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Mozilla's 3 Big Bets To Keep the Web Open
GMGruman writes "Savio Rodrigues writes that Google's latest agreement with Mozilla will ironically fund three new areas of competition between Google and Mozilla — areas that users and open source advocates should cheer on as they will make the Web both better and more open. The alternative, he says, is more control by the likes of Google, Facebook, and Apple."
Since the summary didn't provide this, the allegedly large bets are:
1. An alternative to Android
2. An alternative to OpenID
3. An App store
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
Whoa, did I just step in a universe warp? I remember reading that previous article as them signing a contract with Microsoft and switching to Bing. Where did all the zeppelins go?
What Google and Mozilla declined to disclose, reports AllThingsD's Kara Swisher, is that Google will pay just under $300 million per year to be the default choice in Mozillla's Firefox browser, a huge jump from its previous arrangement, due to competing interest from both Yahoo and Microsoft. Sources said this total amount - just under $1 billion - was the minimum revenue guarantee for delivering search queries garnered from consumers using Firefox. Google's main rival in the bid, sources said, was Microsoft's Bing search service."
No, it's the fact that Apple has a damn-near monopoly on mobile purchases, which are done in their walled garden. This is a big area of user activity, and will become a much bigger area of economic activity. Apple, through iTunes, matters to the Internet. In a bad way, unfortunately.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
It doesn't mean what you think it means. Please, "ironically" has been massacred enough already. Let's this word rest for a couple of decades, unless you are one of the two people in the world that actually uses it appropriately.
There's a hidden treasure in Python 3.x: __prepare__()
It's also in Google's interest because it keeps part of the anti-monopoly cries off their back.
Google is under a great deal of scrutiny of late and anything they can do to show they are benevolent overseers will go a long way in allaying some of the current concerns. The fact they also benefit with all those FireFox users searches doesn't heart either.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
I have actually stumbled across some early stage startup sites that are optimized for iPad. Yeah, you can view them with IE; but they suck that way.
It's a "velvet rope" business model. iPad users buy the cool clothes and fancy watches. They get into the club because the management knows they'll also buy that $20 drinks.
It's not just about the tubes on the internet. It's also about the last inches of unfreedom. From your palm to your face, there's Apple, locking you in, en masse.
2. An alternative to OpenID
http://xkcd.com/927/
NOPE! See, we're not a monopoly! We're HELPING the competition compete!
Please, "Literally" has been massacred enough already. Let's this word rest for a couple of decades, unless you are one of the two people in the world that actually uses it appropriately.
Please stop building quote pyramids, that's what the "parent" link is for. Quote the pertinent part, to give your comment a bit of context, not the whole thing.
Please, "massacred" has been used to death already; Let's let this word rest for a couple of eternities, unless you are one of the two people in the world that literally uses it literally.
dickbag move dude. dickbag move.
Quite the opposite, actually. It's often been argued that a major reason for Google's purchase and development of Android was to safeguard Google's search empire. Except from an ad-revenue-generating sense (and possibly also a kick-Apple-up-the-arse sense :) Google doesn't care whether you're using Android or not. What's of primary importance is that you're using their search tools to generate them income through advertising. Android is simply a very good means to protect that ad revenue castle.
A boot-to-Gecko OS that promotes Google search is a much better option (as far as Google is concerned) than a boot-to-Gecko OS that promotes Bing or somebody else. I'm sure they'd much rather Android stayed dominant, but it doesn't hurt them to have allies in their camp rather than enemies outside the gates.
I was trying to be funny by using more cliches. Sorry.
No, it's the fact that Apple has a damn-near monopoly on mobile purchases,
And why is that? Because "it just works!"(TM)
You are welcome to build an alternative. But it better be (very) good.
I think the big question will be, how do you make apps for Boot 2 Gecko? Will they be similar to Android apps? Also, I don't mean this as a joke, but would Boot 2 Gecko mean that Richard Stallman could own a cellphone?
P.S. I recently experimented with Chrome and Opera. But I am back to Firefox because it is just better. Chrome eats memory like crazy without being so fast. Frankly Chrome is also buggier. And the incognito mode is leaky.
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Mozilla people have this strange vision that they can replace everything (OSs, Desktop, Apps, Cellphone and tablet UIs, etc) with HTML5, JavaScript and nothing else. While Im sure that many developers like JavaScript and that HTML5 brings several great features to the open web, most of us programmers definitely DONT want to use it to write all sorts of applications and games. JS+HTML5 are not a silver bullet or general purpose enough. The recent resurgence of native applications is proof of this.
Unless Mozilla releases its own advertising network or office suite, it isn't competing with Google. Frankly, anyone who even believed for a second that Google would let the search deal with Mozilla expire doesn't understand Google at all. Google has one main directive: Increase usage of Google **websites** to increase **advertising revenue**. Ending a deal with a major browser to provide the default search engine is completely adverse Google's business plan. You better believe that if Google could, they'd pay Microsoft to make IE's default search engine Google's.
Chrome isn't a business model. It is a tool Google is using to influence every other browser and the web. By making a fast, standards-based browser, and influencing other browsers to follow their example, they make general internet usage--and by extension ALL Google sites--work better. And if Google sites work better, users will spend more time using them.... will see more ads... will use Google Docs... will increase Google's revenue.
Comparing 2011's Google/Chrome to 1997's Microsoft/IE is a false dichotomy. Microsoft thought it could control the web to lock people into proprietary software. Google wants to speed up the web to get people to use it even more then they already do.
No, it's the fact that Apple has a damn-near monopoly on mobile purchases,
And why is that? Because "it just works!"(TM)
You are welcome to build an alternative. But it better be (very) good.
