Well, Mozilla seems to be making some pretty questionable decisions, So I’m considering switching browsers for the third (Is it the third?) time. The thing is, I really like the way Firefox works, so I’ve been trying out the more famous Forks like Waterfox and Librewolf, although I’m going for Floorp. However, I’m wondering: is using a fork enough? I mean, they are Forks maintained by other people, but is there a chance that whatever Mozilla does to Firefox could affect those Forks? Should I jump to a totally different browser like Vivaldi?
I don’t give a fuck about ads. And so should my browser.
Then your browser will have no money to develop itself.
I am donating regularly to Firefox and Thunderbird. It’s a myth that software can only exist through ads and tracking.
Somehow I doubt you’re giving them as much as Google is. I despise ads but the current market realities mean that developing and maintaining a browser engine is not feasible without corporation-level resources.
Well, we‘ll never know as Mozilla has never tried to create user financed software since Netscape Navigatior Gold, IIRC.
We know because no one else is doing it.
But the people employed to create content on all the websites and YouTube channels you use regularly care quite a great deal about advertisement or they’d have to do something else for a living.
What, you don’t use free services online?
I have YouTube premium, so that part of my money is distributed to those creators. I also have subscriptions for news sites, podcasts and comics through Patreon and other services.
And to be clear: I don’t have a single problem with advertising — I have a huge problem with tracking me wherever I go online. When I’m on a site for Japanese language learning, show me ads for flights to Japan but stop tracking every website I visit.
I am paying for the services I use.
We sound similar. I’ve also been happy to pay for the services I use.
Although I hope you’ll agree that your second comment is a lot more moderated than the first :)