Monday, November 12, 2007
Current Events: Mozilla Firefox's new venture
As many people may know, Mozilla FireFox is a web-browser intended to serve Internet users free of cost. It initially started as a non-profit encounter when it was seen as an extension of the Netscape-Microsoft. The details of the article entitled "Will Success, or All That Money From Google, Spoil FireFox?" surrounds the issue of FireFox branching off into a corporation, and temporary straying from the non-profit venture. It is reported in the article that this decision has led the Mozilla Corporation to invest in millions of dollars while collecting millions in revenue. Their strategy according to the article will manifest the power of competition while embedding their services into service search engine companies...in that way revenue can be multiplied.
"The foundation has been used for a for-profit subsidiary, the Mozilla corporation, to collect tens of millions of dollars in royalties from search engine companies that want prominent placement on the browser. And by collecting that money as a war chest to compete against giants like Microsoft and Apple, the foundation has, at least temporarily, moved away from the typical activities of a non profit organization."
Google, the giant Internet corporation has paved the way for Mozilla FireFox and has laid a foundation for their services, contributing to 85% of their revenue. The question lies throughout the article; Can FireFox stay independent of Google's services and be as successful without Google? There are arguments that support the latter, stating that it is not Google's money that makes them successful but it is more so the community; "Mozilla is successful because we have this giant set of people who care about it."
The bottom line is that Google is in a partnership with Mozilla just like it is with many services. When millions of subscribers use Mozilla FireFox free of cost, they use this browser to access Google's products and services. Therefore, it is not so much depending on Gooogle's money, but it is seen as a way for one service to assist the other. A Google spokeswoman sums up this theory in a perfect manner, stating that "we're living in a cold war between open and closed systems, and Google is happy to lend support to entities that it sees as allies."
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A very interesting post. I love that last quote about the "cold war between open and closed systems."
Google's strategy is fascinating. Mozilla is an ally in the struggle against Microsoft's domination of the browser market.
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Google's strategy is fascinating. Mozilla is an ally in the struggle against Microsoft's domination of the browser market.
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