A small very vocal subset of users is going to throw a fit. And a forked version of the browser (Iceweasel?) is going to strip out the ad functionality, assuming it is not just a toggle in the browser.
"Mozilla is moving from a dumb window to the internet to a smart agent on behalf of the user, putting the user first," Mr. Herman said.
Or Mozilla is trying to pay the bills and not be so beholden to Google. I don't think users are clamoring for more advertising.
Good move, if they manage to pull it off well enough.
The tone and facts in this article don't seem right.
From the official Mozilla blog post:
"Mozilla is kicking off an exploration"
"Directory Tiles will instead suggest pre-packaged content for first-time users."
"While we have not worked out the entire product roadmap, we are beginning to talk to content partners about the opportunity, and plan to start showing Directory Tiles to new Firefox users as soon as we have the user experience right"
Sounds like early days, the news article made it sound like a done deal.
I guess they didn't notice how "well" Microsoft does with Tiles on the desktop where even the most die hard Win8 apologist says "When you use start8, it's not so bad as you never have to see them."
And if they are talking about that dumb grid when opening a blank tab, that was the first thing I deactivated when it was introduced. When I open a new tab, I have a site in mind I wish to open. I do not need to see my top most visited sites in a grid. That's what the pull down list of the address bar is there for. And neither do I need to see ads in that grid.
So really what they're doing is stealing opera's idea. This could be advertising, or it could be awesome. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what the details are and who they partner with.
