What is Digg?88 Comments
- treymdnc, on 10/12/2007, -4/+23Why does it matter why Mozilla is making money? They put out a fantastic product and charged nothing for it. The people in that company did a good job, let them enjoy the fruits of thri labor.
- BritOverseas, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19I never deny people that do good things money, as far as I am concerned they deserve every penny, regardless how much it is.
This business model is a shining example to all would be developers.
Double Dugg - bieber, on 10/12/2007, -5/+16If anyone was wondering, 0xdeadbeef.com refers to the fact that old IBM CPUs initialized registers with the value 0xdeadbeef.
- GeekyGirl, on 10/12/2007, -7/+16Alex007, this is another blog post; however, Chris is a Mozilla board member, and his blog is provided as a link off of the official Mozilla site from http://www.mozilla.org/reorganization/
In other words, not as credible as , but more credible than a random blogger. - dirtyfratboy, on 10/12/2007, -7/+16Maybe you should open the damn link before posting your opinion! The entire story is written in the blog!
- chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -6/+15Mozilla Foundation = mofo
Priceless. - Ghoul, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12Talk about not R(ing)TFA. The importance of the blog is clear in the second damn sentence (or third if you count "Hi."):
"First, a little background. Hi. My name is Christopher Blizzard and I sit on the board of the Mozilla Corporation." - supergwiz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Funny how employees refer to the org as MoFo...
I would officially call the large donors to the foundation as "Financial Underwriters", then you can call them:
FU MoFo - btipling, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7If they're non-profit, a lot of their financial information is public. They have to provide it to the government to keep their tax status. Often it's on the website, I know oxfam has it on theirs. You just have to know where to look.
- dognose, on 10/12/2007, -9/+13non profits can spend like 80% of their "profits" on salaries for the executives. It's time to publically disclose their earings and expenses if they want to still get good will and donations from the community.
- thewise1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Because Google didn't use free labor to accomplish their goals, and perhaps you can elaborate on what you're talking about, since using Google doesn't seem to do anything but help me, personally.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+11I didn't think anything was critical about the first digg article. I wish they had 720 million in the bank, non-profit or not.
- lego, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Does anyone know if any of this money is used to pay Mozdev and Mozillazine? I wouldn't want to see thse sites asking for public donations when Mozilla Corp might have enough money to take care of the cost of running those sites.
- dognose, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Really, should they be asking for donations on their website?
- sundancekid503, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4bieber:
I think he was implying that they don't NEED his money. - sadsac, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Um, like, the dude comes off slightly guilty. There is no reason to be... there is nothing wrong with success...
But, the whole spiel about not caring about money, because they use the money only for righteousness, justice and virtue... well that just doesn't fly. - thewise1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4digg++
Seriously, people keep trying to bury the legit questions about this... I'm all for Firefox and even for them making money, but we need to be honest lest we end up with a company that folks dislike even more than Microsoft. - niran, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"This business model is a shining example to all would be developers."
No it's not. This business model is only remotely viable because Firefox is the most popular open source application ever. Look how long it took the Mozilla Foundation (and now, the Corporation) to get this far. Also, it's popularity was built on the mindshare Netscape already had before it open sourced the browser. If you actually have mouths to feed, it's hard to wait years for your program to be popular so people will donate money to you and companies will pay for promotion through the program.
Mozilla is the exception, not the rule. - dognose, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4ok, so public records show that they made almost 6M in 2004, with $1M in donations. I'm sure 2005 was a much bigger year. They have a lot of senior techs making well over 100k/year. Who knows if they deserve it or not. Firefox certainly hasn't improved much for me in the last few years. They should really be posting this on their site!
/will not be donating next time around/ - supergwiz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Orgs that have an IRS exempt status (e.g. non-profits) make their filings public.
You can look all companies up at http://www.guidestar.org/ to see how they spend their $. - bieber, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7Why do you care? They're a company that's making an excellent piece of free software for the community. Is it somehow immoral that they should make money doing it? You do realize that making money off of free software greatly increases the organization's ability to further development, right?
- thewise1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Ok, firefox is great. I'm glad they are making money.
My only hope here is that they aren't using the free labor of those who contributed to the project to make a lot of money. That isn't right in my book, unless these people consented to working for free to help them make money. - RoboPimp3000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@Niran - The Red Cross doesn't have a for-profit arm that produces all the money required to run the operation. Secondly, all corporations have shareholders. In the Case of Mozilla Corporation, it has one - the Mozilla Foundation.
