A pilot program created by Mozilla with PayPal

Jul 16, 2009 13:11 GMT  ·  By
A pilot program created by Mozilla with PayPal will allow add-on developers to request optional payments
   A pilot program created by Mozilla with PayPal will allow add-on developers to request optional payments

Firefox has been built from the ground up as an open-source project with user contribution as the driving force. Most of the development on Firefox, especially at the beginning, came from individuals around the world donating their spare time to the project. And while most of them do it out of passion and don't expect any monetary reward, every developer has to make a living somehow. So Mozilla is introducing a pilot program called “Contributions” that would allow add-on developers to make some money from their creations.

Open source doesn't necessarily mean no money, as evident from the Firefox project itself, as the Mozilla Foundation is making tens of millions of dollars each year while giving the browser away for free. Most of the money comes from Google and has allowed Mozilla to pay developers for their work and, in fact, most of the development on Firefox currently comes from the organization's in-house, paid developers.

So now Mozilla wants add-on developers to be able to make some money too, as add-ons are one of the biggest reasons why Firefox is so popular. There are thousands of developers creating add-ons but very few actually make any profit, with very rare notable exceptions. The new pilot program from Mozilla should provide an easy way to generate some income at least for the more popular add-ons.

“Contributions will give developers the opportunity to request an optional dollar amount for their Firefox Add-on. Along with requesting this amount, Mozilla is helping developers tell their stories with its new “About the Developer” pages, which explain to prospective contributors the motivations for creating an add-on and its future road map,” Nicole Loux wrote on the Mozilla blog.

To achieve this, the company has partnered with PayPal to provide the payment backend and every developer can now request a PayPal ID for each individual add-on. Users will be presented with a “Contribute” button at different points in the install process, but the actual payments will always be optional, leaving it to the developers to choose when to ask for donations, at least during the pilot program.

“We’re incredibly excited about the potential of Contributions and hope it makes a meaningful difference in the lives of developers and users alike. As always, we’ll be evaluating this pilot as we receive feedback and making changes based on that feedback,” Nick Nguyen, Firefox add-on director, said.