They say holidays are a time of giving, not receiving, and the Mozilla Foundation is trying to take advantage of people’s generosity by asking for donations. They’re not offering anything in exchange besides the chance to make the world’s third most popular web browser better.
The timing of the fundraiser is certainly not helping Mozilla’s cause. Sure, Christmas is nigh and everything, but what about Yahoo’s recent replacement of Google as the default search option in Firefox?
Is Mozilla really trying to suggest they didn’t earn a boatload of cash off the deal? Let’s not forget Google was reportedly paying them in the vicinity of $300 million a year to plug the most used search engine online, and all signs point to Mozilla being the one that scrapped the partnership, likely for financial reasons. Which means a higher bidder surfaced.
Above all though, what you may find the most infuriating about Mozilla’s Firefox appeal for charity is the in-your-face plea slapped on the browser’s start screen. Granted, the message doesn’t pop up every time a Firefox user opens the program, but it’s still irritating when it does.
“Dear Firefox users: Mozilla puts the public good and user privacy before profit. If Firefox is useful to you, take one minute to support the non-profit behind it. If everyone reading this donates $3, Mozilla’s fundraiser would be over within an hour,” reads the cry for help.
Apparently, the Mozilla Foundation has put together similar online telethons a few times before, the goals ranging from research and development work to support for various education programs, privacy protection advancements and “helping teach kids to code.”
Well, okay, that sounds pretty noble, but we’d very much like to know how big of a chunk of the $1.75 million Mozilla hopes to collect would go to tech-savvy children. The fundraising campaign is to last until December 31, and in case you’re not seeing the plea upon starting Firefox, and have nothing better to do with your hard-earned cash, this donation page is open 24/7 and awaits your PayPal, credit card or Bitcoin information.