- idiggit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I think it's a good thing. For a start, it's one proof of concept that it is possible to make money out of FOSS. Second, Firefox is getting mainstream and I anticipate when it's going to over-tip IE as the defacto browser, and as such I think it is reassuring to know that MoFo can count on MoCo to pay people in order to get competency, quality assurances, and pushing Firefox in stratospheres of standards to we can all count on without any lock-ins, be it license, money, or OS/hardware technologies. In short, I think it's real good news and knowing that, I'll maybe start using again that search bar in Firefox (unless Google's proprietary bar gives the same result moneywise... anyone know?)
- jamesey, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4That was written in a bed made of money, and halfway through writing that he had a money fight with hundred dollar bills. That guy shouldnt pretend that people are not getting rich off Mozilla.
- Nodren, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5until you actually run a buisness you really have no room to talk. i've seen buisnesses make millions each year but so much of that goes back into the buisness just running(and growing), that the actual amount of profit is only a few hundred dollars.
- fattmoley, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If you're interested in finding out more about the Mozilla Foundation you should look to www.guidestar.org Registration is free and you can view the Form 990's filed for pretty much all non-profits in the USA. For instance I can tell you that Christopher Blizzard's official position on the board is Secretary and Director. He is paid nothing for the 2 hours a week he puts in on the board. However, the President of the Board, Mitchell Baker, works full time and is paid $34,804.
If you look at Part VII of the 990, line 93b you see that for 2004 the Mozilla Organization received 4.4 million in sponsorship revenue. It will be interesting to see the 2005 return to see how the numbers have changed. - quesera, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Here's a little secret about running a nonprofit, even a well-endowed one:
*always* ask for money. Run the fundraising like an constant and ongoing process, even when you don't need it.
Three reasons:
- No matter what your mission is, more money will almost always help acheive it. Maybe you have to invest it for leaner times, maybe you need it now. But you can use it.
- Annoying as it might seem, fundraising is like advertising. Your name, your logo, your message are in view of people.
- And most importantly: Believe it or not, people REALLY want to give money to support efforts they believe in. For some, it's how they can feel involved without requiring the dedication of time (often more valuable than money). It establishes a relationship between the organization and its supporters. Often those supporters want to be asked. How many people who donated to the NYT article drive felt a surge of involvement when the ad came out.....ALL OF THEM. That's a very visible example, but it holds true in all other works too. This is important for a number of reasons, but even from a strictly pragmatic perspective -- when you DO need money at some point in the future, it is these people, with whom you've maintained a strong and mutually rewarding relationship, who will be your biggest supporters.
Nonprofit management is a weird business. Only the first reason above was instinctively obvious to me before I found myself immersed in the operational details of a fairly large 501(c)(3). But the others are even more important. - Agekay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I do not even like that he has to justify this. Of course do they deserve the money. Who cares how much they make? I would not even care if every mozilla developer got a ferrari as long as firefox stays free and kicking ass.
- darryl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2However many millions it actually is, for outsiders it seems to be in contrast to their image as an anti-corporate alternative. It isn't billions, but it also isn't nothing... There certainly isn't anything wrong with being profitable, it's just that for some of us it means a slight adjustment in our view of the place Firefox holds in the marketplace.
- RoboPimp3000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Could someone who is familiar with tax law answer me something:
In theory, couldn't the Mozilla Corporation (MC) donate money back to Mozilla Foundation (MF) and use that donation to reduce their tax bill, possibly to zero? Essentially making money without paying taxes on it. Not that the MC would do this, or that the IRS would ever allow it. Or am I a complete idiot who doesn't know anything about tax law? - amed, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2lol right with ya cpnx,
If i were a contributer to the firefox project and didnt get a share of that money, id be really pist - madjack3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yes, making money is a good thing - for everyone. I don't get jealous or upset when I hear about people or companies making huge sums of money. It just encourages me. When people complain about the CEO that make $42 million a year, I think "Yes, that's what I want to make too".
- ccanni1028, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3GeekyGirl-one of the new additions on the site update is an edit button for your posts.
- hungryJonJon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Especially because their salaries can increase ;) but i applaud them, they earned it.
