Hi Mozilla community, I’m a long time Mozilla supporter, I’ve published free (as in freedom) and open-source software, and I desperately want Mozilla to charge for Firefox. If that sounds like a contradiction, please keep reading. I first became involved with the Mozilla community around 2006. I was active in the Spread Firefox project, where I ran a contest that encouraged others to promote Firefox in the most creative ways they could imagine. In hindsight, I guess it could have been called a...
It doesn’t need to be mandatory although I get the argument - a bit like commercial Linux distros which offer support etc; Mozilla could offer a service tier of some sort.
But Mozilla and Firefox would do well to be more proactive in seeking donations. I donate to KDE because I was prompted to do so and value it. And Lemmy.world again because I was prompted to do so and value it.
I pay for my Email for privacy and security, I pay for my VPN for privacy and security, I pay for my password manager for privacy and security. I’m happy to pay for things that I need and want.
Free software should be free for those who can’t afford it. But those of us who could just need prompting and should contribute what we can reasonably afford. I actually can’t remember the last time I was prompted to donate to Firefox or Mozilla; maybe it’s there but just ineffective?
I’m going to start paying for Firefox because it does a good job for me.
Users can pay by donating to Mozilla: https://www.mozillafoundation.org/en/donate/
It doesn’t need to be mandatory although I get the argument - a bit like commercial Linux distros which offer support etc; Mozilla could offer a service tier of some sort.
But Mozilla and Firefox would do well to be more proactive in seeking donations. I donate to KDE because I was prompted to do so and value it. And Lemmy.world again because I was prompted to do so and value it.
I pay for my Email for privacy and security, I pay for my VPN for privacy and security, I pay for my password manager for privacy and security. I’m happy to pay for things that I need and want.
Free software should be free for those who can’t afford it. But those of us who could just need prompting and should contribute what we can reasonably afford. I actually can’t remember the last time I was prompted to donate to Firefox or Mozilla; maybe it’s there but just ineffective?
I’m going to start paying for Firefox because it does a good job for me.