera tried and wasn't unsuccessful - and that was
back when the web was much, much smaller than it is today, so a much smaller
audience.

Given that people are happy to pay for (in comparison) trivial apps, even when
free alternatives are available, I don't see why that wouldn't work for
browsers.

Edit: I mean as Mozilla, after Netscape. Netscape wasn't able to compete
technologically with IE6, Mozilla is competitive today.

