Mozilla acquires Active Replica to build on its metaverse vision
techcrunch.com
Mozilla has acquired Active Replica, a company focused on building VR-forward virtual event and collaboration technologies.

Crypto news outlets are ecstatic.

The web developer Mozilla, mainly known for its internet browser Firefox, has joined the rush of legacy internet platforms jumping into the Web3 and metaverse development space.

why, Mozilla :deeper-sadness:

  • trompete [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Not that surprising, Mozilla is what it looks like when you combine a lib NGO and a Silicon Valley "tech" company. They do whatever the equivalent of greenwashing is for privacy. Whenever someone at Mozilla gets confronted about some shit they pulled, they just look confused: "I don't understand, you think all data collecting is bad??? I didn't even know that's an opinion people have. We are just trying to help! It's totally opt-out! What's this "dark pattern" thing you are complaining about? Never heard of it. We're like way better than Google you see. Sure, our funding comes mainly from Google, what are you implying? You wouldn't want us to have to fire people do you?"

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      The Whole Foods of techbros.

      ... Whole Foods is already the Whole Foods of techbros, at least as far as I can tell in my area. The comparison needs work. :cap-think:

  • MedicareForSome [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Makes sense, they came out with Mozilla Hubs .

    Honestly this stuff isn't all bad. I attended a virtual music festival called Secret Sky in 2021 and it was a great experience. You got to travel around the festival grounds and there was proximity chat for meeting people.

    Read about it and check out the recap video here .

    • frogbellyratbone_ [e/em/eir, any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      that festival thing looks pretty cool.

      also agreed, vr isn't inherently bad. there's some really fun intuitive games with vr: fantastic contraption, phasmophobia, time machine, elite dangerous, etc.

  • Vampire [any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Mozilla Hubs has pretty much the right vision: no large open world, easy DIY servers. Basically they want it to be more like the web, with different sites.

  • jackmarxist [any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    It'll probably just fail like a lot of their shitty ventures

  • AHopeOnceMore [he/him]B
    ·
    2 years ago

    My most optimistic interpretation is that this is patent defense. Very optimistic.

    • sovietknuckles [they/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      They're broke because like 95% of their funding comes from companies like Google and Amazon paying Mozilla to list their search engines, with the vast majority coming from Google, since it's the default. That's why they started additional stuff like their VPN service, so that they're not totally dependent on their biggest competitor. If this is along the same lines as that goal, I guess some executive thinks there's money to be made in the metaverse

    • sovietknuckles [they/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Apparently they used to since 2014, but they requested crypto donos in late 2021, which sparked backlash, and they temporarily halted all crypto donations in early 2022. Then, when BitCoin crashed more than usual in mid-2022, they super-paused crypto donos.