wezm.net/v2/content/posts/2024/how-much-is-a-browser-worth.md

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title = "How Much Is a Browser Worth?"
date = 2024-07-03T17:22:01+10:00
# [extra]
# updated = 2024-06-04T07:49:36+10:00
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Apparently people are excited about funding independent browser efforts this
week. I have little interest in funding yet another browser built in C++ in
2024 but [Servo] is still alive. Since Mozilla refuse to let us directly
fund Firefox I shall set up a recurring donation to Servo.
The next question is how much is a web browser worth to me? Based on minutes
spent using a browser, quite a lot!
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Once upon a time you could pay for Netscape. It seems that [in 1996 Netscape
3.0 cost US$49][netscape3]. Adjusting for inflation that's US$97 in 2024. Let's
round that up to an even US$100. At the time of writing [Numbat] tells me
that's AU$150 or AU$12.50 per month, which seems reasonable.
Some other services for comparison (I don't actually have an active YouTube
Premium subscription):
- Netflix: AU$18.99/m
- YouTube Premium: AU$16.99/m
- JetBrains Rust Rover: US$129/y (AU$194, AU$16/m)
A browser is a least as useful as these, almost certainly more. So, I've set up
a US$15/m (AU$22.50) recurring sponsorship on GitHub. I encourage you to [do
the same][sponsor-servo].
[netscape3]: https://web.archive.org/web/19961115062838/http://merchant.netscape.com/netstore/NAVIGATORS/STANDARD/STANDARD_ITEMS/leaf/product1.html
[sponsor-servo]: https://github.com/sponsors/servo
[Servo]: https://servo.org/
[Numbat]: https://numbat.dev/