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New Search Strategy for Firefox

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#121

Post by hrktb »

DevX101 wrote: post #63

This is why Google built Chrome. Google's strategy has been to remove the layers between the user's intent to search and Google's own server. Every intermediate layer that Google does not control is a risk to their business. When viewed through these lens, many of the seemingly ancillary Google business units start to make strategic sense. Android (control the device), Chrome (control the browser), Fiber (control the…

Yahoo's main business is not search, so I don't know how bad it needs it. Of course more money is always good, and Yahoo is not a super growing company,

Alaso, this is the same strategy that turned Google from "best buddy" to "arch rival" in the eyes of Apple and pushed Apple to have its own mapping service and offer other search options.

This is also the level of control that motivates people to try Duckduckgo, or switch to firefox.

In the end I think Google has a net win, but the reaction of the partner companies seems to be more negative than neutral.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#122

Post by mbrubeck »

joosters wrote: post #114
sroerick wrote: post #81

Mozilla is making some major moves these days. They've ditched Google as their main revenue source, partnering with Tor and Yahoo. Yahoo is angling to be a digital magazine, which I like as a business model much more than Google's. Firefox is making a strong case for itself as the privacy centric browser. I still remember when Firefox started gaining market share. Even non-tech-savvy people were getting firefox, beca…

I thought that Google was still far and away their main revenue source?

It has been for the last three years, but Mozilla decided to go with Yahoo/Yandex/Baidu rather than renew the deal with Google. So Yahoo (and others) will replace Google as the main revenue source.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#123

Post by cpeterso »

throwawaymoz wrote: post #67

(throwaway account) While I believe the party line is probably true ("Mozilla decided not to go with Google"), it's also disingenuous. Mozilla chose not to go with Google because Google wasn't willing to pay what they were before. They straight up told Mozilla this 3 years ago when they signed the billion dollar contract; Mozilla had 3 years to become profitable. That's why they switched focus to FirefoxOS; they thou…

If Mozilla didn't "pick Yahoo! to enable choice", why didn't Yahoo pay for default search placement in all regions? Russia, China, and other countries will have different default search engines.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#124

Post by [deleted] »

nnethercote wrote: post #87
throwawaymoz wrote: post #67

(throwaway account) While I believe the party line is probably true ("Mozilla decided not to go with Google"), it's also disingenuous. Mozilla chose not to go with Google because Google wasn't willing to pay what they were before. They straight up told Mozilla this 3 years ago when they signed the billion dollar contract; Mozilla had 3 years to become profitable. That's why they switched focus to FirefoxOS; they thou…

> Mozilla chose not to go with Google because Google wasn't willing to pay what they were before. I was at the internal Mozilla meeting where this was announced (about an hour ago), and Chris Beard (Mozilla's CEO) said very clearly that all the options this time around were economically stronger than the current Google deal. Maybe that's not true and you have better information than I do, but since you're posting ano…

[deleted]

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#126

Post by mbrubeck »

[deleted] wrote: post #124
nnethercote wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Mozilla chose not to go with Google because Google wasn't willing to pay what they were before. I was at the internal Mozilla meeting where this was announced (about an hour ago), and Chris Beard (Mozilla's CEO) said very clearly that all the options this time around were economically stronger than the current Google deal. Maybe that's not true and you have better information than I do, but since you're posting ano…

[deleted]

Economically, all the options - including a renewed Google deal - were stronger than the old Google deal. (This contradicts "Google wasn't willing to pay what they were before.")

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#127

Post by conradk »

geekam wrote: post #116
bad_user wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Every intermediate layer that Google does not control is a risk to their business. Every intermediate layer that Google does control is also an opportunity for lock-in. Which is seriously starting to piss me off, as they are increasingly turning their back on open standards.

I remember I started moving out of Google's claws when they started pushing Google+ everywhere. Today my primary browser is Firefox, Search engine is DDG (with occassional Google search), Email is FastMail. The dependency on Google had started to annoy me.

Same here. I used to have Google Mail, Google Contacts, YouTube, Google Search, Google News, etc.

I was feeling more and more dependent on one company's goodwill. A few months ago, I renewed my Fastmail [1] account for 3 more years, being very happy with the service. I use DuckDuckGo [2] as my main search engine and love it. I use Opera as my main browser. The only Google services I use regularly now are Android and YouTube. YouTube being totally optional and Android only being an interface to data located elsewhere, I feel free. Sure, Google has access to my data, but they can't lock me in.

[1] https://www.fastmail.com [2] https://duckduckgo.com

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#128

Post by groovecoder »

hrktb wrote: post #121
DevX101 wrote: post #63

This is why Google built Chrome. Google's strategy has been to remove the layers between the user's intent to search and Google's own server. Every intermediate layer that Google does not control is a risk to their business. When viewed through these lens, many of the seemingly ancillary Google business units start to make strategic sense. Android (control the device), Chrome (control the browser), Fiber (control the…

Yahoo's main business is not search, so I don't know how bad it needs it. Of course more money is always good, and Yahoo is not a super growing company, Alaso, this is the same strategy that turned Google from "best buddy" to "arch rival" in the eyes of Apple and pushed Apple to have its own mapping service and offer other search options. This is also the level of control that motivates people to try Duckduckgo, or s…

Indeed - Yahoo is also powering Weather and Stocks apps on iOS. All the competition is good for everyone.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#129

Post by dec0dedab0de »

dragonwriter wrote: post #104
dec0dedab0de wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember both AOL, and Prodigy defaulted to Yahoo, when you had to list your site with Yahoo to be returned in results. When they called themselves a Directory. It was not quite search, but it was their own results, and they dominated the market. Edit: type-o/clarity.

> I remember both AOL, and Prodigy defaulted to Yahoo, when you had to list your site with Yahoo to be returned in results. When they called themselves a Directory. Yeah, that was the pre-search strategy that Yahoo! (and others) pursued, and Yahoo! did own that for a while (I'd argue that their focus on such a curated list while search ramped up is what left them behind on search, leading to them relying on series of…

Fair enough. Though I would say it still counts as search, whether they're crawling the internet or forcing sites to sign up manually.

I agree that the focus on a curated list is what held them behind, though it may be nice if someone were to provide that today at scale.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#130

Post by nnethercote »

joosters wrote: post #114
sroerick wrote: post #81

Mozilla is making some major moves these days. They've ditched Google as their main revenue source, partnering with Tor and Yahoo. Yahoo is angling to be a digital magazine, which I like as a business model much more than Google's. Firefox is making a strong case for itself as the privacy centric browser. I still remember when Firefox started gaining market share. Even non-tech-savvy people were getting firefox, beca…

I thought that Google was still far and away their main revenue source?

Not any more. That's exactly what this story is about! :)
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