No, because there would always be another decent browser to change to - Arthur Guy

It's open source. We'd just fork off a free version. - Morton Fox

No, why pay for something that is already free, and good - Jose Manuel

Brandon, can you elaborate? - Shawn Hickman

probably not...they do make a killing off of search revenue anyway. - Anthony Feint

I will never pay for a browser ;-) - diego morelli

I think the only browser I would even consider paying for is FireFox, but even then I don't think I would. It's interesting to think what would happen if browsers started to do this. - Shawn Hickman

Brandon, that would be the scariest thing on the planet. I think I'd rather pay Microsoft to stop making IE than actually have to use it. - Shawn Hickman

Cecily, how much was it? I can find the pricing on their website - Shawn Hickman

Cecily, why don't you use it? Which Browser do you use now? - Shawn Hickman

Omniweb is free now, they refocussed development efforts on their other products. Omniweb is still available and may get occasional improvements, but they no longer want to put in the effort required for an actively sold product. - DGentry

No, I wouldn't pay for a web browser. That is a lingering aftereffect of cutting off Netscape's air supply I guess, I now expect highly sophisticated and actively developed web browsers to be free. - DGentry

I wouldn't pay for FF as it stands, but I might consider paying for premium features, but they would have to be pretty compelling... - David Sky

DGentry, thanks. I was starting to think that it was free - Shawn Hickman

David, what kind of features would compel you to pay? - Shawn Hickman

If it was FireFox, yes. I need the power that it provides for the consumers. How much? Well, without any limitations then I would pay around $20 per month. - Stephen

Stephen, do you have any limitations now with FF? - Shawn Hickman

No. - xero

never - Yunus Tunak

Maybe a small one-time fee for Firefox but not monthly or yearly licenses. There are always other options available, and since PCs come with a pre-loaded browser, there isn't a compelling need to pay for one. - John (bird whisperer)

Shawn, not sure really what additional features I'd pay for... Service is often the 1st choice, but that doesn't really apply to browsers. I'd rather not turn FF extensions into an Apple App Store model, but maybe premium plugins? - David Sky

Why do people see a browser as something that should be free but other software as things they are willing to pay for. WE probably spend more time using a browser than most other types of software. - Jamie Vidamour

Jamie, that is why I asked this question. The Browser is the app on my computer that I use more than anything, and I think the same could be said for majority of people. So it's interesting to see that most people wouldn't pay for it, including myself. I think we are under the impression that most things on the Internet should be free - Shawn Hickman

David, I like that idea for premium plugins, but why not an Apple App store model? - Shawn Hickman

oh boy I guess not...I'd quickly change my mind for another one with tons of addons..though it does not exist nowdays. So maybe we would just have to pay if they were likely to charge, no?? - novoseek

novoseek, you make a good point. FF is the only one with really good extensions right now, and Chrome will soon be catching up, but other than that what is there? - Shawn Hickman

No - Jeff (Team マクダジ )

No - Thomas Hawk

I don't think so no. Software has gotten commoditzed for me pretty heavily. I don't use commercial software most of the time save maybe video games. AFAIAC subscriptions are for services not software. FWIW, the only company that could start charging for their browser is Microsoft, Firefox and Chrome's codebases are all open source. - matthew john ernisse

No - Yuvi

No I wouldn't start paying as Windows (which I'm on) comes with IE8 which works great already - Lars Varming

No. FF would never repeat Netscape's mistake anyways. It's beyond me how Opera gets away charging for the Mini edition. - Arawak

Adi, Opera may get away with it because mobile browsing still sucks on most phones. I know FF is working on their own mobile browser, but unless you have an iPhone you don't have many options for browsing the mobile web - Shawn Hickman

One of the biggest reasons why people stick to firefox is add-ons, which are, for the most part, created by community members. So even if they started charging users, the add-ons would surely disappear, or, since mozilla is open source, they would just fork into something else and keep it free. - adam garrett

Adam, what if FF allowed devs to charge for the extensions that they create? - Shawn Hickman

@Shawn, yeah I agree but talk about an opportunity to make Opera the de-facto browser on WinMo/S60. Now with Fennec on the horizon, Skyfire and whatever MS cooking up in WM7 they'll be be drowned out by equally capable and free solutions. - Arawak

Yea, Opera did miss a really big opportunity. We can only learn from the mistakes of others:) - Shawn Hickman

Would depend on what my option are. - Kim Landwehr

Kim, do you have any options in mind? - Shawn Hickman

The core is open source and free, so firefox would just end up alienating a huge portion of their users. and some of these devs are OSS nuts, myself included, so would just build their own addons. I'm really not answering the question, here. Just as I wouldn't pay for a file manager, I would not pay for a browser, even if it gave me the power to fart rainbows, . I've come to expect that these are apps that should just be there. - adam garrett

Nope! They get enough money from search engines to get me to let them make money on my web habits - Chad Albert

Adam, I would pay anything to be able to fart rainbows:) - Shawn Hickman

I love Firefox but would need some really super premium features to pay - sad but true. - Pon

never - ◄ani625Ξ ಠ_ಠ

Opera used to charge too, way back when. - Morton Fox

Never, it should stay free for mankind to use, and I mean at the level web pages are. I mean, all the pages are read in two ways, and that, what I think, is the basis of that 'freedom' (view source). Without that essential freedom of look, parsing, editing, viewing, mashing, and representation/using, that wouldn't be that available. And its developments (Browsing Industry/Internet) in use rose faster from help than from being "out" in the wild charging for exquisite madness. Express the document as it is, choose whether you want or not to take parts from them to see. And that's what users crave for anyways (extensions for Firefox, being a paid service? And leaving the poor 'crippled' paying Internet subscriber would get to a 'minimal web'? In which ways too? Price should be real low too, I thought of MSN Explorer during a moment. Bringing other services overlaying the subscription to a specific browser would be best. - Zu from AOD

So you think if firefox charged for extensions it would cripple the browser and make it too minimal? Do most users even use extensions or even now what they are? I don't think so. I think browsers are to bloated and hard to use for the average person. - Shawn Hickman

I'd never pay for a browser, even Opera stopped charging for it's browser.. I just switch back to safari or camino, and when using a pc.. I'd use Opera.. - Sebastiaan van den Akker

I think browsers would have to get to the point of becoming the kind of software that stopped you in your tracks and made you say "Wow, how did I ever cope without that before!" Some FF add-ons have the "Wow!" factor, but FF itself? I guess without FF there would be no add-ons, but would you pay for the platform just to get access to them? - Sam Ross

No, Free Safari and Chrome is much better. - Vladimir Prudnikov

@Shawn yeah I was trying to get an idea there of how a browser would plan some product pricing, and made an iteration of a plan to market different levels of use. And for the platform... mmm... let's say Firefox simply do that, and I have to pay to have access to extensions, which now have some way of being disabled from now on. I'd surely have a moment in that future where I'll actually want those extensions because I crave them so much and will think of buying the access. If it was, let's say, the same for Opera, then I wouldn't even dare look at the details. TMI, and they would lose me in the 'mainstream user' base, who supposedly don't like having extensions or have a chance to think of it because nobody was able to read it from let's say, a 'readme' installation homepage. (For Firefox, it's one of three features of the browser) -- Now again in this thread, thought of limited time normal use, but that's a bit too control freak, I think users would be scared in the checking. Ads, no. Buy only? Cracks and serials with milk. ;p - Zu from AOD