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New Search Strategy for Firefox

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#201

Post by geekam »

bjz_ wrote: post #160
geekam wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Thanks for the Fastmail recommendation! I have been using Yahoo for 8 years now, but I've never really felt comfortable using a free service for something as critical as email. And certainly not comfortable leaving it in the hands of one of the biggest companies in the world.

FastMail seems very transparent. They provide aost of the stuff that I needed from an Email hosting company, even independent audits.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#203

Post by geekam »

twic wrote: post #159
geekam wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The biggest thing i'm looking for now is a replacement for Google's apps suite - mainly Calendar and Docs/Drive. Something that i can use on the web and sync to my (Android) phone. If the Docs replacement just did text documents, that would probably be enough; if it did spreadsheets and text, it would definitely be enough. It would be great if it was free, and fine if it was cheap. Not Apple (no better than Google),…

This is a tough one. I have seen Etherpad [http://etherpad.org/] being used a lot. The there is Zoho suite of apps [https://www.zoho.com/] but I am not sure if they really match your requirements completely.

For writing and other docs, I personally use Dropbox but I know that is not the same as working in the browser itself.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#204

Post by glitchdout »

haberman wrote: post #136
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.

As a Googler who cares very much about open standards, I don't think that assessment is fair or accurate.

What about the move from Talk to Hangouts? https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/05/google-abandons-open-s...

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#205

Post by nnethercote »

drdaeman wrote: post #145
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…

> Firefox is making a strong case for itself as the privacy centric browser. They try their best to market themselves as a privacy-centric browser. To promote themselves as so they add some shiny things like making clearing browser history a two mouse clicks more accessible. But I'm still worried. I'm really nitpicking but... That 3rd party cookie controversy that lasted for almost an year, the "oh, we're full of FLO…

You'll find some recently-announced privacy initiatives interesting:

* http://blog.mozilla.org/privacy/2014/11/10/introducing-polar...

* http://monica-at-mozilla.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/tracking-pr...

* http://blog.mozilla.org/nnethercote/2014/11/12/quantifying-t...

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#206

Post by eamsen »

justinschuh wrote: post #169
nnethercote wrote: post #53

Some more details: * This is a new, more flexible partnership strategy. * Continuing the existing relationship with Google was an option, but Mozilla chose to end the Google relationship. * All the options Mozilla considered had strong, improved economic terms (but the concrete numbers are not public). Because all the options had improved economics, that allowed Mozilla to really consider the strategic outlook. * The…

Will the settings be changed for existing users, or only for new installs?

The new default search engine is changing, so if you are using the current default engine for your country (Google in the US), then your search engine will change to the new default (Yahoo in the US). It will not affect users who are not using the default search engine.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#207

Post by spiralpolitik »

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…

> Every intermediate layer that Google does not control is a risk to their business.

Every intermediate layer that Google does not control is less access to information that they can use to build an advertising profile on you. Hence their strategy of attempting to control the network edges to gain as much visibility as possible (see Chrome, Android, Google Fiber etc).

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#208

Post by CalRobert »

twic wrote: post #159
geekam wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The biggest thing i'm looking for now is a replacement for Google's apps suite - mainly Calendar and Docs/Drive. Something that i can use on the web and sync to my (Android) phone. If the Docs replacement just did text documents, that would probably be enough; if it did spreadsheets and text, it would definitely be enough. It would be great if it was free, and fine if it was cheap. Not Apple (no better than Google),…

Owncloud has something similar but it's very new. Also, it means you run it on your own hardware, and it's open source. https://owncloud.org/blog/owncloud-7-sneak-peek-online-colla...

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#209

Post by gorhill »

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…

> They paid Firefox $300mil a year for three years

Mozilla's 990 forms are public. For 2012 I see a bit more than $9 million in revenue, of which $5.4 million came from contributions [1]. "$300mil a year" makes no sense -- unless there is something I don't know about how non-profits are supposed to report their revenue.

[1] https://static.mozilla.com/moco/en-US/pdf/2012_Mozilla_Form_...

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#210

Post by zobzu »

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…

You may be right (hint) - but that doesn't change the outcome and why Mozillians are retweeting that it enables choice. It actually does.

Thanksfully a company is more than a CEO, CTO, and Legal affairs. In this case the mission matters more than a temporary set of positions - I would think. And either choice wasn't bad for the mission - in fact, more money so that employees can still be paid is probably a smart choice.

Thus you're complaining about the non-openeness about the decision and the slightly twist of words - and that's fair. But again, it may not matter that much.

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