> it's strange and disappointing that in the vast space and history of FOSS tools, a proper open source browser never took off.
What makes you disqualify Firefox from being a "proper open source browser"?
What makes you disqualify Firefox from being a "proper open source browser"?
- June 2024. Mozilla acquires Anonym, an ad metrics firm.
- July 2024. Mozilla adds Privacy-Preserving Attribution (PPA), feature is enabled by default. Developed in cooperation with Meta (Facebook).
- Feb 2025. Mozilla updates its Privacy FAQ and TOS. "does not sell data about you." becomes "... in the way that most people think about it".
In reality people espouse this opinion then continue using Chrome or Chromium browsers.
> Yet there really is little recourse for privacy enthusiasts
That's certainly not true. Unless Red Hat, MongoDB, Chef, etc. are not open source.
While I love to believe that the FOSS world is an anarchist utopia that believes in wellbeing for all, I think there are plenty of profit driven people there. They just don't sell access to the code/software.
> Between mid-December 2009 and February 2010, Firefox 3.5 was the most popular browser (when counting individual browser versions) according to StatCounter, and as of February 2010 was one of the top 3 browser versions according to Net Applications. Both milestones involved passing Internet Explorer 7, which previously held the No. 1 and No. 3 spots in popularity according to StatCounter and Net Applications, respectively - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_3.5
Then Chrome appeared and flattened both IE and Firefox.
There's 5 billion people on the internet. 5% of that is 250 million.
Some companies would kill for user numbers like that. Hell, some would slaughter entire villages.