Mozilla long ago made a deal with the devil, and there was never really a good long-term outcome. They have consistently failed to develop alternate revenue streams, even ones that they were well-positioned to capitalize on. Their VPN could have been built into the browser and powered by their own network. Instead it was (is?) a repackaged Mullvad. Which begs the question, why not just get mullvad directly at a lower price? Or choose a more capable option for a similar cost?

I believe the bandaid needs ripping off.

Just like how community effort into making windows more tolerable never solves the fundamental problem of it being closed-source and out of your control, Firefox being largely dependant on Google, while fighting against privacy invasion and ads creates a conflict of interests.

This is solved by removing the influence

Interesting read. I didn’t know Firefox was so completely dependent on search revenue, though it makes sense. Hope the courts and FTC work out something that preserves it.