**Mozilla Faces Challenges: Layoffs, Business Model Shifts, and Uncertain Future**
In January 2023, Mozilla made headlines by cutting 770 employees from its workforce of approximately 1,000. Citing the need to respond to COVID-19 as the reason, another 250 layoffs followed last week, marking a significant shift in the company's strategy.
**Impact on Teams and Projects**
The primary casualties of these layoffs were the developers working on Mozilla's experimental Servo browser engine and its Threat Management Security team. The latter is responsible for investigating security reports and handling incident responses. However, it is noted that the team fixing bugs in Mozilla's products remains intact, according to sources and a spokesperson.
**Rethinking Business Model**
Mozilla has announced plans to rethink its core business model, with a stronger focus on financially viable products. This strategic shift comes as recognition of the limitations of their previous "everything free" approach, which has led them to explore new revenue opportunities and alternative value exchanges.
**VPN Initiative: A New Revenue Stream**
One area Mozilla is pinning high hopes on is their VPN offering. Launched last month, they believe their strong privacy-first reputation and position as a civil and privacy rights advocate could give them an edge in this lucrative market. However, it has been speculated that Mozilla does not develop its own VPN but instead rebrands a third-party service.
**Dependency on Google Contract**
A significant portion of Mozilla's revenue—reportedly 90%—comes from its contract with Google as the default search provider in Firefox. This contract is set to expire later in 2023, and its renewal status remains uncertain. The potential loss of this revenue stream poses a major challenge for Mozilla's future.
**Browser Market Dynamics**
The speaker expresses concern over the dominance of Safari and Chromium-based browsers (like Chrome) and advocates for increased Firefox adoption. They highlight the impact of devices like iPads and Chromebooks, which do not use Firefox, potentially contributing to Firefox's decline in market share.
**Support through Usage: The Role of Users**
Encouraging users to support Mozilla by using Firefox is seen as a crucial step. Unlike other browsers, Firefox generates revenue through usage without requiring direct purchases, making it a viable way for individuals to contribute financially.
**Firefox Send: An Update**
In a lighter note, the status of Firefox Send was mentioned. Currently offline with plans to retool, its return remains uncertain. Users who relied on this service may need to explore alternatives like Filemail for their file-sharing needs.
**Conclusion: Navigating Uncertain Waters**
As Mozilla navigates these challenges, the hope is that they can adapt and thrive in a competitive market. With strategic shifts, potential new revenue streams, and continued user support, the future of Firefox remains an important consideration for tech enthusiasts and users alike.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is twit speaking of mozilla uh in pre-covid january of this year mozilla cut 770 people from its workforce of approximately a thousand and now citing the need to respond to kovid as the impetus another 250 have been laid off mozilla said that the the primary casualties of last week's layoffs were the developers working on the company's experimental servo browser engine and mozilla's threat management security team the threat management the threat management security team is the team that investigates security reports and performs incident response the team that fixes bugs in mozilla's products is still in place according to sources and a mozilla spokesperson so going forward mozilla said that they will be rethinking their core business model whatever that means and putting more focus on financially viable products mozilla corporation ceo and the foundation's chairwoman said recognizing that the old model where everything was free has consequences means we must explore a range of different business opportunities and alternative value exchanges again okay whatever that means she said we must learn and expand different ways to support ourselves and build a business that isn't what we see today so some assume that this might include a stronger focus on their new vpn offering they have high hopes for that uh as we we covered it when it was formally launched last month uh it turns out that vpm vpn apps and services are one of the biggest moneymakers in tech today and despite having arrived late to the game mozilla believes that they may they may be in a good position to you know like to leverage their reputation their strong privacy first position as a civil and privacy rights advocate so you know clearly they're looking around for something they have a value uh to keep them afloat i think unfortunately further uncertainty i think they don't do their own vpn i think they're re-labeling a third-party vpn which doesn't really mean much at all it's just you know doesn't say exactly right and of course adding further uncertainty to the mix is the fact that mozilla's contract to include google as the default search provider inside firefox is expected to be expiring well that the existing contract is expiring later this year and so far it has not been renewed yeah it's a big deal that's that's the higher revenue yeah exactly 90 the google deal has extra has historically accounted for 90 of mozilla's revenue and without that mozilla's future is uncertain to say the least uh and as i well we talked about this during the the top of the show i strongly dislike the idea of having just two dominant browsers uh pretty much two browsers at all in the world safari and chromium since everybody else is except firefox is chromium-based best solution everybody use firefox you want to support it use it because they make money when you use it you don't have to buy something just use it yup yeah and so i'm helping them that way i know you are your favorite yeah as we've noted the the browser has become most people's effective operating system i know leo when someone calls you on the weekend uh during your uh tech guy radio show and ask whether they should get a windows machine or a new mac you know you first ask them