Baker’s testimony shows that Mozilla depends so much on its deal with Google for revenue that “the biggest loser of a DOJ win in the Google case would be Mozilla.”

  • dinckel@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    People who use Firefox probably also have some gripes against Google’s work, but I sure as fuck don’t want anything to do with Yahoo

  • sexy_peach@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    As a FF user: Mozilla has such a small market share now, they should experiment with search. Maybe don’t make another “deal” with another ad based search engine, but invent your own decentralized search or mozilla search or whatever.

    • w3dd1e@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      While I’d prefer the do that also, I think the issue is that Google pays them so much, they couldn’t afford to exist without it.

      • vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        I mean, they could. They have been cutting costs in the wrong areas, though - those harder to replace if exgoogled. There’s plenty of unnecessary fat in Mozilla as an organization. They have been doing lots of expensive (in terms of developer and testing resources) unneeded crap (apparently to support the appearance of relevancy, which is different from relevancy itself), they also don’t need that many management people.

        Let’s please remember how Mozilla started. Yes, a browser back then and a browser now are two completely different things, but the imbalance in resources has always been there. It’s just that now they are spreading resources where they shouldn’t, to imitate Chrome in things secondary to a browser itself. They don’t have the resources for that even with Google, and of course they won’t otherwise.

        Also supporting something like XULRunner or in general olden times Gecko would help, so that people could use FF’s engine like they still do with Chromium and Webkit. That would increase the amount of people contributing in various ways.

        That’s how I see it, my humble opinion and all that.

        • w3dd1e@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          You’re absolutely right. I agree with everything you said. The whole situation is really frustrating as users.

      • jonne@infosec.pub
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        1 year ago

        It’s pretty much their only revenue stream, considering they give all the software away and don’t have ads in the browser.

    • ringwraithfish@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      That’s the core of the trial though, right? That through these deals and other things Google does to stay dominant, they stifle the market for competition. Ie Edge, Chrome, and every other Chromium-based browser pushes Google to the end users and FF pushes some unfamiliar search platform, then there’s an uphill, arguably unfair, battle for it to gain enough market share to be sustainable.

    • shastaxc@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      The only reason that would work is if they used user search data to sell to advertisers or show ads themselves. That’s how Google search makes money, but it’s antithetical to everything Mozilla is trying to market themselves as: a privacy oriented browser.

  • Willard Herman@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Just don’t use gogle.

    “Google’s core argument that its search engine wins default status due to its quality, not due to anticompetitive behaviors.”

    Then why pay Apple 20 billion for default star?

      • hansl@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The biggest risk for Google would be for Apple to enter the search market. It’s not hard, as proven by smaller players like DuckDuckGo, but it’s risky enough that Apple takes the 20B and consider it a good deal.

  • pandacoder@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Boo fucking hoo. Mozilla isn’t a saint and could benefit from a shake up as well. Mozilla’s dependency on Google is dangerous for all of us.

    The biggest loser if the DOJ doesn’t win is literally everyone.

    I will bite whatever bullet I have to if it means the end of Google hegemony.

    • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Mozilla’s dependency on Google is dangerous for all of us.

      But as you can see above, people leave when they don’t use Google

      It’s a user issue not a developer one

    • Mac@mander.xyz
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      1 year ago

      Google is def an L.
      Yahoo a bigger L for sure.
      But the biggest L is making fun of other peoples appearances.

      Why don’t you post a picture of yourself so we can make shitty comments about you?

        • Mac@mander.xyz
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          1 year ago

          I don’t know who the fuck you’re talking to. I shave my head.

            • Mac@mander.xyz
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              1 year ago

              Yeah I think talking shit about how people look is not cool. Crucify me.

              • Hereforpron2@lemmynsfw.com
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                1 year ago

                Nah just gonna laugh at this specific reaction a little bit.

                I’m 99.99% with you on the sentiment, right up to particularly egregious (and not culturally or ethnically significant) haircuts. On that one, I may continue to do like only half of this woman’s hair, and throw a little shade.

      • Hereforpron2@lemmynsfw.com
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        1 year ago

        I get where you’re coming from, but an intentional, statement haircut that you could easily change feels like it’s ok to make a statement about, while I never would about someone’s weight, height, etc.

        If I posted a picture of myself and the hair was what people roasted me for, I’d be happy lol.

  • evanuggetpi@lemmy.nzOP
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    1 year ago

    Another interesting comment Mozilla’s takeaway from the experiment was that Firefox "users made it clear that they look for and want and expect Google.”

    • sir_reginald@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      that’s not really Mozilla’s fault, users are too locked into Google and that’s ultimately Google’s fault.

      Although I don’t like at all that Mozilla is funded by Google and testified in their favor.

      • Otter@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        I saw it more as testifying about why they did what they did

        Ultimately the message is still ‘we had to use Google to survive, they have that much control over the space’

      • TheHarpyEagle@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’m of two minds. I use Firefox for privacy reasons and don’t use Google if I can avoid it, but I have to admit that chrome was leagues better than other popular browsers at the time. It’s no accident that they ran away with the market share even when IE was on everyone’s computer by default.

        Now they’ve gotten huge and their search engine has gone to shit. So it goes with infinite growth. I’m with Firefox for now, but I’ve learned the hard way not to totally trust any piece of software.

      • LemmyIsFantastic@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You can export EVERYTHING, Forward email, and have alternatives for every thing. It’s incredibly easy to move away from Google.

        It’s a choice. There is no lock in.

        • sir_reginald@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          oh definitely. I haven’t used a Google service in 5 years. But Google’s lock in is not forced, it’s one that relies on people tech illiteracy, comfort and not knowing better.

    • Sigma_@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I’m surpsied (but obviously shouldn’t be) that that many potential users would instantly bounce off Firefox instead of changing the default search engine.

      • UnspecificGravity@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 year ago

        Honestly, the association with Yahoo just makes the platform look like a joke. Like, the first time you do a search and it pops up as Yahoo your first instinct is thinking you’re using the wrong thing.

      • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        Nothing binds me to my browser besides my bookmarks which can be exported, my addons which are usually on both platforms and my history.
        At home and on my phone I use FF and am mostly happy.
        At work I choose Chrome because most websites work best in it.

    • HipPriest@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      It’s not really that surprising that the average user wants the most popular search engine instead of yahoo (of all things) baked in, whatever your views on Google.

    • PlexSheep@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      Im also not convinced. If it were a DDG default it would just make the browser better.

      To be clear, I’m not even using DDG as my main search.

  • Paradox@lemdro.id
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    1 year ago

    Is this the same CEO who fired the entire documentation team and then gave herself a raise?

  • speaker_hat@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    The CEO short-term logic makes sense: Yahoo search = Lower cost = Higher profit margin = Happy shareholders = Happy CEO

    But she forgot that: Yahoo search = Shit

    And then it happened

    • TheHarpyEagle@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Most people really don’t care what browser or search engine they use as long as it gets the job done. I wouldn’t call it lazy or stupid, it’s just the reality of humans who have to pick and choose what they spend energy on. Yahoo search has been around a few years longer than Google and it sucked (and still sucks), that’s why people decided it was worth going elsewhere. If you’re going to try and wrench people out of their comfort zones, you’ve gotta put on a better first impression.

  • Engywuck@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Yeah… And what about the 60 millions users lost since 2019? Will Mozilla find someone else to blame?