Welcome? Apple sues anyone who builds an alternative.
> How do you make apps for Boot 2 Gecko?
Just like you make websites.
There will be some sort of APIs for doing things that need expanded privileged, but those will be proposed for standardization just like any web API.
Richard Stallman refuses to use credit cards for anything because he doesn't want the government tracking his purchases. I don't think having a free (as in speech) OS on a phone will make any difference. Unless it was built by himself with free hardware using a free network.
Trying to be funny by ironically using cliches has literally been used to death.
That's their fault for wrongfully infringing on Apple's concise, specific, hard-earned intellectual property. And by intellectual property, I mean ownership over the concept of any object of some geometric shape emitting/receiving any form of electromagnetic waves.
I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
Notice you had to post AC, that is pretty much all you can do with all the flag waving fangirls around here. And I was talking about their ORIGINAL mission, the one they announced when they switched from the suite to Firefox? Forget that one? hell their whole selling point was "to make the browser leaner and meaner, to get rid of cruft and old code, to make a truly great browser".
Well considering how many people are running to the hills and how even some of the Linux distros are switching to Chromium for default I'd say that mission is a big giant fail wouldn't you? I mean when i can sit on my XP box and literally watch the CPU jump with each letter typed in a fricking text box to steal the chorus of an old K's Choice song "Something's Wrong". I have to support everything from netbooks and older office machines to the latest multicore and the simple facts are 1.- Firefox runs like shit now on AMD, especially on AMD netbooks and single cores. 2.- It sucks the life right out of netbooks thanks to all the CPU spiking, 3.- Sucks RAM like a drunk sucking booze at a free minibar, hell just try leaving it running overnight and write down how much memory it was using when you left and how much it was using when it came back and watch the numbers jump!, 4.-In my own tests I've found it to be pretty much unsuitable for purpose on anything less than a 3GHz P4 with HT and even then its a little iffy, dual cores are the minimum to get some performance across the board!
Its a fricking browser folks, but its getting like that old Emacs joke about "Its an OS that has a half ass editor included" only in this case its a half ass browser. its not like I'm the only one that has noticed it either and I bet if everyone here were to post their horror stories of FF the list would be longer than your arm!
So waste your mod points, stick your fingers in your ears and go "la la la' but that won't change reality which is FF numbers are dropping like a rock FOR A REASON folks. The whole reason i had to find an alternative browser was because I got tired of customers bitching about how damned slow and sucky FF was, with the CPU spiking getting fricking ridiculous not to mention the version numbers spinning like a top and breaking extensions and I was afraid they'd go back to IE.
Frankly I predict if they don't focus on their core business they damned well better hope they can become an OS developer because when the contract is up again they won't have enough users to sell their search engine rights for a dollar!
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Firefox needs to die and start over. This is a good thing for most software. I think the Mozilla Foundation should start over and develop a new browser with a new name. Firefox takes up too much memory, it seems to be they aren't coming up with new efficient code, they are instead just caching everything. I dream about the good old days with internet explorer 2. In fact I think they need to come out with multiple browser, browsers for different users and uses. How about a security enhance browser for doing your banking. A browser specifically for multimedia viewing. A browser optimized for playing web games. A browser that doesn't support videos and is designed for reading with faster loading times. Maybe even a text only browser. A browser designed for low memory. No one tool can do it all. Having separate specialized tools is always the path to greater efficacy and efficiency.
As far as Google Chrome goes I don't trust it. The biggest feature a browser can offer is protecting my privacy and Google's only makes money by doing the opposite. Also notice how Firefox has only gotten worse during the years they were backed by Google.
A new push for "apps" just when HTML5 was going to lower the boundaries between applications and web sites?
An easier way for web sites to identify me?
I know I'm grossly over-simplifying, and there are positive aspects for each of the three "bets" that I'm not listing here, but still I don't know if I'm 100% sold to those ideas. Or to the fact that they should be a priority for open source developers.
> Because every other digital marketplace is a disaster.
Agreed. The Android Market tempted me with the 10p apps, but man was it a painful experience. I would really really need an app to go through that again.
Notice you had to post AC, that is pretty much all you can do with all the flag waving fangirls around here. And I was talking about their ORIGINAL mission, the one they announced when they switched from the suite to Firefox? Forget that one? hell their whole selling point was "to make the browser leaner and meaner, to get rid of cruft and old code, to make a truly great browser".
Parent is right. The mission of the Mozilla Foundation is to promote standards. You are talking about one product of the Mozilla Foundation: Firefox. Back when it was still called Phoenix it was a pet project of David Hyatt (now the safari guy) and then Ben Goodger. The goal was to have a simple browser with an XML language to define the UI combined with javascript and XPCOM. Compared to the Mozilla Suite (which had everything but the kitchen sink) Firefox back then was really lean, fast and configurable/extensible.
Cheers,
-S
Irregardless...
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
You know, it's a perfectly acceptable usage of "Literally". It's a very common hyperbole.
I'm not questioning the value or the quality of Apple's garden. But I am questioning the impact that such a walled garden has on the Internet in general.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
Riddle me this: how will they fulfill that mission if they are dead broke hmmm? ALL of their money comes from one thing and one thing only, and that is how many people use their browser. As was documented here on slashdot their numbers are in freefall and the Google deal is only good for 3 years. So how do they fulfill that mission if the next time the deal comes around Google doesn't want their search? Hell the way their numbers are falling they may not even get MSFT to buy their search as they are gonna end up with the same numbers as "Bob's browser' if the trend continues!
So I stand by my statement: If they don't get back to basics they damned well better become an OS company because their not gonna have enough users in 3 years to get even the spammers to buy their search rights!
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.