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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 24th, 2023

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  • While most people find things in windows annoying, they mostly also view using a PC altogether as a chore.

    Viewed through that lense, telling them “well you can get rid of XYZ issues by investing some time in installing Linux” is like someone coming to you and saying “you can spend a few hours working on your washing machine to make it work a little faster and make the beeps less annoying”.

    You’re probably not going to do it. Using a washing machine is a chore already, you don’t want to spend hours tinkering with your washing machine. You don’t want to think about washing machines at all. You just put up with any inconveniences, then go about thinking about stuff you actually care about.





  • Does anybody expect them to say anything else? Web engine development is more costly than even OS development, we’re talking costs that often run into the hundreds of millions per year – it’s virtually impossible to fund unless you’re a giant like Google or being funded by someone with very deep pockets, like… er… Google.

    Even MS bailed and ceded power to Google, because it simply didn’t make financial sense. Apple does it but they’re pretty meh in terms of implementing standards and such… there’s a reason 3rd party WebKit browsers are rare. They comparatively run it on a shoestring budget, and they’re Apple FFS - their wealth is practically limitless!

    People aren’t going to start paying to use Firefox, and that money needs to come from somewhere. The community rejects giants paying Mozilla (understable sentiment), rejects paying for Firefox (also understandable), and rejects Mozilla selling data (definitely understandable). Some say donations, but be real, that won’t make hundreds of millions per year.

    What is the solution here? I’m not trying to be contrarian I just don’t know what they can actually do. You’d hope that the Linux Foundation or something would chip in, but nope, they help Chromium instead. I worry for the future of web browsers.

    That said, I’m also deeply uncomfortable with Google being able to pay to be default search on so many products. It gives them a huge advantage. I don’t want them to have that advantage. It’s anticompetitive and scummy as fuck.

    Mozilla are definitely between a rock and a hard place here. I don’t like some of the decisions they make, but damn, I’m not sure I have the smarts to come up with better ones, given the position and market they’re in.