Once upon a time, you could come across a post like this and confidently respond to it by pointing out that, no, Google's position as the default search engine in Firefox is not for sale to the highest bidder. So that even if, e.g.:

a) the "deal" with Google had never happened, and

b) Microsoft came out of nowhere and began offering to pay what Google is actually presently paying (or, let's say, just for fun, even double or triple that), all while

c) Google were making no offer to start paying

... then Google would still be the default search engine in Firefox, regardless.

The same almost definitely cannot be said today.

Users that settle for defaults are IE or Safari users :)

There was talk last time it was renegotiated that the large increase was down to MS pushing it up.

No, the policy is that they will use the best search, and take the money from whomever that is.

IMHO, Mozilla only appears to be privacy centric, in reality the way they hide the 3rd-party-cookie on-by-default setting shows that the user's privacy is not their top priority. I'm pretty sure that they are paid for hiding it like that and not blocking third party cookies by default (like Safari).

Disappointing.

The slogan on their page ("Committed to you, your privacy and an open Web") sounds hollow when considering this and their recent support for DRM.

Plus it doesn't forbid people to make a donation to support the software they like right ? That's what I do, knowing FFx isn't making any money from me, and knowing that I'm using years and years of development is a good enough reason for me.