what do they need a computer for at all get a chromebook and then you know and then you say get a chromebook yeah because you're right that's all they need and a chromebook is basically a bootable internet browser yeah so my point is that by the way that might be one of the things that's hurting firefox is you know ipad and chromebooks neither of which use firefox you know yeah yeah so you know browsers have grown insanely complex with so many features and bells and whistles uh and they are so prone to attack because they are the peace of ourselves that we stick out there on the internet by the way justin they're liking up just in a couple of days ago they did do that deal with google so the default search engine within firefox until 2023 will be google so at least they've got that yay that's worth between 400 and 500 million a year wow yeah good yeah well good so so maybe they just need to scale their ambitions down i don't understand how covet affected them but you know that was what they said um so good let's hope they stay around um uh and i did have a note in our miscellany section which simply observed because i thought this was sort of interesting that firefox send is still offline i went there to check yesterday and yep it just says we're temporarily offline while we retool and you know clearly they have other things on their minds at mozilla so i wouldn't want to hold my breath for that free service returning it was my favorite but i may need to return to filemail which is you know what i've been using before thatthis is twit speaking of mozilla uh in pre-covid january of this year mozilla cut 770 people from its workforce of approximately a thousand and now citing the need to respond to kovid as the impetus another 250 have been laid off mozilla said that the the primary casualties of last week's layoffs were the developers working on the company's experimental servo browser engine and mozilla's threat management security team the threat management the threat management security team is the team that investigates security reports and performs incident response the team that fixes bugs in mozilla's products is still in place according to sources and a mozilla spokesperson so going forward mozilla said that they will be rethinking their core business model whatever that means and putting more focus on financially viable products mozilla corporation ceo and the foundation's chairwoman said recognizing that the old model where everything was free has consequences means we must explore a range of different business opportunities and alternative value exchanges again okay whatever that means she said we must learn and expand different ways to support ourselves and build a business that isn't what we see today so some assume that this might include a stronger focus on their new vpn offering they have high hopes for that uh as we we covered it when it was formally launched last month uh it turns out that vpm vpn apps and services are one of the biggest moneymakers in tech today and despite having arrived late to the game mozilla believes that they may they may be in a good position to you know like to leverage their reputation their strong privacy first position as a civil and privacy rights advocate so you know clearly they're looking around for something they have a value uh to keep them afloat i think unfortunately further uncertainty i think they don't do their own vpn i think they're re-labeling a third-party vpn which doesn't really mean much at all it's just you know doesn't say exactly right and of course adding further uncertainty to the mix is the fact that mozilla's contract to include google as the default search provider inside firefox is expected to be expiring well that the existing contract is expiring later this year and so far it has not been renewed yeah it's a big deal that's that's the higher revenue yeah exactly 90 the google deal has extra has historically accounted for 90 of mozilla's revenue and without that mozilla's future is uncertain to say the least uh and as i well we talked about this during the the top of the show i strongly dislike the idea of having just two dominant browsers uh pretty much two browsers at all in the world safari and chromium since everybody else is except firefox is chromium-based best solution everybody use firefox you want to support it use it because they make money when you use it you don't have to buy something just use it yup yeah and so i'm helping them that way i know you are your favorite yeah as we've noted the the browser has become most people's effective operating system i know leo when someone calls you on the weekend uh during your uh tech guy radio show and ask whether they should get a windows machine or a new mac you know you first ask them what do they need a computer for at all get a chromebook and then you know and then you say get a chromebook yeah because you're right that's all they need and a chromebook is basically a bootable internet browser yeah so my point is that by the way that might be one of the things that's hurting firefox is you know ipad and chromebooks neither of which use firefox you know yeah yeah so you know browsers have grown insanely complex with so many features and bells and whistles uh and they are so prone to attack because they are the peace of ourselves that we stick out there on the internet by the way justin they're liking up just in a couple of days ago they did do that deal with google so the default search engine within firefox until 2023 will be google so at least they've got that yay that's worth between 400 and 500 million a year wow yeah good yeah well good so so maybe they just need to scale their ambitions down i don't understand how covet affected them but you know that was what they said um so good let's hope they stay around um uh and i did have a note in our miscellany section which simply observed because i thought this was sort of interesting that firefox send is still offline i went there to check yesterday and yep it just says we're temporarily offline while we retool and you know clearly they have other things on their minds at mozilla so i wouldn't want to hold my breath for that free service returning it was my favorite but i may need to return to filemail which is you know what i've been using before that\n"
