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1. yawnxy+(OP)[view] [source] 2024-03-01 17:30:20
didn't Firefox / Mozilla set that precedent already?
replies(3): >>wbl+Q >>dkjaud+y1 >>wmf+Tf
2. wbl+Q[view] [source] 2024-03-01 17:34:12
>>yawnxy+(OP)
No. MozCo is for profit owned by Mozilla Foundation which does additional things to satisfy the IRS and has been that way since the begining.
replies(2): >>dragon+b1 >>wkat42+X1
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3. dragon+b1[view] [source] [discussion] 2024-03-01 17:36:21
>>wbl+Q
That's the same basic structure, on paper, as OpenAI, it didn't “switch to for-profit” in terms of taking the nonprofit entity and converting it to a for-profit.
4. dkjaud+y1[view] [source] 2024-03-01 17:38:09
>>yawnxy+(OP)
I can download the Firefox sources and everything else they produce.

That they make money incidentally to that is really no problem and a positive because it provides reasonable funding.

What if Firefox made a world beating browser by accident. Would they be justified in closing the source, restricting access and making people pay for it?

That's what OpenAI did.

replies(3): >>strbea+F2 >>DANmod+Ei >>DANmod+kj
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5. wkat42+X1[view] [source] [discussion] 2024-03-01 17:39:56
>>wbl+Q
Not since the beginning. They made it that way after beef with the IRS.

I wish they hadn't because they are thinking too commercial (extremely high paid CEO) for instance but they have a foundation to answer to which doesn't manage them like shareholders would (eg not rewarding the CEO for dropping marketshare!). This model is the worst of both worlds imo.

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6. strbea+F2[view] [source] [discussion] 2024-03-01 17:43:09
>>dkjaud+y1
That's the real distinction: does the for-profit subsidiary subsume the supposed public good of the parent non-profit?

If OpenAI Co. is gatekeeping access to the fruits of OpenAI's labors, what good is OpenAI providing?

7. wmf+Tf[view] [source] 2024-03-01 18:43:00
>>yawnxy+(OP)
Mozilla doesn't have outside investors; AFAIK it's 100% owned by the foundation. OpenAI has outside investors.
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8. DANmod+Ei[view] [source] [discussion] 2024-03-01 18:56:40
>>dkjaud+y1
They had one of the best browsers in the world at one point.

Their sell-out path was hundreds of millions of dollars from GOOG to make their search engine the default, and, unspoken: allow FF to become an ugly, insecure, red-headed stepchild when compared to Chrome.

Likely part of what took priority away from Thunderbird, at the time, too.

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9. DANmod+kj[view] [source] [discussion] 2024-03-01 18:59:45
>>dkjaud+y1
Anyway, to answer your question, no, not okay to close up the nonprofit and go 100% for-profit in that case.

Concisely, in any human matteres: Do what you say you'll do, or, add qualifiers/don't say it.

Take funds from a subset of users who need support services or patch guarantees of some kind, use that to pay people to continue to maintain and improve the product.

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