"What Is Your Dream for Mozilla" - Mozilla is doing a survey, and it could be a good opportunity to share some of the feedback that usually gets commented here :)
I got a copy of the text from the email, and added it below, with personal information and link trackers removed.
Hello [receiver's name],
I’ve long dreamed about working for Mozilla. I learned how to send encrypted e-mail using Mozilla Thunderbird, and I’ve been a Firefox user since almost as long as I can remember. In more recent years, I’ve been an avid follower of Mozilla’s advocacy work, and was lucky enough to partner with Mozilla on investigative journalism in my last job.
In many ways, Mozilla was the dream – and now, as the leader of the Foundation, my job is to make my dreams for Mozilla come true. What that means, though, is making your dreams come true – for a trustworthy and open future of technology; for tech that is a tool for liberation, not limitation; and for tech that values people over profit.
So I’m reaching out to technologists, activists, researchers, engineers, policy experts, and, most importantly, to you – the people who make up the Mozilla community – to ask a simple question.
[receiver's name]. What is your dream for Mozilla? I invite you to take a moment to share your thoughts by completing this brief survey.
Let’s start with this question:
Question 1: What is most important to you right now about technology and the internet?
Protecting my privacy online
Avoiding scams
Choosing products, apps, technology, and services that I can trust
i went to the mozilla donation page and sent a contact request about wanting to financially support firefox but not giving a damn about the rest of the AI and adtech slop that mozilla is doing
here’s the response, for anyone that’s interested
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us. We genuinely value hearing from our supporters, as your insights help us understand what matters most to the Mozilla community.
It’s important to note that the Mozilla Foundation and Mozilla Corporation are two separate entities within the Mozilla umbrella - Mozilla Corporation is responsible for developing and maintaining Firefox and other software products, and they are continuously working on improving the user experience, including addressing compatibility issues and promoting the browser to a wider audience.
The Mozilla Foundation, on the other hand, focuses on broader internet health and advocacy work. Our mission is to ensure the internet remains open and accessible for everyone, and this includes issues related to privacy, digital rights, and equity. To confirm, the survey that you had received was from the Mozilla Foundation.
With that being said, Firefox is funded by revenue generated through the product rather than donations. At the moment, there is no way for supporters to make a donation that will be designated to the development of Firefox. Have no fear, things are looking good for Firefox's future and they plan to be around a long time, supporting folks with the most secure browser experience! Continuing to use Firefox, and recommending it to others, is the best way to support this project.
We truly appreciate your concerns about Firefox and their top priorities - We on the Mozilla Foundation strongly believe that issues such as privacy, online safety, and data security are connected to the products and services we all use every day. The work we do in these areas complements Mozilla Corporation’s focus on building better, more secure software like Firefox, and w encourage you to participate in our survey!
If you would like to input some of your thoughts and ideas into our Ideas discussion forum regarding Firefox and other Mozilla products, please visit: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/idb-p/ideas
We thank you again for reaching out to our Mozilla Foundation Donor Care team, and please let us know if we can support your further!
Well, my dream is for them to focus on the fucking browser and nothing else but given the whole question about "What's important to me in AI" I think that's out of the picture already
Amen. Basically this survey reads to me as "we decided to focus on AI and we need some pretty graphs to show it's an awesome idea - please tell us why you think AI is the best thing ever!"
That's exactly what I took from it as well. It's a survey designed to get the answers they want, not the actual feedback they're pretending to ask for.
I have no problem with things like Mozilla Common Voice. I have a big problem with integrating machine-learning stuff into Firefox by default.
I remember back when PhoenixFirebird Firefox first came out, the whole fucking point of it was to be a fast, bare-bones browser, and that people could pick and choose what extra features they wanted by installing extensions. IMO that's the way it still ought to be.
That's pretty much what I wrote in the comment box. The options for the multiple choice questions don't really acknowledge that as a preference people might have.
Dude thats not realistic at all. The industry is moving that way and all companies have to follow , if companies dont do they will eventually die , just look at Yahoo , AOL , Phillips , etc barely surviving and nothing what they used to be. Why? Mostly because they were complacent and stay conservative not innovating fast enough.
I don't think that's necessarily true. What I do think is true is that there's a chance some AI thing will be a trillion dollar investment, and the most motivating thing for VCs is fear of missing out on a giant score.
A nonprofit open source profit ought to have different motivations though.
Bring back your Advocacy division. Lower the pay for your CEO. Secure funding from other entities so that you are no longer dependent on Google. Focus more on implementing better security measures on Linux and Android, specifically within the domain of sandboxing your open processes. Keep about:config and manifest v2 options available.
IMO they should focus purely on Firefox and maybe Thunderbird, everything else is unneeded. Mozilla VPN is fine but Mullvad exists and their email relay service isn't that great tbh. Other then that cut executive pay to represent the actural value they bring (next to nothing) and work with Firefox forks to harden base Firefox.
I often do surveys online and the American ones always ask this. They like to lump all people who look alike together and don't even bother asking where you're from. They really believe we are split in different species or something.
My dream is one where exclusive and limited edition physical game content isn't exclusive or limited anymore. Because you're fucking over latecomers who don't have $1k+ to spend on that shit a decade later, dipshits. At least make that stuff available digitally as PDF and STL files.
My Dream would be that they split Mozilla into Foundations for each product and collaborate like Firefox Foundation which has nothing to do with advertising division at HQ