4 ms·

This is the right strategical move for Mozilla. I think they made a mistake to wait this long to do something new and bold, but at least now they are on a soli

This is the right strategical move for Mozilla. I think they made a mistake to wait this long to do something new and bold, but at least now they are on a solid path. IMO, their first mistake was not-launching an open source search engine to compete with Google (pre-Chrome era). Second mistake was waiting too long to get this Mobile OS out the door (which is still a ways off it seems). But this is definitely promising. However, I can't help but wonder about the missed opportunity for collaboration with Canonical. Its clear that Canonical is on a similar mobile trajectory for Ubuntu. An Ubuntu / Firefox Mobile OS would have been cool; and arguably a stronger force to compete against Android/Chrome and iOS.

Yoric 14y ago
IMO, their first mistake was not-launching an open source search engine to compete with Google (pre-Chrome era). Do you have any idea how much it costs to run a search engine? Well, to be true, neither do I, but I am sure that this is a scary amount of money. Plus Mozilla does not have to be (and is not) the only herald of open-source :)
- mrschwabe 14y ago
  It's true, but they above anyone else were in the greatest position to do it. http://nerdbusiness.com/blog/mozilla-launch-open-source-search-engine http://nerdbusiness.com/blog/mozilla-launch-open-source-sear... Either way, the ship is sailed - DuckDuckGo is now leading the way in this department.
  - hollerith 14y ago
    >they above anyone else were in the greatest position to do it. Huh? They have been getting most of their revenue from Google. Seems to me they have been among the least able to start a competitor to Google Search because Google can respond by cutting off most of their revenue.
    - mrschwabe 14y ago
      Its true but back in 2008 the contract they had with Google was up for renewal. This was a window of opportunity for Mozilla to make a 'clean break' from Google. Instead, Mozilla took the money again. And within only a few weeks Google announced Chrome. Convenient timing for Google since the multi-year deal with Firefox was already in place. So my argument was that back in 2008 Mozilla should have NOT signed any further deals with Google, who was ironically about to become their biggest competitor. Instead, they could have taken the offensive and focused on rolling out a search engine of their own to go toe-to-toe with Google. Of course, its all hindsight now. But at least they're stepping up to the plate now with the HTML5 mobile OS.
      - nnethercote 14y ago
        You're suggesting that (a) a small company with one big success start a totally new project that requires enormously different skills, and (b) take on Google at their core competency, at the same time? How daft.
      - ngokevin 14y ago
        Google and Mozilla are not enemies. They are both allies towards an open web. Sure there's the media-hyped browser wars, but Mozilla is about freedom of choice on the web. They are a non-profit who uses Firefox as a playing card in order to further the web. That's how it all started. Microsoft halted development of IE because they saw the web as a threat and Mozilla stepped in. It's never been about the money. Besides, taking on Google, who accounts for over 90% of Mozilla's cash flow is foolish, especially when Mozilla is a team of 650 and Google is a giant of 30,000 (not to mention in a totally different product). But that's besides the point.
        bzbarsky 14y ago
        Mozilla and Google are allies towards an open web only insofar as Google has that as a goal. Unfortunately, they have it a lot less as a goal now than they did a few years ago....

Yoric 14y ago

IMO, their first mistake was not-launching an open source search engine to compete with Google (pre-Chrome era). Do you have any idea how much it costs to run a search engine? Well, to be true, neither do I, but I am sure that this is a scary amount of money. Plus Mozilla does not have to be (and is not) the only herald of open-source :)

mrschwabe 14y ago
It's true, but they above anyone else were in the greatest position to do it. http://nerdbusiness.com/blog/mozilla-launch-open-source-search-engine http://nerdbusiness.com/blog/mozilla-launch-open-source-sear... Either way, the ship is sailed - DuckDuckGo is now leading the way in this department.
- hollerith 14y ago
  >they above anyone else were in the greatest position to do it. Huh? They have been getting most of their revenue from Google. Seems to me they have been among the least able to start a competitor to Google Search because Google can respond by cutting off most of their revenue.
  - mrschwabe 14y ago
    Its true but back in 2008 the contract they had with Google was up for renewal. This was a window of opportunity for Mozilla to make a 'clean break' from Google. Instead, Mozilla took the money again. And within only a few weeks Google announced Chrome. Convenient timing for Google since the multi-year deal with Firefox was already in place. So my argument was that back in 2008 Mozilla should have NOT signed any further deals with Google, who was ironically about to become their biggest competitor. Instead, they could have taken the offensive and focused on rolling out a search engine of their own to go toe-to-toe with Google. Of course, its all hindsight now. But at least they're stepping up to the plate now with the HTML5 mobile OS.
    - nnethercote 14y ago
      You're suggesting that (a) a small company with one big success start a totally new project that requires enormously different skills, and (b) take on Google at their core competency, at the same time? How daft.
    - ngokevin 14y ago
      Google and Mozilla are not enemies. They are both allies towards an open web. Sure there's the media-hyped browser wars, but Mozilla is about freedom of choice on the web. They are a non-profit who uses Firefox as a playing card in order to further the web. That's how it all started. Microsoft halted development of IE because they saw the web as a threat and Mozilla stepped in. It's never been about the money. Besides, taking on Google, who accounts for over 90% of Mozilla's cash flow is foolish, especially when Mozilla is a team of 650 and Google is a giant of 30,000 (not to mention in a totally different product). But that's besides the point.
      - bzbarsky 14y ago
        Mozilla and Google are allies towards an open web only insofar as Google has that as a goal. Unfortunately, they have it a lot less as a goal now than they did a few years ago....