Firefox loses its sugar daddy

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

Google’s shock entry into the browser market might be bad news for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, but it could be terminal for Mozilla and Firefox.

Google is Mozilla’s sugar daddy. In 2006 (the latest figures we have available), a staggering 85% of Mozilla Corp’s revenue came from the homepage and search deal it has with Google. Firefox is almost entirely dependent on the company that’s just launched what could easily become its biggest rival.

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Mozilla team hit roadblock

Friday, August 1st, 2008

The Mozilla team has filed a worrying bug report that could potentially delay the release of Firefox 3.0.2; they’re all trapped in a hotel.

A rock slide has blocked off a road between Vancouver and Whistler, the latter of which was holding a Mozilla conference at the time. Those developers who got there early are trapped in, and those who were late are trapped outside. Either way, development is taking a hit.

Ever the resourceful bunch, one developer has thought up a solution.

“Hasham has proposed that we ride bears to Vancouver as a workaround for this bug. Bears can run up to 48 kilometers per hour and Whistler to Vancouver is about 300 kilometers. It would take approximately six hours and fixteen minutes if the bear ridden is running at top speed at all times. Realistically, the time needed is about eight hours. A bear can carry two to three people on average. There are approximately 220 people attending the Summit who flew. This gives us the need of about 74 bears should we boldly estimate that a bear can carry three people. The earliest departure time should be Thursday night.”

That’s the sort of out-of-the-box thinking that grabs market share from Microsoft.

Microsoft celebrates with Mozilla

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

This is a piece of class. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team has sent the Firefox pack a congratulatory cake to celebrate the launch of Firefox 3. Say what you want about their browser and Microsoft as a whole but it’s a grand gesture between two extremely fierce rivals.

It’s not the first time they’ve done it, either. The Microsoft team sent Mozilla a cake after the Firefox 2 launch [pictured], though it has to be said the new one is nicer – follow this link to go and see the Firefox 3 celebration cake.