As written, the proposed remedies will force smaller and independent browsers like Firefox to fundamentally reexamine their entire operating model.
As written, the proposed remedies will force smaller and independent browsers like Firefox to fundamentally reexamine their entire operating model.
Speaking as an engineer doing a lot of web dev, I think people underestimate how much work Mozilla does in standards and low-level shared API’s via w3c and others, and how important it is that google isn’t the only one in there making decisions. Most w3c standards decisions are made with google, Mozilla, Microsoft, and apple representatives in committees, and as we know, two of those are much more aligned in their own best interests these days, while one kinda wishes mobile web browsing didn’t exist.
Would we have a better browser with less Mozilla baggage? Possibly.
Would the web standards that make everything work be better off without Mozilla? No, absolutely not.
Safari’s team does what they can within Apple’s bullshit intentional deprioritization of anything that could compete with the App Store, Edge’s team has brought some sanity to the chromium side and toned back some of Google’s wilder standards proposals and intentions. The fact that there are now 0 legitimate reasons for a website to “only work in chrome” (aside from some mobile safari things still) nowadays is all the stuff behind the scenes that matters. Even google is doing less FAFO shipping features and not caring about what other browsers need.
That said, maybe a disruptions is needed to a new paradigm could step in. Maybe a Mozilla Foundation placed under other ownership with a narrowed focus.
In the Linux space, the massive investments that GNOME, KDE, and others have been able to garner the last few years from governments and interested organizations is promising. There could be a similar interest in a web-focused org that could champion things without the Mozilla baggage and intent to avoid the same fate.
A narrowed focus is exactly what Mozilla needs.
Develop a browser and participate in web standards. That’s literally all they need and should do.
Oh, I didn’t mean to disparage the work they do: I know it’s important and extensive. I’ve been a Firefox user since, well, it was called Netscape. It’s a critical piece of software.
I was mostly just rolling my eyes at the sheer panic they’re having with the only funding source they’ve bothered to cultivate going away, along with the fact that a good portion of that money is spent on things that aren’t the browser, and frankly, don’t bring a lot of value to the table or matter in the slightest.
Dumping the Corporation baggage and making the Foundation strongly independent makes a lot more sense than begging to let Google keep paying them, which seems to be their approach, at least based on that open letter.