Firefox without EULAs — Update

September 16th, 2008

We’re still working on this. There’s been a bunch of helpful feedback. We appreciate this. We think we’ve integrated the feedback into something that’s a good solution; different from out last version in both its essence and its presentation and content.

We’ve come to understand that anything EULA-like is disturbing, even if the content is FLOSS based. So we’re eliminating that. We still feel that something about the web services integrated into the browser is needed; these services can be turned off and not interrupt the flow of using the browser. We also want to tell
people about the FLOSS license — as a notice, not as as EULA or use restriction. Again, this won’t block the flow or provide the unwelcoming feeling that one comment to my previous post described so eloquently.

We expect to have the materials that show this plan posted tomorrow morning.

Along with the feedback, there have also been some responses that go beyond anger to nasty, personal attacks. This is unfortunate. I think we’ve gotten past the vitriol to absorb the underlying issues. It’s possible that we’ve missed something. Sometimes the vitriol masks what would otherwise be a point we might understand and agree with. If that’s the case, we’ll keep working on things. The end result will be better for all of us.

Categories: Mozilla | Tags: EULA, Firefox, legal

78 comments for “Firefox without EULAs — Update”

1
JMB said on September 18th, 2008 at 12:45 pm:

“It was a mouth-breathingly stupid thing for them to do in the first place so I don’t know why everyone is so pleased with them.”

I agree 100%. It was incredibly stupid, and it shouldn’t have happened. But who knows, I’ll just give them the benefit of the doubt this time and assume that it was the idea of some random guy in the Corp. (or maybe even foundation) who just didn’t understand the whole thing very well (maybe he was new?). Either way, this was a major alarm to me, and I’ll certainly be weary of any future Mozilla plans.

They did handle it well after the uproar, so I’ll give them one more chance. Then again, after such an uproar, they’d sure as hell better if they want to keep their users. I can’t say I’m really “pleased” with their overall behavior; the fact that this was a consideration to begin with is downright ridiculous and tainted them more than this reversal can possibly clear completely. But the fact that they handled this case so quickly and so well earns at least some respect.

There are a lot of Fire[fox] escape routes (other browsers) to take if Mozilla does something bad again.
2
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3
Weevil said on September 18th, 2008 at 2:24 pm:

‘there have also been some responses that go beyond anger to nasty, personal attacks’

Well I guess it’s time for some personal praise then, good job on deciding to get rid of the EULA guys! Now let’s focus again on making this the most ‘freedom-est’ and best browser out there!
4
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9
wosmvp said on September 18th, 2008 at 7:53 pm:

I look forward to seeing this new implementation.

I much prefer a solution that does not cause me to have to replace Firefox with unbranded Firefox.
10
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[…] Firefox without EULAs We’ve come to understand that anything EULA-like is disturbing, even if the content is FLOSS based. So we’re eliminating that. We still feel that something about the web services integrated into the browser is needed; these services can be turned off and not interrupt the flow of using the browser. We also want to tell people about the FLOSS license — as a notice, not as as EULA or use restriction. Again, this won’t block the flow or provide the unwelcoming feeling that one comment to my previous post described so eloquently. […]
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19
islam said on September 21st, 2008 at 5:30 am:

THANK YOU..
20
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22
James said on September 22nd, 2008 at 2:11 am:

While we’re talking about stupid legalese, how about bug 446704 – about:config saying “This might void your warranty” is stupid as the MPL says it has no warranty.
23
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24
Kragen Javier Sitaker said on October 3rd, 2008 at 12:15 pm:

Mitchell, thanks so much for taking the lead on solving this huge problem. It’s going to be really good to have an open-source Firefox again; it’s been really tough for all of us out there who have been advocating people use Firefox for so many years, precisely because it’s free software.
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