Comments on: Is Google a friend to Mozilla Firefox or a potential rival? http://www.googletutor.com/2007/11/11/is-google-a-friend-to-mozilla-firefox-or-a-potential-rival/ Your how-to guide for Google with Google tutorials, tips for using Google and advice. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:07:09 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Pawan http://www.googletutor.com/2007/11/11/is-google-a-friend-to-mozilla-firefox-or-a-potential-rival/#comment-182421 Pawan Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:32:46 +0000 http://www.googletutor.com/2007/11/11/is-google-a-friend-to-mozilla-firefox-or-a-potential-rival/#comment-182421 I dont think Google will do the mistake of making its browser.plus I think Mozilla as a company is not governed by any selfish motives. rightly said Google didn't pay $85 M to Mozilla but to the open source market at large.& in the bargain makes billions with the toolbar which it downloads. Its a strategic move by dominating the browser world without even owing the browser. ;-) The bottom line is to make money with a particular product & Firefox helps Google do that. I dont think Google will do the mistake of making its browser.plus
I think Mozilla as a company is not governed by any selfish motives.

rightly said Google didn’t pay $85 M to Mozilla but to the open source market at large.& in the bargain makes billions with the toolbar which it downloads. Its a strategic move by dominating the browser world without even owing the browser. ;-) The bottom line is to make money with a particular product & Firefox helps Google do that.

]]> By: Jody http://www.googletutor.com/2007/11/11/is-google-a-friend-to-mozilla-firefox-or-a-potential-rival/#comment-178575 Jody Sun, 11 Nov 2007 20:11:25 +0000 http://www.googletutor.com/2007/11/11/is-google-a-friend-to-mozilla-firefox-or-a-potential-rival/#comment-178575 Mark, you dork! ;) Of course Mozilla isn't a for-profit entity. The money that Google gave is an investment not simply in the Mozilla browser code but in Open Source at large. Mozilla hasn't sold Google anything as far as browser code goes. Maybe they sold some trinkets and consulting time, but that still doesn't imply profit making. Just like non-profit trusts that $70 million will be used by Mozilla to continue development of the free and open source browser. Google, if they wanted to undermine Mozilla, would have to develop a browser from scratch, essentially. That would be a waste of money invested in Mozilla, and even more expensive to duplicate the browser. The only reason Google would have for doing that would be if they wanted to corner the browser market like Microsoft did in the late 90s, an inherently 'evil' thing to do. Believe it or not, the $85 million "donation" Google made to Mozilla is a long term commitment to the success of the Mozilla browser and a free and open internet economy. At present, the only thing that stands between Microsoft and domination of the internet is the success of projects like Firefox and companies like Google. The singular success of Google does imply the possibility of swapping one tyrant for another, granted, but the character of the collective conscience that is Google would have to change significantly first. Microsoft from it's very inception had set itself up to be a tyrant. Long before they had the monopoly they do many people recognized how much trust they were giving to Microsoft to not become the bully they potentially could be, and unfortunately that trust was misplaced. Google would have to make too many constitutional changes to even be ready to ask that kind of trust. I believe we would all see through that. Is it impossible? No, just improbable. Mark, you dork! ;)

Of course Mozilla isn’t a for-profit entity. The money that Google gave is an investment not simply in the Mozilla browser code but in Open Source at large. Mozilla hasn’t sold Google anything as far as browser code goes. Maybe they sold some trinkets and consulting time, but that still doesn’t imply profit making. Just like non-profit trusts that $70 million will be used by Mozilla to continue development of the free and open source browser. Google, if they wanted to undermine Mozilla, would have to develop a browser from scratch, essentially. That would be a waste of money invested in Mozilla, and even more expensive to duplicate the browser. The only reason Google would have for doing that would be if they wanted to corner the browser market like Microsoft did in the late 90s, an inherently ‘evil’ thing to do.

Believe it or not, the $85 million “donation” Google made to Mozilla is a long term commitment to the success of the Mozilla browser and a free and open internet economy. At present, the only thing that stands between Microsoft and domination of the internet is the success of projects like Firefox and companies like Google. The singular success of Google does imply the possibility of swapping one tyrant for another, granted, but the character of the collective conscience that is Google would have to change significantly first.

Microsoft from it’s very inception had set itself up to be a tyrant. Long before they had the monopoly they do many people recognized how much trust they were giving to Microsoft to not become the bully they potentially could be, and unfortunately that trust was misplaced. Google would have to make too many constitutional changes to even be ready to ask that kind of trust. I believe we would all see through that. Is it impossible? No, just improbable.

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