Slashdot Mirror
Why Firefox's Future Lies In Google's Hands
Barence writes "Firefox has just turned five, and it now accounts for 25% of the global market, according to figures from Net Applications. Its success has forced rivals to raise their game, and the past two years have seen Microsoft, Apple, and Opera close the features gap significantly. Google is the default homepage when Firefox first opens, and the default search engine when users type something into the 'awesome bar.' The deal, which runs until 2011, was worth $66 million to Mozilla in 2007, accounting for 88% of the foundation's revenues that year (the last year for which it had published accounts). But now that Google is a competitor as well as a partner, is it really wise for Mozilla to be so dependent on Google?"
In Haiti right now, there are thousands of people stranded without access to food or shelter. Their only lifeline is the money that we Westerners send. Without this aid, they would surely perish in unspeakable squalor.
We care deeply now, but at some point we will declare that enough is enough and pull funding. Then they will need to walk on their own. Pull support too early and they will suffer a major crash. Pull support too slowly and they will grow dependent upon us.
Google may do a lot of things right, but not pulling the plug on Mozilla/Firefox earlier is something they handled extremely poorly. If a project can only exist with the charitable funding of a major company, then its existence is going to always be tenuous at best.