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    Mozilla to shut down Pocket and Fakespot

    (support.mozilla.org)
    1222 points phantomathkg | 23 comments | 22 May 25 16:30 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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    segphault ◴[22 May 25 17:45 UTC] No.44064599[source]▶
    I was a user for so long that I was on it before it even rebranded as Pocket. I finally gave up on it last year, mostly due to frustration with the terrible 2023 redesign of the mobile app. When Mozilla made the unfathomable decision to become an internet advertising company, I figured it was just a matter of time before they had to put Pocket out to pasture. A product that's designed to strip ads from content for readability doesn't align with their new direction.

    I'd probably be applauding the decision to shut this down if I thought they were doing it to free up resources to increase their focus on the browser, but Mozilla seems to be institutionally committed to chasing its own demise, so I'm sure they will instead focus on AI integration and other stuff that nobody asked for.

    Meanwhile, Firefox is still missing proper support for a bunch of modern web features like view transitions and CSS anchor points that are available in every other browser.

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    major505 ◴[22 May 25 19:25 UTC] No.44065781[source]▶
    Mozilla is more occupied this days paying multi milionary bonus to its executives and begging users for money they waste on useless projects.

    Mozilla must die, so Firefox can live.

    replies(9): >>44066019 #>>44066309 #>>44066612 #>>44066665 #>>44066751 #>>44067105 #>>44067735 #>>44069002 #>>44071243 #
    1. whyenot ◴[22 May 25 20:08 UTC] No.44066309[source]▶
    Their reckoning day is coming when Google stops paying them $500m+ a year to be the default search engine. That payment alone account for 80% of Mozilla's budget, and has made them fat, wasteful, and directionless. It's really upsetting to me personally, I gave a lot (time, code, and money) to Mozilla in the early days when they were really struggling.
    replies(5): >>44067080 #>>44068295 #>>44069306 #>>44070072 #>>44072998 #
    2. jonwinstanley ◴[22 May 25 21:11 UTC] No.44067080[source]▶
    As I understand it, Google pay for the searches passed on by the browser. So as long as they have users, they’ll get paid.
    replies(1): >>44067167 #
    3. mewse-hn ◴[22 May 25 21:18 UTC] No.44067167[source]▶
    The DoJ is arguing in court that Google should be barred from paying off Mozilla because of Google's search monopoly

    https://www.theverge.com/news/660548/firefox-google-search-r...

    replies(1): >>44067233 #
    4. echelon ◴[22 May 25 21:25 UTC] No.44067233{3}[source]▶
    That's so hilariously backwards.

    Google should be split into several business units [1], should be forced to give up Chrome [2], and should be forced to invest several billion of its war chest into competitors.

    That's what the DOJ would do if it still had balls.

    The fact that there's no money in a product like Firefox is insane. It's absolutely bonkers. There is so much value in it, yet everybody's favorite mega monopoly is pouring value into commoditizing everything to keep eyeballs and attention and dollars and a taxation regime the size of a medium-sized country in its gravitational singularity.

    Google is an invasive species in every market. We need the EU/DOJ/BRICS equivalent of Chicxulub-level regulation to end its throat-grip predation on everyone.

    [1] Six "Baby Bells", or "Tiny Googs": Search, Android, Deepmind, Cloud, YouTube, Ads. Shuffle everything else into another bin or spin it off independently. Waymo, etc.

    [2] You could put Google with the Ads business as there is (1) no synergy between Chrome<->Android<->Search anymore, and (2) if Ads fucks it up, it doesn't kill the broader browser market or web ecosystem.

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    5. godzillabrennus ◴[22 May 25 21:48 UTC] No.44067478{4}[source]▶
    BRICS is a cancer on par with Google.
    replies(1): >>44067531 #
    6. echelon ◴[22 May 25 21:52 UTC] No.44067531{5}[source]▶
    I won't argue on this as it's orthogonal.

    Sovereignty of your country's smaller businesses over monopolies, and sovereignty over data and data privacy is paramount.

    Every country should be trying to tear Google apart. It isn't just too big, it's a black hole that is eviscerating competition.

