Firefox and Google: Strained relationship?
December 12th, 2008 . by editor
It used to be that the opensource web browser Firefox and Google are one of the best of friends, that was until Google created their own web browser: Google Chrome. Since then, the relationship between the two has been a bit distanced lately.
Mozilla CEO John Lilly told ComputerWorld in an interview that his organization’s relationship with Google has been at least a little bit strained since the release of Chrome.
“We have a fine and reasonable relationship,” Lilly said. “But I’d be lying if I said that things weren’t more complicated than they used to be.”
The vast majority of Mozilla’s revenue — 88%, or about $60 million/year — comes from its search advertising deal with Google. It’s unlikely that Google would walk away from that, but now that Google has become a competitor, Mozilla isn’t counting on that revenue stream being there forever.
Whether they patch up or not, Google chrome has provided another avenue for web developers to develop new software and program for.
