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New Search Strategy for Firefox

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#271

Post by dingaling »

mythmon_ wrote: post #51
rdl wrote: post #32

This makes me less likely to use Mozilla, but I was already a Chrome or Safari user (despite supporting the Mozilla mission). Seems like a bad decision for Mozilla.

Why does this make you less likely to use Firefox? The default search engine is just that: the default. You can change it to something else, and always have been able to. If you care enough to know what search engine you use, you should be able to change it.

> You can change it to something else, and always have been able to.

You can't change the default search engine in Firefox for Android, at least through the UI. And mobile is a high-frequency user of search, which makes that decision even more interesting.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#272

Post by [deleted] »

throwawaymoz wrote: post #222
zobzu wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given his comment i can say he works for Mozilla or worked for Mozilla or have good contacts there. What he wrote is 100% truth as far as I'm concerned. (i have good friends at Mozilla myself and that echo their exact words from 3 y ago)

Yes.

[deleted]

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#273

Post by gcp »

zobzu wrote: post #212
hackuser wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand you want to remain anonymous, but care to give us a clue about your credibility? Do you work for Mozilla? Google?

Given his comment i can say he works for Mozilla or worked for Mozilla or have good contacts there. What he wrote is 100% truth as far as I'm concerned. (i have good friends at Mozilla myself and that echo their exact words from 3 y ago)

Funnily there's noone who actually can be verified as a Mozillian to back it up, heh. Would be hard given that it contains several nonsensical statements. Why on earth would Google care whether Mozilla is profitable? Are there really a lot of people that thought Firefox OS would generate significant income in one of the most competitive markets so fast (I'm sure some people wished, but realistically)? And you honestly don't understand that modally forcing a search provider choice on first run drives nontechnical users away?

Oh hey a throwaway account, what a coincidence.

I'm calling bullshit on this one. Totaly, utter, bullshit.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#274

Post by gcp »

dingaling wrote: post #271
mythmon_ wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does this make you less likely to use Firefox? The default search engine is just that: the default. You can change it to something else, and always have been able to. If you care enough to know what search engine you use, you should be able to change it.

> You can change it to something else, and always have been able to. You can't change the default search engine in Firefox for Android, at least through the UI. And mobile is a high-frequency user of search, which makes that decision even more interesting.

Of course you can. Well at least in Nightly you can, it's possible this was reworked recently (and today's announcement would explain why).

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#275

Post by gcp »

fpgeek wrote: post #257
gcp wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outside the US it's Yandex and Baidu for their respective locales.

Um, there's more to the world outside the US than Russia and China...

That doesn't appear to have been announced. I wonder if it's because the EU was asleep.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#276

Post by yuhong »

sounds wrote: post #264
stephenr wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google's stated reason for abandoning XMPP is nothing to do with product evolution. They publicly stated that the reason for dropping support, was a lack of "industry adoption". Personally I trust that about as much as I would trust a priest to give me a colonoscopy - open access means less control for Google, which means less ability to collect data and/or display ads. Keeping XMPP support (and federation) would hav…

I downvoted you, and I feel obligated to explain my reason. Others will vote how they will. I'm no Google fanboy. But please reply to the argument instead of calling names. Resist complaining about being downmodded. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. Please don't bait other users by inviting them to downmod you. Instead of calling gmail "shit soup," just talk about the existing IMAP standard for key…

FYI, Google is not perfect and I am glad Vic Gundotra was fired, but I think things like the Scroogled campaign is probably just FUD.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#277

Post by spikels »

Yikes I never realized Mozilla was so dependent on Google

  % of Revenue from Google Search Royalties:

  2013 Not released yet (usually 11 months! after end of year)
  2012 88% (90% of 304,539/311,005)
  2011 84% (85% of 161,904/163,474)
  2010 83% (84% of 121,109/123,206)
  2009 84% (86% of 101,537/104,305)
  2008 98% (91% of 83,600/77,737)
  2007 80% (88% of 68,238,803/75,125,640)
  2006 78% (85% of 61,561,496/66,840,850)
  2005 91% (95% of 50,516,268/52,906,602)
Sources:

2012 - https://static.mozilla.com/moco/en-US/pdf/Mozilla_Audited_Fi...

2011 - http://static.mozilla.com/moco/en-US/pdf/Mozilla%20Foundatio...

2010 - http://static.mozilla.com/moco/en-US/pdf/Mozilla%20Foundatio...

2009 - http://static.mozilla.com/foundation/documents/mf-2009-audit...

2008 - http://static.mozilla.com/foundation/documents/mf-2008-audit...

2007 - http://static.mozilla.com/foundation/documents/mf-2007-audit...

2006 - http://static.mozilla.com/foundation/documents/mf-2006-audit...

2005 - http://static.mozilla.com/foundation/documents/mf-2005-audit...

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#278

Post by hobarrera »

groovecoder wrote: post #185
haberman wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

As a Mozillian who also cares very much about open standards, I agree. Google has both a long and recent track record of helping to advance open standards - CalDAV, WebRTC, WebM, etc. - and I have no doubt they will continue to do so - e.g., Physical Web. However, Google's purpose in the world is not to advance open standards. That is Mozilla's purpose. That's why this is a strategic, long-term decision on Mozilla's…

> and I have no doubt they will continue to do so

Regrettably, you're quite mistaken in doing so. They're dropping CalDAV. Their IMAP implementation has been broken for close to a decade. But the very worst is their dropping XMPP is favour of Hangouts. This truly reflected Google's final intentions.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#279

Post by hobarrera »

haberman wrote: post #247
stephenr wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Advance open standards? * Like how they were planning to require whitelisting for CalDAV access? * Like how they completely bastardise the IMAP protocol? * Like how they disabled XMPP federation and then dropped XMPP support completely, for their GTalk replacement?

This is a perfect example of how (some) open-standards advocates have impossible expectations. Your complaints about IMAP and XMPP are completely opposite. When Hangouts stopped supporting XMPP (designed in 1998) due to product evolution, you complain that they dropped XMPP support. But when Gmail continued to support IMAP (designed in 1986) despite the product diverging somewhat from traditional email, you complain…

Other than locking in users, Hangouts offers no feature that XMPP does not. Additionally, XMPP is extensible, so if they intend do add new features, they could just have extended XMPP.

Re: New Search Strategy for Firefox

#280

Post by spikels »

SamReidHughes wrote: post #255
ke7ofi wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DuckDuckGo’s or Mozilla’s?

Mozilla's.

Google paid Mozilla around $275 million in search royalties in 2012, the latest year Mozilla has released financials.

Source: https://static.mozilla.com/moco/en-US/pdf/Mozilla_Audited_Fi...

90% of $305 million in royalties (see page 4 and Note 8)

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