Mozilla is unhappy because the use of browser engines other than WebKit will be restricted to the EU, forcing them to develop two different apps.

For an independent browser like Firefox, managing two browsers is not easy, so it can be forgiven that this could be seen as almost harassment.

Also, the fact that the use of browser engines other than WebKit is limited to iOS means that the use of WebKit is still forced on iPadOS, which also increases the effort for Mozilla.

Source: https://iphonewired.com/news/746093/

  • 0xtero@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    57
    arrow-down
    21
    ·
    2 years ago

    So hear me out. What if we took $6.9M out of the CEO bonus and dropped the Mozilla AI project?
    Maybe that would be enough to hire a maintainer or two for Firefox iOS port?
    Maybe that could work?
    I don’t know, just an idea. Crazy.

    • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      2 years ago

      Yeah, that will fix Apple being total utter assholes. Giving them what they want always fixes everyone being assholes.

    • vinhill@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      2 years ago

      Mozilla has a budget of around 200 mil for software development, so the 7 mil are probably not enough. Not defending the high pay though.

      Also, AI Integration into browsers could very well be a deciding factor for mainstream users when choosing a browser. So having some expertise around e.g. running LLMs privacy preserving on client hardware for page summarisation could pay off. Llamafile for example, is something cool coming from the Mozilla AI stuff.

      • crispy_kilt@feddit.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        2 years ago

        page summarisation

        I see a future where the journalist gives the LLM two sentences and asks it to spit out a 2000 word article out of that.

        The user then asks the LLM to Tl;Dr the article down to the two core sentences.

        Same probably for business email. Jane goes “send an email to Joe saying no.” The LLM goes “dear joe… we appreciate… your valuable conteibution… unfortunately at this time… cannot consider… looking forward… thanks for … whatever”. Joe then clicks the “summarise” button and gets “Jane says no”.

        Amazing how far we’ve come.

        • vinhill@feddit.de
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          2 years ago

          The same with resumes. Using a LLM to write a resume and cover letter out of key facts, sending it, turning it back into key facts around the applicant.

      • Pantherina@feddit.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        2 years ago

        Firefox is the only browser with local website translation. Literally the extension is the only app on Android that does that.

    • Auzy@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 years ago

      i used to think that, but I cringe at myself. I’m not sure what other managers there are being paid, and in the CEO’s defence, she was at Mozilla since the beginning, even through their bad times, pre-firefox days, and through their chrome days.

      That being said, if its 6.9m dollars though, that is getting a bit high…