You are forgetting that Firefox has been around until now with no profit except Google's bribe.
They could've at least tried to sell a paid version - what's the worst that could happen? Any sale would be on top of what they're currently earning per download, i.e. pure "profit" that could be reinvested in the product.
> They could've at least tried to sell a paid version - what's the worst that could happen? Any sale would be on top of what they're currently earning per download, i.e. pure "profit" that could be reinvested in the product.
Assumedly, a paid version would exclude some features that Mozilla is otherwise monetizing through (like selling your data). This doesn't seem like sales "on top of" what they're already earning, but rather an alternative that replaces (at least some of) existing monetization routes.
Pocket and the other Mozilla services fund Mozilla, not Firefox directly. My company uses Firefox professionally and we'd buy per-seat enterprise licences if they existed, iff they funded Firefox development.
We have no interest in funding Mozilla, whose manifesto barely mentions Firefox and who has now decided that AI is their focus.
They could've at least tried to sell a paid version - what's the worst that could happen? Any sale would be on top of what they're currently earning per download, i.e. pure "profit" that could be reinvested in the product.
It never was an "either/or" proposition.