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Originally Posted by Mem  I don't understand how Firefox is available for free. They can't make any money on it. I don't see any advertising either. |
"They" in this case, are two entities:
- The Mozilla Foundation, which is a legally registered non-profit corporation. As a non-profit, they can't make money off their work. There are a few ways in which the Mozilla Foundation is restricted from promoting Firefox (as well as Thunderbird and other Mozilla offerings), so there is a separate legal entity:
- The Mozilla Corporation, which is a taxable corporation that handles a few issues involving promotion, internationalization, and product tie-ins that the Foundation can't legally perform. According to Mozilla,
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Originally Posted by Mozilla By forming a commercial subsidiary, the revenue-generating activities of the new entity can provide funds to support development, testing, and productization of the various Mozilla open source technologies. This benefits both end-users of Firefox and Thunderbird, and developers and others who want to use the Mozilla open source code in various ways. Having the Mozilla Corporation handle revenue-generating activities associated with these products also allows the Mozilla Foundation to achieve its goals while still itself remaining a tax-exempt organization. However, the Mozilla Corporation is not a typical commercial entity and will only pursue revenue-generating activities that are consistent with offering end-users with the best experience possible. |
So, to answer your question: They're
not making money off of it; that's not a goal of theirs.
