I have a really long passphrase in keepassxc. I often try to type it, fail 50% of the time, display the password, fix the typo. I would not use a long passphrase otherwise. (I understand there are other risks, such as having spyware that is recording my screen, but my main worry is for the safety of the file itself)
I know sudo-rs will likely not allow viewing the password in the short term, but the benefit to being able to have some visual feedback, is that it lets me use a more complex password.
Other example: if I'm on a ssh link with very high latency (ex: on a phone), I might type one character at the time, make sure they register correctly, and continue. If I can't do that, then I'll type the password in a text editor, then copy-paste it into the password prompt.
We have EU clients that now force us to use BBB (big blue button) for security reasons. It's not perfect, but good enough, and Zoom/Hangouts/Teams all have their quirks. We decided to adopt it where I work, and cut a few paid Zoom accounts.
Some clients use Jitsi, but I find it more complicated to run Jitsi in-house. BBB was really easy to setup.
Donations only get you so far. Take a mid-sized project, that needs $500k per year (a few devs, very modestly paid, zero expenses). It's a lot of money. It requires a huge user base. Say you have 500k users, and 5% donate $25 per year (I'm optimistic). And that's just $500k US, a few devs, zero expenses. A project that size probably has audit requirements, hosting costs, accounting, legal, trademarks, etc.
I see finances for a few free software projects, and many of them really struggle to get donations year after year, in a way that helps make the project predictable and sustainable.
For the US, people want you to be a 501c3, and then you need a EU equivalent. Canadians are unlikely to give to a US org (especially these days), but the market is too small to setup a local charity. So you need partners. All that has many compliance requirements and paperwork, so you need non-tech employees for the fundraising and accounting.
Eventually your big donors start blackmailing the project if you don't do what they want, and often their interests are not aligned with most users. You need various income sources.
I for one, am grateful to Mozilla for still being around, pushing for an open web.
Their documentation is excellent, the improvements and roadmap for Thunderbird made me finally adopt it, and I appreciate their privacy-friendlier translation services. uBO works great in Firefox, and I can't stand using a browser without its full features.
About MBA types: the free software project I work for has an MBA type, which I initially resented as being an outsider. However, they manage the finances, think about team and project growth long-term (with heavy financial consequences), and ignore the daily technical debates (which are left to the lead devs), and listen to users, big and small. Some loud users like to complain that we don't listen to them, and sometimes we kick them out, because we do listen to users.
I don't know much about Mozilla internals, if I am to judge from the results: Mozilla is still here, despite everyone saying for 10+ years that they are going to die. They are still competitive. They are still holding big tech accountable, despite having a fraction of their power. I can imagine that they make a lot of people here very uncomfortable.
We don't need to convince everybody. Even just convincing 10% makes a huge difference in shifting the conversation, infrastructure, reducing energy usage, etc.
I live in Montreal and winter cycling used to be a really hardcore thing. Not anymore. Winters are warmer now, just a bit, but enough to make winter cycling pleasant on most days. Dedicated, snow-plowed cycling lanes made a huge difference.
(I use my car most of the time, because usually a daycare run with kid, but now we're equipped for maybe once a week by bike)
As teenagers we protested encryption on DVDs around 1999. A dozen of our local 2600 meetup gathered in front of what is now a Best buy and handed out DeCSS flyers.
I was a paid user for some time. It's inexpensive and fun. I mostly paid to encourage them, and to be able to use it offline in the plane (it's a fun game). However, as most people, I haven't flown in a long time, so I cancelled it.
I wonder what are the main types of paid users.
Otherwise, when not paying, I use the web version, and never noticed any advertising.
Everytine Duolingo is in the news here, I find the anecdotes and suggestions of alternative solutions interesting, but we rarely discuss what is making Duolingo so successful.
They have become a household name. Almost all non-tech people around me know what Duolingo is. Kind of like Tinder, they may not use it, but they know it.
I also view Duolingo as a game that provides a bit of exposure to a new language, but won't get you very far unless combined to other resources. I wonder where the IPO will lead them. They did encourage a ton of people to be curious about new languages. It worked for me. I hope they can help them get to the next level, and not become, as someone else mentioned here, the next Farmville.
I know sudo-rs will likely not allow viewing the password in the short term, but the benefit to being able to have some visual feedback, is that it lets me use a more complex password.
Other example: if I'm on a ssh link with very high latency (ex: on a phone), I might type one character at the time, make sure they register correctly, and continue. If I can't do that, then I'll type the password in a text editor, then copy-paste it into the password prompt.