Tbh there really isn’t any replacement, which tells you a lot about how profitable browsers that care even a little about privacy vs browsers that are just supported by bigger companies and have better marketing. And yes, there’s a bunch of smaller browsers around but they’re mostly reskins and die overnight without Google and Mozilla to carry the major load. It’s sad but privacy is not as popular as compatibility with every website and when you’re the default, you’re compatible everywhere. I’ve been around since Netscape and I don’t see a way to change this at all. Mozilla literally relies on Google ad money to stay afloat.
Yeah maybe if Firefox could be the default browser on Android, mac, and windows, they’d be able to outpace the others on marketshare. We know this’ll never happen though, and desktop usage (their majority market) is dwindling; this is while the vast majority of users never change from the default browser and their competitors are the default and thus the target for compatibility on the web. Maybe you’re right and the ceo could change all this by being paid less. Tbh I’m happy as long as they have the revenue to stay afloat and can continue making the browser without adding a bunch of tracking. All this talk about marketshare is nonsense- the CEO’s job is to find money and they’re finding money and diversifying. In 2023 alone, they were able to increase developer costs by 40m (so now about 260m, almost a 20% jump and 10% the year before that from 200m), so acting like they don’t invest in their products is so asinine.