Firefox faces uncertain future as Google deal apparently ends

[FMH]

Firefox faces uncertain future as Google deal apparently ends

by Ed Bott

It hasn?t been a good year for Firefox. Mozilla has lost share to Google, it?s lost the loyalty of enterprise customers, and it?s lost key talent. And a deal with Google that supplied 84% of its revenue last year was scheduled to end in November. Can Firefox avoid a slide into irrelevance?

It hasn?t been a good year for Mozilla and its flagship product, the Firefox browser.

Firefox continues to lose share to Google Chrome. Statistics from Net Market Share show the decline, with Firefox plunging from 25% to 22% and Chrome rising from under 5% to more than 18% during the last two years.

Firefox is now on an accelerated development schedule that has alienated enterprise customers.

One of its key managers, Mike Shaver, left in September. How important was he to the developers? The current version of the Firefox road map still includes a big bold TODO item under the ?How to ship faster? heading:

Process change suggestions (w/Shaver)

And the deal with Mozilla?s biggest financial backer is in question. A search partnership with Google has historically been Mozilla?s greatest source of income. In its most recent financial statement, prepared in August and published recently online (see this PDF copy), the Mozilla Foundation won?t even mention Google?s name:

The Corporation has a contract with a search engine provider for royalties which expires November 2011. Approximately 84% and 86% of royalty revenue for 2010 and 2009, respectively, was derived from this contract.

In the accompanying FAQ, Mozilla provides a cryptic non-answer to the question:

What is the status of the organization?s search partnerships?

We currently have partnerships with a number of search providers that differ by market. Our largest contract, with Google, comes up for renewal in November. We have every confidence that search partnerships will remain a solid generator of revenue for Mozilla for the foreseeable future.

Back in July, I sent an e-mail to Mozilla PR with a number of questions about the Mozilla-Google financial agreement.

1. The Mozilla-Google search arrangement ends in 2011, according to the most recent public disclosure I was able to find. Is that date accurate?

2. Are Mozilla and Google in discussions to extend that arrangement further, and if so would it be under revised terms?

3. Has Mozilla made contingency plans in the event that Google decides to end or scale back its support?

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[Dot Matrix]

Microsoft.... ;)

[Hum]

Unless the software stops functioning, I won't stop using Firefox.

And google can go take a hike ...

[xn--bya]

Microsoft.... ;)

They actually might give them money to make Bing the default search engine, but likely not as much as Google.

[ArialBlue]

Microsoft.... ;)

Dunno. Firefox is not a good example of Direct2D hardware acceleration, it is not native looking either, I haven't seen any Metro firefox mockups, and it doesn't even support Microsoft DTV-DVD codec. The only incentive to sponsor Mozilla would be if Mozilla made Bing default search engine.

It is about time for Opera to rise as a 'power user' browser and Chrome to be called the 'common folk' browser.

[Dot Matrix]

Dunno. Firefox is not a good example of Direct2D hardware acceleration, it is not native looking either, I haven't seen any Metro firefox mockups, and it doesn't even support Microsoft DTV-DVD codec. The only incentive to sponsor Mozilla would be if Mozilla made Bing default search engine.

It is about time for Opera to rise as a 'power user' browser and Chrome to be called the 'common folk' browser.

I didn't mean buy them, but Microsoft seems highly supportive of Firefox, they might be willing to throw some cash their way.

I agree with the D2D bit, BTW... ;)

[trag3dy]

Firefox still remains the customization king so I'll continue to use it..

[johnporter29]

Here's a idea...let's get Microsoft & Mozilla to cease production of IE and FF and all their workers join Google to improve Chrome even more :D :D :D :D :D :D

[ArialBlue]

Here's a idea...let's get Microsoft & Mozilla to cease production of IE and FF and all their workers join Google to improve Chrome even more :D :D :D :D :D :D

Heres is a better idea. Mozilla gets bought by Microsoft and they fuse the customability of Firefox and multimedia and rendering speed of IE9/10.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

Mozilla is probably going to make a deal with Bing.

[Phouchg]

Someone always has to pay. Even for the development of free and open-source software.