- agimat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I'm guessing because most people have always thought 'oh how nice, they're doing such a good thing! such nice people, working for nothing and its sooo sad that they have to ask for donations! here, take my money! anything mozilla good! m$ bad! lets rally! lets promote! then bam! wtf? they earned $72M? so yes, the browser is good but now thoughts of jealousy and ulterior motives creep in. some people would feel used and trivial issues now become a big deal since people now know these guys are earning a lot from it.
then again maybe not (i'm so and so bottles past my beer limit) - Bluezdood, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1People who design excellent products, and don't overcharge for them, or even better, give them away, deserve to do well. Now anybody who has a beef with that can shut the heck up.
- Erroneus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Yeah the 72M has been discussed alot, but the major part of the comments were positive, because people belive the 72M can be used for eg. hiring more developers and making Firefox even better and lets hope so :)
Lets get an entire team (all though it might not be a dreamjob) just to find memleaks and solve quicktime plugin problems ;) - niran, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Money from donations goes to the Mozilla Foundation, which pays for developers to work on the project, among other things.
Money from advertisers and partners, such as Google, goes to the Mozilla Corporation, which employs many Mozilla developers and donates money back to the Mozilla Foundation.
I don't see why people who would have donated before wouldn't donate now just because the project also gets advertising money from companies. The only legitimate reason is if you think they already have enough money to work with. The conspiracy theories floating around in the comments are unjustified. - dognose, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3because they ask for money on their donations page? Just by using the browser, you are helping them make money.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If being broke is the only prerequisite people care about when choosing a browser, hell, I can do that. And I'll stay broke, true to the "anti-corporate" sentiments folks seem to cherish. My talent level pretty much dictates I'll stay broke, so no worries there.
Man, I think it's time to coin a new RTFM style acronym. LSFBE. Learn some f-ing basic economics. I need to write a script to post it to the start of every Slashdot discussion thread, and about half of them here.
Hey niran, the money will "just end up in someone's pockets" eventually. Whether it's the employee of the company that hosts for Mozilla, or a developer or an executive for the corporation, they will most likely have pockets. I fail to see where that becomes a problem, but I guess a product can't be good if it's "corporate". As in provides jobs? As in competes openly against other products?
I could be wrong, but I would love to see the Digg demographics. This discussion is like a bunch of high-schoolers wringing their hands over Death Cab signing with a major label. Firefox seems to still work for me today, and if it didn't, I could use something else. Big wow. - dognose, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2as supergwhiz said, it's all on http://www.guidestar.org/ ..
but, they really should put it on their site. - RoboPimp3000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yeah but the end result is still making money, so I don't understand your point.
- ahsteele, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2It's important to understand that about non-profit organizations, but it is a wonderful plug for the free software movement that they are making money this way.
- Sell, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Anyone that says that money is the most important thing to all companies knows nothing about business. If you don't have a strong customer base you'll never get the money. In this case they focus on user experience to create their customer base then comes the money.
- jgc7, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1can someone post the details from guidestar... I don't want to register
- cpnx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Anyone, in almost any business, that says money doesn't matter or they are not concerned with money is full of sh*t.
- ketsugi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Do you mean 0xdeadbeef?
- niran, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@jkfan87
First of all, donations go to the Mozilla Foundation, not the Corporation. Secondly, you and I seem to have different beliefs about why someone would donate to Mozilla. If someone likes their product and wants them to be able to continue to make good products, that's when they make a donation. Money donated to the Foundation goes to paying for more developers, infrastructure, etc. Even if the donated money isn't used immediately, it will be used eventually for that purpose, and it won't just end up in someone's pockets.
By the way, ad hominem attacks don't suit you very well.
@RoboPimp3000
That's true, but I don't think that necessarily precludes donating to them. For now, they don't have a pressing need for donations, but any donations will still go to making better products in the future when the money is needed. Sure, people could just wait until the time comes when the money is needed to donate, but some comments were yelling about how they should take down donation links from all their pages. That's irrational. - cakefart, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1As mentioned by others, organizations which file for tax exempt status under US Treasury/IRS code 501 have to file annually. Here's a description of the filing and disclosure requirements. (Although it mentions quite a bit of detail specifiic chapter 3, it also applies to chapter 6 and 9 organizations, like the Open Source Development Lab)
http://www.irs.gov/charities/charitable/ -
Show 51 - 80 of 80 discussions
The Digg Toolbar for Firefox lets you Digg, submit content, and keep track of Digg even when you're not on the Digg site. Download the official 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is