Google & Firefox's Relationship

sebFlyte writes "More news from FOSDEM, this time about the depth of support for Firefox from Google. According to this article on ZDNet, Firefox' growth and Mozilla's staffing costs have been underpinned by the Foundation's tie-ins with Google, but they promise not to go the same way as Netscape by selling 'every bookmark and link'... and don't forget that the lead programmer (among others) is directly in Google's employ."

Comments

Google + Firefox

[Aggrazel]

All is well and good right now, google's still not evil.

The chances of google remaining not evil however in the long term future are not good. Every big company turns evil sooner or later.. it is only matter of time.

If google support FF...

[gimpimp]

why are there no official extensions for it?* google's software is all Windows/IE, but nothing for Free software.

*i know there are 3rd party ones.

A Google goodwill or is it just smart business

[Gopal.V]

As Gmail and Google Suggest has shown, client-side javascript is a VERY powerful and flexible tool (CGI::IRC takes my pick for the best javascript app). It truly shows why Microsoft had to kill off Netscape by seeding the internet with incompatible standards - essentially wasting man hours which could have gone into true innovation.

Google is our friend right now because favouring firefox would benifit their own shareholders by keeping Microsoft from introducing more divergent tandards. Whenever I think about Google as the Good Company, I am instantly reminded of a flash intro called EPIC 2014.

Google is good for FireFox now - and probably will remain good. The only question is about what we will have to pay (ie Free Software == open market for services). You see IBM playing the same card trying to commoditize software to knock Microsoft off the software market.

Re:A Google goodwill or is it just smart business

[L.Bob.Rife]

If you want to get into the web-app business, then it is a smart move to support the open source browser that actually tries to comply to open standards.

Everyone knows that if they started making all their web-apps based on activeX, or other MS specific browser hooks, then sooner or later MS would break it.

Re:A Google goodwill or is it just smart business

[Stevyn]

"Google is our friend right now because favouring firefox would benifit their own shareholders by keeping Microsoft from introducing more divergent tandards."

I think you hit the nail on the head right there. Firefox is good for Google because it can take IE users away from Microsoft. Microsoft is a competitor to Google in (at the very least) the search engine area. Google is probably trying to get into other areas Microsoft holds a dominance in. So taking users away from Microsoft is good for Google. And funding a non-profit that creates a really good web browser is good for the community. The only people should worry about is if someday Google topples Microsoft and becomes the king of the internet, will they turn out to be just another evil monopoly?

If that sounds crazy, just remember how IBM was evil once, and now people like them for their love for open source.

No worries there

[Laurentiu]

I will start worrying when Google won't work in IE anymore. Which is as likely to happen as Windows being built on top of the Linux kernel. By supporting Mozilla.org, Google is ensuring that Microsoft won't be able to push through whatever formats and standards they like simply through the power of ubiquity. After all, there's nothing like healthy competition to promote inovation. (And absence of software patents, but I digress.)

Re:I'd be

[SilentChris]

A very respected company that just works and keeps it that way.

This'll likely be judged as a troll, but I'd like to add the likely caveat "for now". Every company the tech community has taken a liken to at one point (Microsoft, Apple, RedHat, etc) has squandered that trust over time (antitrust, excessive litigation, leaving the base community for corporations).

I'm not saying Google will do this, but I can't think of a single, not-for-profit tech company that hasn't done some morally or ethically reprehensible thing at one point in its history. Can you?

Impressive use of the budget...

[ttys00]

From the article: He said that Mozilla Europe has carried out the majority of its marketing activity on "zero budget", having spent the majority of its $20,000 allowance from the Mozilla Foundation on a large booth at the NetWorld/Interop conference in Paris last year.

They've managed a lot of marketing from "zero budget", which is impressive.

IMHO, the booth at the conference was a waste of money though. Paying bounties for certain features (like Ubuntu does) might have been a better spend.

Gmail and Browsers ...

[Pat__]

Google recently finished their simple HTML interface for Gmail so logging in with older browsers is now possible.

I guess as long as Google support all browsers (even other non standard compliant older browsers) then great for them!

And the Firefox people can't really "sell out" since anyone can provide modified versions without any google stuff if the official version gets sponsored I suppose we can't complain.

Desktop Search

[robstamack]

If Google and the Mozilla foundation are in bed together, why does the Google Desktop Search product support IE exclusively? If the Mozilla Foundation (or even Google) wanted to move users over to FireFox, they need to have guaranteed compatibility on most (if not all) applications.

And while I wouldn't call Google Desktop Search a 'vital' application for the majority of casual web users, it's a given that many core users switched to a competitor's Desktop Search product (read Copernic) when migrating to FireFox.