Comments on: Why Mozilla's Deal With Google Gets Ever Shakier

By: AB

AB — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:35:21 +0000

Perhaps the author of this article should look at what engine chrome uses and who owns/develops it. If google cuts off Mozilla, they will have to create their own browser engine or Gecko will go stale and Chrome will fall to the side with Mozilla.

By: The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs : What’s ahead for Firefox?

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs : What’s ahead for Firefox? — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 04:06:02 +0000

[...] the browser, and soon we’ll get the OS. Meanwhile, Mozilla’s deal with Google is up this year. On one hand, Google’s deal funds a lot of Mozilla. Google has long maintained that the [...]

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:16:53 +0000

The real reason Google will hesitate to pull the plug prior to Chrome supplanting Firefox is that Mozilla may get desperate if they lose that revenue stream. Mozilla would be forced into an M&A event with a Tier-1, which well could be a Yahoo! or a large internet independent (the newly spun out AOL?). If google loses 1/3-1/2 of that market, they are suddenly threatened. Mozilla is out to save the world and promote the internet...delivering significant share of traffic direct to google. With IE sending folks to bing, they need Firefox traffic now more than ever.

By: Mozilla Guy to Users: Leave Google, Switch to Bing « Web, Internet, Social Media, Technology

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:45:17 +0000

[...] deal; Google has been Firefox’s default search engine for years, and Mozilla has been largely financially dependent on Google. Having a high ranked Mozilla guy urge users to switch to Bing won’t sit well with [...]

By: larsen lewis

larsen lewis — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 07:26:34 +0000

google is not stupid to leaving mozilla so early.

that would happen only once chrome has gone past the firefox market share by some margin consistently.

google uses mozilla in two ways.

It kills competion with microsoft in terms of search engine by having the google as the default search engine and having firefox competing with Internet explorer at he same time.

By: Sebastian Rupley

Sebastian Rupley — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:47:00 +0000

@ Rambling Johnny--I agree that Chrome will mostly eat into IE's market share. I doubt whether Microsoft would ever supply the kind of financial support for Mozilla that Google has, though.

Sebastian

By: Rambling Johnny

Rambling Johnny — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:17:00 +0000

The likely outcome is that chrome is going to eat in IE market share instead of Firefox. Because IE is a soft target with still a large market share up for grabs. If both Firefox and Chrome increase their market share at the expense of IE Google would be insane to not renew their deal. Because that leave the door wide open for Microsoft to cut a deal with Mozilla so they could finally kill IE and embrace Firefox! Off course since it the smart move you can be sure Microsoft would never let go of their pride and do it!

By: ifstone

ifstone — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:04:11 +0000

Mozilla has never done anything particularly innovative. Even Google's Chrome, which in user-interface terms is nothing special, beats them in the plumbing department. Firefox after all these years is still riddled with memory leaks. Chrome finally just punted on this problem with its multi-process scheme.

The shame is that browsers like Opera and iRider show far more real innovation but get no attention from the press.

By: Foobar

Foobar — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:33:33 +0000

Google doesn't have a deal with Mozilla just for fun, it's probably because they see it as a good way to maintain a grip on the search market - probably the same reason Google has a deal with Opera Software.

If Google drop their deals with Mozilla and Opera, they could probably get deals with other search engines (as Opera has in eastern europe (Yandex) and China (Baidu)).

By: Mozilla Guy to Users: Leave Google, Switch to Bing | Twit U

Mozilla Guy to Users: Leave Google, Switch to Bing | Twit U — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:50:12 +0000

By: Mozilla Guy to Users: Leave Google, Switch to Bing | Afif Fattouh - Web Specialist

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:20:04 +0000

[...] big deal; Google has been Firefox’s default search engine for years, and Mozilla has been largely financially dependent on Google. Having a high ranked Mozilla guy urge users to switch to Bing won’t sit well with [...]

By: Anand

Anand — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:51:25 +0000

Totally agreed. Also, there is no way Google will let go of Firefox. With the kind of market share it owns in the browser industry (it is already the leader in countries like Germany), that one tiny search bar can dictate the market shares of search engines.

Hypothetically if Google search gives way to Bing on FF, imagine the sudden spike in the market share of Bing. No way Google would want that to happen.

By: Jordaan

Jordaan — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:11:39 +0000

If Google cuts off Mozilla's funding, Mozilla is going to put someone else in that search box. It has to; thy can't afford to give away their only revenue stream for free. For all the projects that Google has now, they still make all their money most of their money thru search ads. A search engine is fundamentally a way to look for something else on the Internet, making it easier for people to switch death engines than the end point they are trying to reach. If the 1 in 4 people who have Firefox suddenly start using Bing or Yahoo or whatever, that is a big chunk of Google's bottom line. Sure, some will keep using Google by going to google.com manually or switching search engines, but out of 350 million users a lot will use the default. People don't realize that while Mozilla depends on Google totally, Google depends on Firefox some, too

By: The Google-Mozilla Relationship Will Continue. Here’s Why. | Tech Startups

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:58:46 +0000

[...] at GigaOm, Sebastien Rupley speculates on whether Google will renew it’s search and advertising deal with Mozilla on or [...]

By: Libran Lover

Libran Lover — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:19:50 +0000

Great point! Google will share ad revenue with ME for putting a search box on my website. So, why wouldn't it continue paying Firefox for the traffic that comes from there?

Note that Google is only sharing the ad revenue with Firefox. It is not simply making a some arbitrary fixed payment. So, there is no reason to stop those payments as long as it gets ad clicks from Firefox users.

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:54:39 +0000

I agree that Google likely will become more of a traditional software company, but that doesn't diminish the attractiveness of Firefox's user base. I would expect Google or MS to readily pay for Firefox traffic while trying to beat them with their own browser. Especially so for MS since they don't seem to be doing particularly well in a head-to-head browser contest.