    The US, Canada, all of the members of the EU, India, and even our geopolitical rivals should be trying to regulate and/or break up Google.

    replies(1): >>44067960 #
    7. HexDecOctBin ◴[22 May 25 22:43 UTC] No.44067960{6}[source]▶
    India won't. The call of the hour is re-industrialization, and manufacturing Pixel phones is one piece of that puzzle. Give employment to millions of people is far more important in the short run. And there are other ways of enforcing sovereignty.
    8. grues-dinner ◴[22 May 25 22:53 UTC] No.44068022{4}[source]▶
    What's bonkers to me is that people are alway complaining about ads and they're not putting "delete web ads from your life" front and center of their value proposition. Go to firefox.com and look at the the "why Firefox" copy. It's could be about basically any modern browser. It's like selling a car with "it has wheels!".

    I guess that might threaten their tie-up with the world's biggest adtech company which is why they keep it at arm's length, but that's just slow death by strangulation.

    replies(1): >>44068298 #
    9. tomcam ◴[22 May 25 23:34 UTC] No.44068295[source]▶
    That makes me very angry. I am fat, wasteful, and directionless but Google pays me nothing.
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    10. paradox460 ◴[22 May 25 23:35 UTC] No.44068298{5}[source]▶
    I bought a car a couple years ago. It advertised am/fm radio in the feature sheet
    replies(2): >>44068736 #>>44071536 #
    11. _carbyau_ ◴[23 May 25 00:48 UTC] No.44068704[source]▶
    So in market terms, you are infinitely more efficient!
    12. ◴[23 May 25 00:53 UTC] No.44068736{6}[source]▶
    13. whyenot ◴[23 May 25 02:23 UTC] No.44069270[source]▶
    Is Google your default search engine? If so, you should send them an invoice. :)
    14. alfiedotwtf ◴[23 May 25 02:29 UTC] No.44069306[source]▶
    I’ve got job alerts, and it looks like they are going all in on VPN services given how many people they want to hire… yet I don’t know a single person who would use Mozilla’s VPN service let alone pay for it.
    15. stickfigure ◴[23 May 25 04:25 UTC] No.44069845{4}[source]▶
    > The fact that there's no money in a product like Firefox is insane.

    What do you mean? There's a huge amount of money, via getting paid to route people to a search engine.

    16. Teever ◴[23 May 25 05:21 UTC] No.44070072[source]▶
    Does anyone know if Mozilla has built up an endowment/trust fund type thing that will allow them to operate without further revenue from an entity like Google?
    replies(1): >>44070224 #
    17. I_AM_A_SMURF ◴[23 May 25 05:50 UTC] No.44070224[source]▶
    Last I checked they have some money from the Yahoo settlement. But nowhere near something they can use to operate in perpetuity.
    18. bryanrasmussen ◴[23 May 25 09:17 UTC] No.44071266{4}[source]▶
    as I have understood there is also talk of forcing them to sell of Chrome - but

    https://daringfireball.net/2025/04/is_chrome_even_a_sellable...

    19. harvey9 ◴[23 May 25 10:22 UTC] No.44071536{6}[source]▶
    I read the parent post as meaning 'wheels!' being front and centre of the brochure.
    20. onionisafruit ◴[23 May 25 12:39 UTC] No.44072302[source]▶
    As the guy from whose line said: You don't need a million dollars to do nothing. Look at my cousin. He’s broke and he doesn’t do shit.
    replies(1): >>44072746 #
    21. yk_42 ◴[23 May 25 13:33 UTC] No.44072746{3}[source]▶
    I think you mixed up Ryan Stiles and Diedrich Bader, though now I wonder if Diedrich ever went on Whose Line when Drew Carey was hosting.
    replies(1): >>44077056 #
    22. BeFlatXIII ◴[23 May 25 14:04 UTC] No.44072998[source]▶
    I also hope that Google stops paying Apple $20B/yr for the same reason. The effect on the stock market due to a sudden reduction in Apple services revenue will be fun to watch.
    23. onionisafruit ◴[23 May 25 22:07 UTC] No.44077056{4}[source]▶
    You're absolutely right.