Gawker
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nerdfight
Is Google Killing Firefox?
Google wants to be your Web browser, not just your search engine, which is why it unveiled Chrome last fall, a rival to Firefox. Now we hear Google's ready to hit Firefox in the pocketbook. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Colander: Why don't they just eat Firefox instead of murdering it and wasting it. I use Chrome but probably everybody uses... 11 Responses | Other threads
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great moments in journalism
Mozilla's Mitchell Baker investigated over looks, not finances
Mother Jones, the lefty politics magazine based in San Francisco, tarnishes its usually sterling reputation for tough investigative reporting with an interview with Mitchell Baker, chair of the Mozilla Foundation, the nonprofit behind the Firefox Web browser. The deepest "inside the Firefox's den" they venture? Exposing the arresting effects of Baker's mane of red hair on the mostly male-dominated rooms she commands. If Mother Jones were up to its usual hijinks, it would be asking Baker, instead, about rumors that Mozilla faces a $14 million back tax bill after flunking its latest audit. More » -
rumormonger
Apple wanted Opera to be the iPhone browser
Before the first iPhone was released, Apple wanted Opera to build the browser for the iPhone, says a source. Negotiations dragged on for six months, the sticking point being exclusivity — Apple wanted it, but Opera was unwilling to commit, seeing a larger market for licensing its proprietary software to multiple handset manufacturers. Eventually, Apple walked away armed with ideas from the negotiations and built a version of its own Safari browser for the popular mobile device. Meanwhile, Opera ended up as the browser of choice for the blockbuster Nintendo Wii, and Opera Mini did much to saturate the mobile handset market. But is the iPhone claim simply a proud boast made by an indiscreet senior manager at a company party? Maybe. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by CallieVarus: While it seems likely that Apple could have and did talk with Opera prior to the development of Safari, when... 1 Responses | Other threads
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breakdowns
Firefox developer loses three months of browser-bug data
Ever suspected those "Report Bug" tools in Web browsers leave you shouting into an abyss, your feedback discarded? An engineer at Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, has just confirmed that's actually been the case for months. Mark Smith explains that his misconfiguration of database led to the loss of three months of data about websites which users say Firefox doesn't display correctly, information Mozilla uses to "help prioritize fixes to the browser." More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by BartKela: In addition to the two-person rule, there should be a change log on production systems (who did what when and... more » | Other threads
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Google Chrome
Firefox, Chrome already fighting over who's faster
The real browser war isn't between Microsoft and anyone. It's between Firefox and Google Chrome, jostling to become the aftermarket browser of choice. Yesterday, a Google engineer assured News.com that the company's new open-source browser processes webpages much faster than Mozilla Firefox — "Many times faster. I guarantee you." Mozilla engineers released their own test results that show Firefox with a slight performance edge. But the latest test, run independently by News.com, skews the other way. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by SFJoe: Rendering HTML isn't at issue. Processing javascript is what will separate browsers. The growth in the use of ajax means... 1 Responses | Other threads
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Google Chrome
What took Google so long to build a browser?
Blogger Jason Kottke has been asking for a Google browser for seven years. So, too, have Larry Page and Sergey Brin. In 2001, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told them the company wasn't ready to take on Microsoft in a full-fledged browser war, Steven Levy reported in his Wired feature on Google's new browser, "Inside Chrome: The Secret Project to Crush IE and Remake the Web." But I don't think Google's project is really about taking on Microsoft. It's about Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, in a feud that stretches back almost two years. More » -
browser wars
Firefox use growing, Internet Explorer slipping
Only four years after its launch, Mozilla's Google-milking cash cow Web browser, Firefox, is now approaching 20 percent market share, reports NetApplications, a website-statistics provider. Just two months ago, over 8 million people downloaded a copy of Firefox 3, in a marketing stunt which garnered Mozilla a Guinness record. Meanwhile, Internet Explorer is dipping below 70 percent market share. [TGDaily]
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Comment by nobuggin: firefox 3 doesn't have as many add-ons yet, so i'm sticking with ff20013. even if its a memhogger like no... more » | Other threads
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caption contest
"Affirmative... I poked one. It was dead."
Spotted in Dolores Park, a group of Firefox 3 fans building a robot from household items. Can you suggest a better headline? Do so in the comments. The best one will become the new headline. Yesterday's winner: "Spoiler Alert: Eric Schmidt Named As Final Cylon." by WagCurious. (Photo by JP Puerta)
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By Jackson WestComment by workingstiff: look mom, i'm a complete nerd. more » | Other threads
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browser wars
Why does Firefox use Google for search? Follow the money
A new version of Firefox, the popular alternative Web browser, is getting close to releasing a third version. That's prompting people to take a close look at the business practices of Mozilla Corp., the maker of Firefox. Danny Sullivan, the longtime search-engine observer, is calling on Mozilla to let Firefox users pick the search engine built into their browser; Firefox 3 defaults to Google in its new release, as it has in the past. Sullivan has a point: Google, which has called for openness, risks seeming hypocritical. But he gets the business side of things all wrong. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Jones91: honestly i dont care whos 'bribing' who because i love Mozilla and will never go back, besides that, the Mozilla... more » | Other threads
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venture capital
Flock thumbs nose at Twitter by closing $15 million round
Flock, the social Web browser startup founded by former Mozilla business-development guy Bart Decrem, has defied its faded buzz to score an additional $15 million in funding, bringing the total raised in the $27 million range. Twitter, the current darling of The 250, has yet to close a rumored deal to raise the same amount. [PaidContent]
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By Jackson WestComment by Widget Economist: More venture? How about some news of a web 2.0 actually earning millions in terms of revenue. more » | Other threads
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caption contest
Mitchell Baker earns her $500,000-a-year salary
Mozilla CTO Brendan Eich, right, watches skeptically as russet-haired Mozilla Foundation chair Mitchell Baker attempts to persuade a crowd at the browser nonprofit's 10th anniversary that it has yet to hit its peak. Leave your caption in the comments. (Photo by Randal Alan Smith)
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By Owen ThomasComment by Noticer: @vulturesquadron ajax accepted! i mean apology. more » | Other threads
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party report
Mozilla's 10th anniversary made Valleywag feel old
Mozilla's 10th anniversary party at 111 Minna last night felt a little like a high school reunion for the kids who didn't go to their high school reunion. The Mozilla Foundation, maker of the Firefox browser, feigned poverty by renting just half the gallery space and serving up crudités and issuing one drink ticket per guest, only later splurging by opening up the bar. There was some awkward dancing to Soft Cell's "Tainted Love," old jean jackets embroidered with the Netscape logo, a gargantuan chocolate cake and a photo booth. Many of the oldsters who were around when CSS was just a dream and Ajax was still used to scrub toilets also traded reminiscences of Burning Man, tech society's annual prom. Mozilla Foundation chair Mitchell Baker earned part of her $500,000 salary by giving a brief speech. And sign-toter Frank Chu showed up, uninvited but always welcome. But the talk of the party was the man who wasn't there. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by matto: It has been requested by an associate that I point out that burning man is not a prom. If it... more » | Other threads
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mitch kapor
The man who didn't let AOL kill Firefox
Tomorrow, Netscape is officially dead: AOL is ending support for the venerable browser. But its offspring, Firefox, is thriving. Both Netscape and Firefox had several brushes with death. In 1998, "Microsoft was driving their monster truck after us and they were about to pin us to the wall," former Netscape software engineer Brendan Eich recently told the San Francisco Chronicle. Before that could happen, however, Netscape execs James Barksdale, Eric Hahn, Mike Homer and cofounder Marc Andreessen decided to open the browser's source code to the community. Behold, Mozilla. But the organization wasn't independent of Netscape owner AOL yet. And here's a shocker, AOL executives nearly killed Mozilla through neglect. So who saved the baby? More »
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Comment by schvitzatura: Turn the rest of AOL, LLC into a NFP foundation...last one out, please, turn off the extra lights. This goes double... more » | Other threads
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failanthropy
New Mozilla CEO wishes Firefox browser's profits were invisible
John Lilly, the new CEO of Mozilla Corporation, doesn't want you to pay attention to his new charge. The for-profit arm of the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation produces the Firefox browser and makes money largely by partnering with search engines — that's why the Firefox browser comes with a Google or Yahoo search box built in. "The most successful case for [Mozilla Corporation] will be when the corporation itself is sort of invisible," Lilly writes. Now, why would Lilly want you not to pay attention to his very profitable business — $66.8 million in revenues for the foundation, $56 million of which came from the corporation, in 2006, the most recent year for which it reported results? Perhaps it's because there are questions he'd rather you not ask. More » -
microsoft
Opera's drama-queen antitrust lawsuit
Opera Software, maker of a feature-laden but forgotten Web browser, is complaining to the European Commission about Microsoft's Internet Explorer. It's an old gripe: Opera points out — duh — that IE is bundled with Windows. Opera claims this is illegal and that IE holds back the web with lousy support for standards. This smells like a publicity stunt meant to remind people Opera still exists. More »
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By Tim FaulknerComment by dbloom: Opera is the market leader on every platform except for desktop. And, despite Mozilla's excellent marketing, even Firefox's growing market share... more » | Other threads
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firefox
Firefox 3.0 open for (very profitable) business
Mozilla is looking for guinea pigs to try out the new version of its browser, Firefox 3 Beta 1. Mozilla calls itself a "foundation" and its slogan is "Good for the Web. Good for the World." But you know better than that. Mozilla topper Mitchell Baker makes $500,000-plus a year and Mozilla's for-profit wing brought in $56 million in revenues last year. In other words, no one should feel obligated by a sense of charity to download the new beta software. Baker & Co. could afford to pay for some actual QA engineers.
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Comment by Al Billings: Strange. When I look at my business cards and my peer group at work, it seems to indicate that I... more » | Other threads
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browser wars
Firefox getting too corporate?
Firefox, we told you, gets a lot of cash from its built-in Google search box. It's one reason why the underdog label should no longer apply to the Mozilla browser. The New York Times is just now picking up on this story, and wonders if all the money will ruin Firefox. More »
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Comment by Doug: I'd be more concerned with them getting most of their funding from a single source (or very few sources). Right... more » | Other threads
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browser wars
Firefox gaining on IE with Google's help
The Mozilla Foundation, the nonprofit behind Firefox, just released its 2006 financial statement. It turns out Moz's for-profit arm is making millions from a deal with Google. 85 percent of its revenue — some $56 million — came from the Google search box that is the default on every Firefox install. Google also provides users for Firefox via a pay-to-download program with Google's AdSense program and the Google Pack — a collection of apps including Google Earth, Adobe Reader, Skype and Firefox. Firefox is generally posited as David against Goliath — Microsoft's Internet Explorer. But really, Firefox is more of the slingshot, wielded by the David of Mountain View as Google and Microsoft fight Browser Wars 2.0. The latest data marks Firefox at 14.9 percent market share against IE's still-dominant 77.9 percent.
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Comment by bluelines: Anyone have any data on the total size of the browser market (I mean revenue derived from deals similar to... more » | Other threads
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open source
Thunderbird's wings clipped by own developers
Do we need email software anymore? That's the question raised by the turmoil at the Thunderbird project, an open-source effort run by the Mozilla Foundation, also the backers of the popular Firefox Web browser. The foundation runs the Mozilla Corporation as a separate, for-profit business, and spun off a similar company three weeks ago to house Thunderbird. But no sooner than Thunderbird gained its wings did it go into a swan dive. Scott McGregor and David Bienvenu, Thunderbird's only paid developers, are leaving David Ascher to head up a company of none. Neither developer gave a reason for departing the company that Mozilla set up, but Ascher tips his hand that the pair will be starting their own venture. Perhaps a wise move. Why, after all, do we need Thunderbird? More »
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By Tim FaulknerComment by your creepy uncle: Web-based email works well for some things, but not when (a) you want to work offline, (b) you want to sort... more » | Other threads
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bugs
Mike Shaver, an executive at Mozilla, maker of the popular Firefox browser, promises a ten-day turnaround on bugs, and then backpedals furiously. [ha.ckers.org] -
acquisitions
Facebook buys a star engineer, and another billion dollars in valuation
If Facebook is the Brangelina of tech, then Silicon Valley's it company just adopted an Ethiopian baby. So to speak. The baby is Parakey, a startup cofounded by Blake Ross, the Firefox programmer profiled in Wired, and fellow Firefox developer Joe Hewitt. Ross has been promising more details on Parakey since last November, but they haven't been forthcoming. Parakey's website just tells you to "give your computer the bird." Here's what that means — and what the acquisition means for Facebook. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by freshfunk5: It's a very interesting move. I hope they create an open platform instead of a closed one. I'd rather they... more » | Other threads
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By rabruzzoComment by Matt Sidesinger: No, the cake was not poisoned, but it was bugged. The cake could use some color ... it looks... more » | Other threads
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firefox
Firefox 2 Released into Wild, SF Yawns
The open-source browser Firefox version 2 was officially released today. As my hometurf blog, Supr.c.ilio.us noted yesterday, there are yet to be any Firefox release parties in San Francisco of note. More » -
microsoft
Microsoft invites Mozillans into its lair
Microsoft, in a move bound to inspire every geek forum in the world to make "It's a trap!" jokes, invited the makers of Internet Explorer alternative Firefox to MS HQ. More »
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By Nick DouglasComment by jeneane sessum: I think he's saying he's afraid of the Macarena. I can understand that. more » | Other threads
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mozilla
Firefox fans: We didn't abuse the oats
Our favorite correction of the day comes from WebProNews: More » -
morning news
Morning news: Free Napster, Poor Gates, $2.6 billion Vonage
- Lloyd Braun comes out swinging today with what the NY Times calls "the most extensive of his initiatives to get final approval:" Yahoo Tech. The top-story panel is sometimes overlaid with an interstitial ad. Should've stuck with puppet-anchored news, Lloyd. [Yahoo Tech and NYT]
- By accusing Microsoft of playing dirty by making MSN the default search tool for Internet Explorer, Google's Marissa Mayer takes a stand against default search engines in browsers. Oh, don't worry, Google's still the Firefox default. Let's clarify: Google's Marissa Mayer takes a stand against default search engines other than Google in browsers. [NY Times]
- Dave Sifry of blog index Technorati reminds everyone that the blogosphere doubles every
55.56 months (it doesn't). [Sifry's Alerts] - Napster now offers free songs, five plays each, supported by ads. Bittorrent, IRC, Soulseek, Usenet, and LimeWire continue to offer free songs, infinite plays each, supported by RIAA lawsuits. [CNET]
- Bill Gates is still $3 billion poorer one weekend after a Microsoft stock drop. [MSFT on Google Finance]
- A shame. With that $3 bil, maybe he could've bought Vonage. [Financial Times]
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to-do
To-Do: Drink with flacks, heckle Meebo
- The Mozilla Foundation shows the best Firefox Flicks at San Fran's Kabuki Theater at 2 PM. The best grassroots ads for the indie Firefox browser will be shown — and the best of the best get prizes, including a massive three-screen monitor. [Spread Firefox]
- Thursty Thursday, "the leading weekly Thursday-after-work-happy-hour-gathering-for-professionals in the San Francisco Bay Area," starts at Gordon Biersch (Embarcadero and Harrison) after work (Googlers: this does not mean 2 AM) tonight. Bring your liver.
- Niall Kennedy hosts another SF Tech Sessions demo night. Meebo (use your IM accounts on the web), Userplane (chat and video chat), and Linden Lab (explore the fancy 3D world of Second Life) demo their products at Microsoft's SF office. No bar and fish tray this time, but Niall promises pizza and "soda and other fizzies." Or brown-bag it from Thursty Thursdays. [SF Tech Sessions]
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firefox
Remainders: "No, we can afford Windows."
Femfox: sexy women advertising Firefox. Possibly the strangest browser-inspired furry fetish ever. [Femfox] More »
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