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Google Paying for Firefox Installs

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the paid-to-play dept.

slashkitty writes "Google updated their AdSense service to pay publishers for referrals. What's interesting is that now they pay publishers $1 US for each FireFox download with the Google Toolbar installed. Is this the bump that Firefox needs to boost downloads? Will Google be able to pay the millions for all the downloads?"

7 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. Hmmm... I think it's time to upgrade by ylikone · · Score: 5, Funny

    all the Firefox installs at the lab here. I'll even download them a few times each for every system, to make sure it downloads properly.

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    Meh.
  2. Re:Just you wait! by Song+for+the+Deaf · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, when I read this I compulsivley ducked in fear of flying office furniture.

  3. Payment... by Karma_fucker_sucker · · Score: 5, Interesting
    When a user you've referred to AdSense first earns US $100, we'll credit your AdSense account with US $100. When a user you've referred to Firefox plus Google Toolbar runs Firefox for the first time, you'll receive up to $1 in your account, depending on the user's location.And: Will Google be able to pay the millions for all the downloads?

    Easily. If Google can pay the $100, the $1 (1%) will be no probelm especially since there's a disclaimer - the depending on the user's location part.

    --
    Evil people don't think they're evil. - George Lucas, Making of Ep III
  4. Spyware by saskboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm sure Google is completely innocent of spyware, but I'm resisting installing the Google toolbar in Firefox, or IE. There's already a Google search bar in Firefox, and I've been anti-addon-toolbar for years now, since every unstable system I've worked on had at least one of them. When the great Google Toolbar Trap is sprung, I'll be on the outside of the box, thank you very much.

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    Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
    1. Re:Spyware by Dr.+Spork · · Score: 5, Informative

      What's great about the Google toolbar in Firefox is just how configurable it is. I've only kept a couple of buttons from it on the left side of my menubar. Really, if this were bundled with Firefox, it would seem harmless enough to not bother me. What I like about Google is that they didn't force Firefox users to display the toolbar in some sort of a monolithic way. It's just as configurable as all the UI elements that come standard with Firefox.

  5. Able to pay? by HexaByte · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Will Google be able to pay all those million? Get a grip! They've been paying millions for all those open-source programmers that are working on Open Office and other programs.

    They want to hurt Micro$oft, and paying a couple of hundred million to make Firefox hit critical mass is just small change to a company with a few billion to spread around.

    When Firefox DOES hit critical mass, which means that web developers HAVE to create web apps that render/function correctly in Firefox, people will have less reason to stick with IE, adding more impetous to the Firefox migration, and weakening the MS lock-in on the web.

    --
    HexaByte - he's a square and a half!
  6. Huh? and yes. by Will_Malverson · · Score: 5, Informative

    It seems to me that when posting a story like this, at least one of the links should lead to something that actually discusses the subject of the article.

    Here is a link to the actual section of the Google AdSense FAQ that mentions the dollar per Firefox install:

    http://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.p y?answer=27406&ctx=en:search&query=firefox&topic=0 &type=f

    Also, Google currently has over 7.5 billion dollars in the bank, so yeah, they could pay one dollar for EVERY PERSON ON EARTH to install Firefox and not go broke.