alt Hacker NewsWe all agree that this case is a very bad outcome for Mozilla.
What I don't agree with, is that a system that is based on higher tiers for entire accounts, is necessarily better. If such a tier exists, then all the big players will apply pressure to be put in that tier. Suppose Amazon tries for that - surely they'll get it. And then they'll use it, not just for "the Amazon app", but for every crappy outsourced app they make for any purpose. Placing a huge burden on Mozilla, who now will have to spend extra resources to hand-check a lot of crap that could have been auto-rejected, just in case, because effectively the burden of proof has been shifted.
I'd like you all to try to abstract from this case for a second, and think about the strategic choice: Which is the better rule, evaluating apps, or evaluating accounts. Sure, now you're all thinking that you'll make a super-duper amalgam system that looks at both in some combination. That's the benefit of hindsight. But suppose you're making version 1, and you're keeping it simple. What would you start with?
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> What I don't agree with, is that a system that is based on higher tiers for entire accounts, is necessarily better.
Almost every business looks after their biggest customer better than their smallest customer.
> Which is the better rule, evaluating apps, or evaluating accounts
For now, evaluating apps.
... but only because gorhill decided not to go nuclear (and good on 'em for doing so). The unequal power dynamic you're painting of Amazon exists today, whether or not Amazon attempts to pressure Mozilla right now; they're at their discretion to decide that they'll only support a Firefox extension if Mozilla plays ball with a bunch of other crappy apps too (and then Mozilla can tell them to go pound sand, and then the users can't get to the Amazon app easily, and then someone writes a workaround... The human system is far, far squishier and more complicated than the technical system).
> But suppose you're making version 1, and you're keeping it simple.
Sadly, Mozilla does not have that luxury because they exist in an ecosystem of other corporations with web-store presences and it's incumbent upon them to be competitive if they want to survive in that configuration. If Google and Amazon can glad-hand high-value customers, Mozilla needs to learn how to do so also or risk those customers deciding the Mozilla ecosystem is more trouble than it's worth to participate in (because what do you get? 2% market share?).