undefined | Better HN

0 pointserikpukinskis6y ago0 comments

> What do you suggest Mozilla do instead?

Mozilla should sell two products:

1) Storage a la iCloud

2) Payment processing a la Paypal

And for marketing purposes they should get into discovery of free/open web services, a la old school Yahoo.

As a web site builder, I don't want to have to manage credit cards. As a user, I don't want to have to trust random web sites with my credit card info. I also don't want to be redirected to Paypal, I just want a secure wallet that can be used on web sites with a drop in <paymentframe recipient="foo@bar.com" usd="8999" description="BonsaiThing Pro 1 year subscription" /> or similar.

As a web user, I want to be able to store my photos, downloads, music, documents, etc conveniently in a little cloud-synced folder. I want to be able to quickly give fine-grained access to different web apps to different parts of that space. Photo app wants to access my photos? Great. Github wants to access my repos? Fine. Photo app wants to access my repos? No.

And the discovery thing... There's a ton of free software out there. Mozilla basically has shut the door behind it. "Thanks for the install. Good luck finding other Free tools to use with it." They should be building a directory of other free software that can be used with Firefox. I should be able to use my Mozilla account to post reviews, to discuss new apps that are voted up, etc. That will allow enthusiasts to start engaging socially with the brand in a way that Mozilla (not Twitter or Apple or Facebook) can control the identities.

From there maybe there is some social identity service, but if it's just a way to engage the community—great. Like Hacker News is to YCombinator, Mozilla should provide a place for us to discuss and share web services.

If they want to get into search, that's great. Write a new shitty open source search engine that any web site can federate with. Use Google for now, but use that money to dig us out of the hole Google put us in.

0 comments

buboard6y ago

I think storage is probably too costly to implement

But they can readily "become a PayPal" by bundling a digital ethereum wallet like metamask in the browser by default. Even if it's limited to max $50 / month, it could revolutionize the way we consume web content. And it also acts as an anonymous digital identity. Both ethereum and firefox enjoy trust by the community, that helps. But, we re more likely to see these from another browser like brave.

diffeomorphism6y ago

Could you explain a bit more? Why are you confident either would be profitable?

1) would be competing with google drive, onedrive and icloud, which are all funded by very big pockets and have other revenue sources. Furthermore, even dropbox has trouble competing with this.

2) Again competition by paypal, apple pay, google pay, ... . Also, banking business is quite far removed from what they are doing and hard to do while being a non-profit.

erikpukinskisOP6y ago

In both cases they’d have to bet on growing the Free Software pie. It would be the beginning of transitioning the company to trying to support the Open Web as an institution, supporting open source webservice developers on an equal tier with open source browser users.

No idea if that pie can realistically grown. But unlike their current strategy, it would be in line with their mission statement.

clairity6y ago

i like the gist of both of your ideas but i'm not sure they are feasible for firefox, since both are expensive services (in different ways) that are a bit outside the competency and mission of firefox.

i could see firefox providing hooks for 3rd parties to make those services easier to integrate however (and maybe charging a fee, e.g., to certify the 3rd party). that would fall squarely in their wheelhouse.

erikpukinskisOP6y ago

That’s the point though, to take on something with real cost (and real value), occupy the Open Source segment of that market, and then grow that segment.

Netscape was trying way back when. Mozilla probably has some PTSD from those days so I don’t have high hopes.

Someone else will eventually come in and be Mozilla on the services side. Might as well be Mozilla.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointserikpukinskis6y ago0 comments

> What do you suggest Mozilla do instead?

Mozilla should sell two products:

1) Storage a la iCloud

2) Payment processing a la Paypal

And for marketing purposes they should get into discovery of free/open web services, a la old school Yahoo.

0 comments

buboard6y ago

I think storage is probably too costly to implement

diffeomorphism6y ago

Could you explain a bit more? Why are you confident either would be profitable?

1) would be competing with google drive, onedrive and icloud, which are all funded by very big pockets and have other revenue sources. Furthermore, even dropbox has trouble competing with this.

2) Again competition by paypal, apple pay, google pay, ... . Also, banking business is quite far removed from what they are doing and hard to do while being a non-profit.

erikpukinskisOP6y ago

No idea if that pie can realistically grown. But unlike their current strategy, it would be in line with their mission statement.

clairity6y ago

erikpukinskisOP6y ago

That’s the point though, to take on something with real cost (and real value), occupy the Open Source segment of that market, and then grow that segment.

Netscape was trying way back when. Mozilla probably has some PTSD from those days so I don’t have high hopes.

Someone else will eventually come in and be Mozilla on the services side. Might as well be Mozilla.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse