Mozilla engineer Rob Sayre wrote a blog post earlier today to Steve Ballmer asking Microsoft to make an NDK for the Windows Phone 7 Series. Either people really liked the article Sayre wrote or they really hated it. Below is an excerpt:
What’s this got do with you? Well, you have this new Windows Phone thing going on. Tufte slammed it a little, and maybe the cropped UI is kind of busted. I’ll give it a shot, though. I think a head to head comparison makes you look pretty good. It makes the iPhone UI look like it’s made of ugly jelly beans. I’m kind of surprised–the allegedly cool Cocoa Touch stuff is reminding me of 90s Unix window managers. Oh wait, that’s what it is. haha.
Blog posts that sound like Jim Anchower really irritate people for some reason. I won’t do it again, I promise.
Open letters irritate people. I won’t do those anymore either.
Calling anything done in Cocoa ugly irritates people.
Encouraging a classic embrace-and-extend maneuver irritates people.
So that last post was something of a grand slam. Sorry. A Windows Phone NDK would be cool though, right?
Mozilla Director of Community Development Asa Dotzler was not very happy with the anti-privacy comments that Google CEO Eric Schmidt made. As a result Dotzler suggested that Firefox users switch to Microsoft’s Bing.com and gave instructions regarding how to switch from the default Google search engine.
“I think that the thing that bothers me most about Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s comment is that it makes clear that he simply doesn’t understand privacy,” stated Dotzler. “That a company with so much user data on its servers is led by someone who just doesn’t understand privacy is really scary to me and it should be scary to you as well.”
Dotzler was referring to an interview that Schmidt had on CNBC when he was asked if Google users should trust their search engine as a “trusted friend.” Schmidt responded “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” Dotzler added that Bing has a better privacy policy than Google too.
What are your thoughts about Dotzler’s statements? Do you think his words are convincing enough to switch your default search? Let us know in the comments.
Mozilla will be supporting the Electronic Frontier Foundation to push for the legalization of iPhone jailbreaking with the U.S. Copyright Office. Mozilla CEO John Lilly stated that “choice is good for users, and choice shouldn’t be criminalized.” Jailbreaking an iPhone means that the device can accept software that is external from what is offered on iTunes. Apple believes that accepting any external software is a violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).
“This is not us criticizing Apple,” stated Mozilla CEO John Lilly. “But it’s the principle of the thing. Choice is good for users, and choice shouldn’t be criminalized. The Internet is too important for all of us for that.”
Some of the popular applications available on jailbroken iPhone applications include tethering applications.
Mozilla may have a bias against Apple because developing a browser for the iPhone would require them to use the Webkit rendering engine used for Safari. “Given the choice, would we work on a platform where the sole company controlling it makes us unwelcome, or would we work on a platform, like Linux, where we are welcome? The answer is going to be easy for us,” Lilly stated in an interview with Computerworld.
Even if the U.S. copyright office grants jailbroken iPhones from being legal, Mozilla is still unlikely going to develop a browser for the iPhone. This is the same case with Opera Software ASA. It was reported earlier that Apple blocked Opera’s web browsing application from being added to the iTunes App Store. Other companies supporting the EFF include Skype and Cydia.
The European Union and Microsoft don’t have the best relationship. I believe part of the reason why Microsoft made the .docx file format is because of pressure from the EU. But the EU doesn’t want to stop there either. They gave Mozilla a seat at the table for the antitrust case against Microsoft for packaging Internet Explorer exclusively with the Windows operating system line.
Mozilla was granted “third-party status” last week. This gives them the option to voice objections and view confidential documentation regarding the case. The European Commission is the executive arm of the EU and are the ones pushing for the case. The case was initiated by Opera, who gave two months for Microsoft to respond to the allegations. Opera is another browser company.
Mitchell Baker, chairwoman of Mozilla wrote that she agreed with the EC’s allegation that packaging IE with Windows harms competition and consumer choice. Here is a portion of Mitchell’s statements from her blog:
The extent of the damage is so great that it makes it difficult to figure out an effective and timely remedy. I believe it’s worth some effort to try. It’s easy to look at Firefox market share and assume the problem is gone or the damage is undone. But that’s not the case. The drag on innovation and choice caused by Microsoft’s actions remains. At Mozilla we work to reduce this drag through direct action, and the results are gratifying. If the EC can identify an effective remedy that also serves to improve competition, innovation and choice, I would find it most welcome.
Mozilla will be delaying the third beta of Firefox 3 due to a large number of remaining bugs to fix. This setback will not affect the release of the final version of Firefox 3.1. Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 was expected to launch on January 26, but it will now be released on February 2. This will be the last beta release for Firefox version 3.1.
“Right now we’re not expecting this to delay our shipping target of late in the first quarter,” stated Mike Beltzner, Director of Firefox. There are about 15 bugs blocking the Beta 3 release. One of them has to do with a new privacy mode setting within Firefox, a feature that is similar to what is available in the Google Chrome browser. Several bugs have to do with the ability to drag tabs within the browsing window. The Beta will also include a faster JavaScript engine.
“Of course, Mozilla will continue to abide by our policy of only shipping software ‘when it’s ready,’” added Beltzner, “meaning that we’ll never publish a release that doesn’t meet our strict criteria for quality, stability and performance.”
Google has been the default search engine company for the Mozilla Firefox browser. This is mainly due to Google’s financial support of Mozilla. In 2006, Google paid Mozilla about $57 million which amounted to 85% of their revenue. But now the Russian version of Firefox will be dropping Google as the default browser and switch it to Google’s Russian rival Yandex.
According to a blog post by Mozilla General Counsel Harvey Anderson, Russian Firefox users “wanted direct access to the Yandex search services in official Firefox RU builds” based on studying trends of Firefox Yandex builds. For the Firefox 3.1 Russian locale builds, Yandex will become the default search engine. This version will be released in the next few weeks.
In the last few months, Yandex was planning on going IPO, but postponed it until the economy recovers. Yandex gets about 50 million searches per day.
The vast majority of Mozilla’s revenue comes from Google. In 2007, Mozilla pulled in around $60 million thanks to Google. That $60 million translates to about 88% of Mozilla’s revenue. The default homepage on Firefox is Google. When a user searches Google using the default Mozilla homepage, Google pays Mozilla a share of the ad dollar made on each click. (more…)
Amit Chowdhry | August 28, 2008 | 1,664 views | Comments Categorized under Google, Mozilla
Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is the default search in the upper search box in the Firefox browser. This is because Google paid a good price to be there. And Google is helping Mozilla stay alive as they are Mozilla’s biggest revenue source.
“We’ve just renewed our agreement with Google for an additional three years. This agreement now ends in November of 2011 rather than November of 2008, so we have stability in income,”stated Mitchell Baker, Chairperson of the Mozilla Foundation. “We’re also learning more all the time about how to use Mozilla’s financial resources to help contributors through infrastructure, new programs, and new types of support from employees.”
Mozilla’s revenue was $52.9 million in 2005 and $66.8 million in 2006. The 2007 numbers aren’t yet known. Over those two years, it is believed that 85% of Mozilla’s revenue was generated from their partnership with Google. Now that the deal is extended to November 2011, Mozilla will continue to depend on the search engine company to keep their employees paid, run an office, and have all the server power they need.
