Google and Mozilla: Partners, Not Competitors

Much has been said about the (perceived) rivalry between Chrome and Firefox, but Google engineer Peter Kasting had enough when he read an article trying to discern Google's true motives for signing a new Firefox search deal. Kasting posted to Google+ to clarify what value the company sees in funding a "rival" browser. Quoting: "People never seem to understand why Google builds Chrome no matter how many times I try to pound it into their heads. It's very simple: the primary goal of Chrome is to make the web advance as much and as quickly as possible. That's it. It's completely irrelevant to this goal whether Chrome actually gains tons of users or whether instead the web advances because the other browser vendors step up their game and produce far better browsers. Either way the web gets better. Job done. The end. So it's very easy to see why Google would be willing to fund Mozilla: Like Google, Mozilla is clearly committed to the betterment of the web, and they're spending their resources to make a great, open-source web browser. Chrome is not all things to all people; Firefox is an important product because it can be a different product with different design decisions and serve different users well."

Comments

Peter Kasting [conviniently] excluded one tidbit

[bogaboga]

It's completely irrelevant to this goal whether Chrome actually gains tons of users or whether instead the web advances because the other browser vendors step up their game and produce far better browsers

I am sure this is what he has in mind:

It's important for Chrome to actually gain tons of users because that potentially creates more search traffic for us, complementing our efforts with Android on the mobile front.

In fact, Chrome's current momentum, which has enabled it to grab more than the initial goal of 10% worldwide usage does not hurt at all.

Someone should tell this engineer that we know what he's thinking.

Re:No, Google like diversity

[hairyfeet]

Uhhhh...that don't make any sense friend as it isn't like MSFT and Apple where if Apple went tits up in the 90s MSFT stood there alone with a big old bullseye. If Mozilla closed shop tomorrow you'd still have Chromium AND Opera AND Safari AND IE AND Dragon AND probably another half a dozen I haven't thought of. Google is about as far from risking antitrust on the browser front as they can get and i'd argue if anything we are swimming in choices more than we have ever had before.

No lets cut through the bullshit and get to the real truth okay? Its not about "advancing the web" or any of that other bullshit its about two things and two things only: Advertising revenue and market share, plain and simple. All of Google's products come down to one thing, selling ads. Even with their numbers declining Mozilla brings them a LOT of eyeballs. if they didn't buy those eyeballs MSFT would have been more than happy to buy those eyeballs so Google shelled out, plain and simple.

Don't you just wish that once, just once, they'd quit with the marketspeak and just tell the truth? I mean how refreshing would it have been for them to say "We make money from ads and searches and Mozilla brings us more revenue, what's to understand?' and left it at that?

they are nothing alike

[TheGratefulNet]

Like Google, Mozilla is clearly committed to the betterment of the web

mozilla is a foundation to promote software.

google is a COMPANY whose goal i to PROMOTE ITSELF.

stop playing the fool, people. google is not out to help you. they are out to make a profit.

the biggest con is that google created a marketing jingle (sans tune) that goes 'do no evil'. its a lie and most of us knew this from the very start. a company (in america, especially) HAS to be profitable and has to be absent of ethics (well, its not a must-have but it surely helps).

google wants lock-in and they want to serve ads. they are NOT doing things 'to better the internet'. almost everywhere I go (on major websites) when I visit some i/o happens and goes to google. when I order electronic parts, some googleapis site gets triggered! I can't escape google even if I tried, and I have most of their domains blocked.

google is quite quite evil. every one of their plans should be carefully inspected and the real motivations exposed.

yeah yeah, the kids working there get free lunches and shirts. they are bribed to look the other way and they're in their own little bubble, insulated from much of the rest of the world.

google, like the devil, has a great accomplishment: convincing the world that they are not evil. ooooh, shiny websites! they CLEARLY have our interests at heart.

pathetic how we eat up this drivel.

google is the new microsoft. make no mistake who your friends are. google would sell you out as fast as facebook would. neither are your 'friends'.