Firefox

IMHO we have several really big problems with the web as it is today, which are intertwined:

1. The web (standards) is by far too complicated. If even Microsoft doesn't have (or isn't willing) to provide the resources to implement a browser, there are not many players left with the resources and the motivation

2. Google Chrome and Safari are the only game in town. (My main browser is Firefox, but seriously, we have such a small market share that nobody gives a damn)

3. Most people/governments/companies don't care or don't understand the problem of the mono culture for browsers

4. The value of the web is everything which is already on the web and that one can access anything with the browser - for this reason, we can only grow in the direction of more complicated while keeping backwards compatibility

5. Besides lip-service to the contrary, our politicians want to control communication and supervise their citizens, so for politicians it is better to have a browser controlled by a company like Google, than a really free web

Given how fundamental important the web is for modern human basic infrastructure, we (as a society) should find a better way to protect our infrastructure, freedom of speech and basic freedoms.

Chad

Fuck yes, get fucked Google !

would likely obstruct many existing uses of the Web such as ... and archiving & search engine spiders.

Well, it's not like Google can benefit from controlling which search engines could send their crawlers to websites, right?

This is exactly why we need Mozilla, this is kind of stuff what makes them the default in the open source community.

Thankful for Mozilla, seriously!

This has already happened in the past, and it will unfortunately end exactly like it did before.

It's going to end up exactly like it did with WC3 EME, as mentioned in the 2014 article mentioned few comments after the one you linked. This quote from the article sums it up perfecly:

I know of people recommending Chrome (not Chromium) because it has Flash Player natively incorporated, so you no longer have to install it separately.

This serves to prove that the majority of users doesn’t know about either the technical or ethical differences in the software they are using.You may also think of the pirated software the are using,but this is a different matter. Ignoring this marketshare goes against Mozilla’s idea of a web available to everyone, not to mention that Firefox is no longer the most used browser as it used to be a a few years ago and it is therefore forced to comply with this kind of requests.

thats like an ant trying to punch out a bear, mozillas voice has lost its true power over a decade ago sadly

What I find funny is that Ben or one of his few colleagues that helped write the draft closed the Github page over the weekend because of pressure and promises to open it back on monday or something.

Well seems like that is not going to happen now.