So Mozilla has carelessly lived off the Le Goog's monies for all these years and hasn't done squat to fortify against Chrome, a patently obvious threat? Nice financial planning, clowns.

[shamilbear]

Someone always has to pay. Even for the development of free and open-source software.

So Mozilla has carelessly lived off the Le Goog's monies for all these years and hasn't done squat to fortify against Chrome, a patently obvious threat? Nice financial planning, clowns.

Well, either way, Mozilla was going to lose. Why pay your competitor, when you're already getting what you need?

[iwod]

Microsoft pays them, and hopefully force them to include H.264 decoder as part of the deal :D

I think Google will still support them. Having Firefox using Bing will be much worst then a 100 Million per year deal.

[Tech Star]

Heres is a better idea. Mozilla gets bought by Microsoft and they fuse the customability of Firefox and multimedia and rendering speed of IE9/10.

I like that idea, but I feel like Microsoft is going to get a lot of anti-competition crap thrown their way.

[Miuku.]

So Mozilla has carelessly lived off the Le Goog's monies for all these years and hasn't done squat to fortify against Chrome, a patently obvious threat?

Why would they especially divert resources to "fortify" against Chrome as it was never really their main target and still isn't?

The aim of the Firefox project has been to offer an alternative browser to IE and they've been quite successful at it.

[guru]

Heres is a better idea. Mozilla gets bought by Microsoft and they fuse the customability of Firefox and multimedia and rendering speed of IE9/10.

that'd be one epic browser

[shadowbat]

Mozilla might suffer without a search deal, but Firefox will live on. Maybe someone will fork the tree and create a faster, lighter version without worrying about backward compatability. Just like what happened at Netscape.

[primexx]

Firefox and IE are the only two that work well with touchscreens.

[Orange Battery]

For me, the problem with Chrome is its linked to Google. I like Google, Its my search engine of choice and I like Chrome as well but they are a business at the end of the day. Firefox has to continue, we have to help it, if we don't then we may find ourself in an IE4/5 position once again. I like where Google are going right now but directions can change and I dont trust any company - why would I?

[oceanmotion]

You already get Firefox with Bing, I suppose some extra cash will make it just like Google's Firefox deal though probably not as much but better than nothing.

I've tried Chrome a few times but keep going back to Firefox. Long live Firefox. They might not get everything right but do a pretty damn good job and for most of it's years, was and still is a superb IE alternative that did a lot for browser features. Add ons never caught on until Firefox for example and I can't live without them now.

[Phouchg]

Why would they especially divert resources to "fortify" against Chrome as it was never really their main target and still isn't?

The aim of the Firefox project has been to offer an alternative browser to IE and they've been quite successful at it.

That aim was made moot back in 2009 when Chrome appeared as the competition to this very aim. Everything made by Google is automatically awesome over 9000 unless proven not to be so the aim had to be switched to Chrome. See, IE will not be going anywhere ever unless MS says so.

It's unlikely that Google will stop giving monies to Mozilla, not being evil openly and such. But it might as well do so as soon as the apparent revenue drops below their expenses. Chrome keeps climbing percentages at alarming rate for a long time already. Mozilla without sufficient funding, however, would have to survive solely on certain fanboism like Opera does.

[Gaffney]

I prefer Firefox to chrome, they are both good with different aspects. For example I enjoy chrome's web development tools but Firefox is so customizable and feels more snappy to me.

[greenwizard88]

there's nothing anti-competative about MS giving $$ to Mozilla. they did that for apple back in the day, too, so Apple wouldn't go backrupt. this would help Mozilla AND microsoft greatly, while not really hurting anyone (except Goog gets less users). I think this would be a great thing to have happen, which is exactly why the goog WILL renew their financial support, specifically so that this DOESN'T happen.

[Detection]

Damn, exactly one month ago tomorrow, I made this POLL

https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1036721-poll-would-you-pay-to-keep-using-your-favourite-browser/

Oops, sorry !

[Belazor]

Chrome needs to support either vertical tabs or tab overflow with customisable min-width and max-width if it's going to be any worth for people who open dozens of tabs, IMO.