Mozilla To Begin Pushing Ads To The New Tabs Page

[ObiWan]

Sigh. Why Mozilla why.

I'm hoping there will be a way to disable it in about:config or at boot time if compiling nightly...

Well it's only visible with a fresh profile, and there you will just need a click on the X button on the right corner of the bookmark image and it's gone.

[TemplarGR]

aaand ad blocker enabled again.

Capitalism is one of the worst possible systems. It's only used because most people are too stupid to see through it. The fact that the stocksystem is still up and running is a further proof that the reason capitalism works is based upon the stupidity of the masses.

As Capitalism is the current system, of course everyone needs money to survive. (if he doesn't want to kill other people or steal from other people, that is.) But it's one thing to live in a system and accept that it's not currently changeable and a completely different thing to not accept but think that the system is the best there is and making a religion out of it.

This.

I am sorry folks, but Capitalism is a fraud. It is a system designed to exploit the many for the benefit of the few. I can understand needing money since we are still living inside that system, but to say it is good?

Michael, you may know a few things about open source, but on politics and economics, just stop it right there... But i am sure this is just a way to make more money, since this will turn to a flame...

PS: Firefox is done for me. I don't care about their profits. I am not their mother. I am using Chromium currently and will be sticking to that, thank you very much...

[iniudan]

For people not understanding the why of this decision, you do know that Mozilla Foundation revenue mostly come from Google (like 300 out of 311 million were from Google in 2012), thus Mozilla need an alternative source of founding, else it might fall apart, if Google ever pull out.

[Etzos]

These are just the tiles on the new tab page, so they're not really ads in the strictest sense. Really, I don't see how this is any different than having Google as the home page and default search. It's not like the tiles are going to be loading content dynamically (article says they're pre-packaged) and since they're going to be pre-packaged that means they're likely to be very trusted sites that have been screened by Mozilla, so I don't see any threat of malware or the like. And they're only visible when you have a new profiles since the tiles get replaced by sites that you visit often. I just don't understand why everyone assumes malice on Mozilla's behalf every time they change something.

[Remdul]

Not sure which bothers me more; ads in Firefox or the idea that someone can still believe in capitalism after the events of the last ~10 years. The former is just 'sigh', the latter is just plain offensive.

Also Adblock re-enabled. It did make me feel dirty to disable it in the first place...thanks for reminding me why.

[brosis]

While I understand the necessity, something tells me its a completely the wrong direction.I am okay with Firefox version 3. All the newer technologies are interesting for content providers, so that is who should be paying or contributing. Ads serve no other reason than a reverse-payment, meaning Firefox is more or less sold to its users now. And that means, Google has stopped paying them or they are loosing previously available income sources. Which gives other thoughts.... But all-in-all its a downward spiral, not an advantage.

Not sure which bothers me more; ads in Firefox or the idea that someone can still believe in capitalism after the events of the last ~10 years. The former is just 'sigh', the latter is just plain offensive.

Also Adblock re-enabled. It did make me feel dirty to disable it in the first place...thanks for reminding me why.

Phoronix is a for-profit news and benchmarking project. Buy premium, Michael isn't a web rendering library, he has costs to pay.

[GreatEmerald]

Hmm, well, I guess I might have to consider starting to use the home page as the default new tab page... Not that those ads would be much of an issue if it's just the default set, but just out of principle.

I hope malware won't be distributed by advertisers who might show a sign of infection. If there's any sign of malware coming from compromised advertiser, that will be a violation of trust and therefore will be blocked off from my computer.

And this is no matter how much cautious we can be in the Internet and no matter how up-to-date anti-virus programs can be, especially when it coes to Windows.

"malware"? "infection"? "anti-virus"? "Windows"? What kind of terms are those?

Are here people who use the internet (or even this site) without adblock? hah

Yes. In fact, with the latest Firefox, it's pretty fine, since Flash is blocked by default. Then the remaining ads are easy to deal with: if you see an offensive one and it's from AdSense, you can just disable it with the X button. If it's not, then you can block all images from the advertising site by simply using Firefox's built-in image blocker.

[nomadewolf]

Personally i understand, and prefer that to IE or to being spied on.
But i think it 'll hurt their userbase...

[Detructor]

While I understand the necessity, something tells me its a completely the wrong direction.I am okay with Firefox version 3. All the newer technologies are interesting for content providers, so that is who should be paying or contributing. Ads serve no other reason than a reverse-payment, meaning Firefox is more or less sold to its users now. And that means, Google has stopped paying them or they are loosing previously available income sources. Which gives other thoughts.... But all-in-all its a downward spiral, not an advantage.


Phoronix is a for-profit news and benchmarking project. Buy premium, Michael isn't a web rendering library, he has costs to pay.

nobody argues against that you've to make money in the current system. The point I'm arguing about is the statement that he believes in capitalism. And that's just ...not right IMO.

[Adarion]

Oh well.

1. They could have asked for donations. I am not rich but I actually donate here and there or support things I like with money, beer or just actions of any type if I can.
2. Building in ads sucks. Generally. Because it is a close step to the next level: spyware / user tracking.
3. Ads in general suck. They are pesky. Most of them insult my eyes and intellect. (If they actually are funny or just informative, well, it's much more bearable.)
4. Building in ads will make them lose users. So - fewer users / watchers / ratings -> less ad revenue.

Capitalism doesn't work. Communism probably neither due to human weakness. But looking at the U.S.A. I think you can actually see capitalism in its final state. It works for a few selected who manage to exploit the 99% others. I wonder how long it will take until they finally admit that they are actually bankrupt and have been so for the last 10 years.

Either way: Firefox's feature "newtab" was instantly disabled as soon as they built it in.

By the way:
about:Mozilla
So much for the Mammon.