I mean, I'm not a big fan of it either. On the other hand, I want Firefox to continue to grow and be actively developed and supported. If not from sources like these - to me unobtrusive - ads, where else can their revenue come from?
Not trying to be controversial. Just asking. What business opportunities would we support Mozilla in that we'd be happy with?
While you're not wrong, it's not the right attitude.
I donate to Mozilla every year. It's not chump change either. It's the largest donation I make to an open source project. They are listed as beneficiaries in my will. When I make my donation this year, I'm going to tell them that they risk my next donation going elsewhere if they keep the path they are on.
The web is quickly becoming enshittified and we, users, have some say in this.
The Linux kernel is self supported without ads and many distros are able to make releases without ads. A browser that is our direct connection to each other and the world should be no different.
Librewolf is probably the best candidate but they rely on Firefox to continue developing. Maybe it's time to focus on Librewolf and try to get it working with Firefox.
I will not say that you're not doing the right thing, but I'd suggest reading the financial statements of Mozilla. If you think the way they're steering Firefox is an issue, you may find a few surprises in there.
There was/is a recent lawsuit against Google for paying other browsers to make google the default search engine, and I think it was ruled against Google. And that payment is like 81% of Mozilla's income. So if they have to stop those payments, Mozilla's is gonna have to find some other ways to make money or cut back massively on their budget. So while I don't like ads, if Mozilla has to do this to stay around, I'll support them. If I got any facts wrong here, someone please correct me.
The money that goes in (and out) of Mozilla is well documented. At this point it's mostly google. And it mostly pays for administration of the corporation itself.
I could care less about Mozilla. Supporting for profit businesses is kind of silly as they will never support you. Buy something that you like but don't have blind brand loyalty. You should serve yourself first.
I mean, it's not just a thing you can call yourselves, there's a legal definition. There's no way to pay money out of a nonprofit into your pocket without committing embezzlement.
Yep. At which point that becomes embezzlement is super vague, but presumably it would be at some point. If you're just a little loose with self compensation as opposed to potentially sinking the organisation, though, it would be hard to prosecute you.
This also goes for the feed-the-starving-kids type nonprofits. I'm aware of examples that spend most of their budget on management and marketing IRL.