I am not at all happy about this. I hopeit doesn't happen, but if it does, bye bye Firefox. Perhaps it'll be as the article says, only for new users.I hope.
"Mozilla has decided that the best course of action going forward is
to fill all those blank squares in new tabs with sponsored content (ads,
for the layman). The new initiative is called Directory Tiles
and it's intended to "improve the first-time-with-Firefox experience,"
or at least that's the sales pitch from Darren Herman, Mozilla's Vice
President of Content Services. It's his job to diversify revenue and
sustain Mozilla's mission through innovation in content and
personalization products, and this is one way he plans to do that.
As explained in a blog post,
Directory Tiles will feature "pre-packaged content for first-time
users." Some will come from Mozilla's own ecosystem, while others will
be popular websites in a given geographic locations. Directory Tiles
will also include "sponsored content from hand-picked partners."
A well-timed satirical article in The Onion
titled "Compromising Company's Values for Advertising Revenue Referred
to as 'Partnering'" is worth a read if you're need of a good laugh,
though this is serious business to Mozilla. Most of Mozilla's revenue
comes from its search agreement with Google that's worth around $300
million per year. Through advertising, Mozilla will gain a new revenue
stream and perhaps not be so reliant on Google, which offers its own
browser in Chrome.
Even so, it's a surprising move, especially considering that Mozilla
championed the blocking of third-party cookies by making it a default
option starting in Firefox 22. Firefox has also been a fan favorite for
several years."
No comments:
Post a Comment