Google and Firefox

[Faithless]

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/Lead-Firefox-Developer-Jumps-Ship-to-Google-39995.html
By Robert Jaques
VNUNet
01/25/05 9:02 AM PT

"While I will be spending more time at Google, I will work out of the Mozilla Foundation offices regularly as the need arises. For all questions regarding Google, I ask that you contact Google directly, rather than myself," Goodger wrote in his blog.

Ben Goodger, lead software engineer on the team developing the Firefox Web browser, has jumped the Mozilla ship and defected to Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) .


Reporting in his blog, Goodger said that leaving Mozilla and joining the search engine giant would not materially affect the amount of time he spends working on the browser.

Google Browser
Although Goodger remained tight-lipped about any wider ramifications of his move to Google, the development has fueled ongoing speculation that Google is working to develop its own browser.

Rumors began spreading last year after references to "Gbrowser" were found coded into various Google applications.

"My role with the Firefox project throughout 2004 and much of 2003 has been to plan, organize and execute on its development, up until recently with the goal of shipping Firefox 1.0 to the world," Goodger said in his blog.

"While I will be spending more time at Google, I will work out of the Mozilla Foundation offices regularly as the need arises. For all questions regarding Google, I ask that you contact Google directly, rather than myself."

Netscape Vet
Goodger has been, in his own modest words, working on the "small matter of writing code" for the Firefox project since 2003.

Prior to joining Firefox he worked with America Online/Netscape developing Netscape's browser offerings.

Firefox has now been downloaded by more than 6 million users, but suffered a security scare recently when it was discovered that the browser was open to URL spoofing.

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A FireFOX In The Google Hen House (http://www.webpronews.com/news/ebusinessnews/wpn-45-20050125AfireFOXintheGoogleHenHouse.html)
Contributing Writer | 2005-01-25

Google's hiring of the lead Firefox engineer has started the rumor mill rolling. Is this a prelude to the purchase of Firefox ... First here is what Ben said in announcing his new gig:

"As of January 10, 2005, my source of income changed from The Mozilla Foundation to Google, Inc. of Mountain View, California.

My role with Firefox and the Mozilla project will remain largely unchanged, I will continue doing much the same work as I have described above - with the new goal of successful 1.1, 1.5 and 2.0 releases. I remain devoted full-time to the advancement of Firefox, the Mozilla platform and web browsing in general. I'm sure you have many questions.

While I will be spending more time at Google, I will work out of the Mozilla Foundation offices regularly as the need arises. For all questions regarding Google, I ask that you contact Google directly, rather than myself."

Happy New Year,

Ben Goodger
Lead Engineer
Mozilla Firefox


Now that's interesting. He will work for Google and also continue his work on Firefox. He will also sometimes stop in at his old office ... which I presume they will keep intact.

Why would Google let him do this? Could this be part of the legendary 10% of the time they allow employees to spend on seed projects?

Or ... Could this simply be a prelude to buying Mozilla? I think the answer to that question is yes.

[ism]

I don't think it'll have too many ramifications. Gotta remember that a lot of developers on open source projects are working on those projects in their spare time, and that Goodger is not "defecting" as his day job is changing, but his "spare time" project remains the same. The only question is conflict of interest, but the bazaar-style nature of open source would protect against that. I actually think of this as a plus, as Google is giving him a stable income and near free reign, sort of when Linus went to Transmeta.

1.0 is shipped and there's too much interest in it for this to cause a major problem.

[yoMAMA]

all I know is ever since downloading Firefox I have all but forgot that IE still exist.

[TB4000]

Agreed. They tried to tempt us back with a new pop up blocker, but too little, too late.

[g-boogie]

firefox did nothing but slow my whole computer down. and some pages took forever to load but i'm planning to reinstall once i clean up my comp to see if it was because i had too much crap. but either way the tabbing feature and that little search at the top right hand corner is genius!

[yoMAMA]

firefox did nothing but slow my whole computer down. and some pages took forever to load but i'm planning to reinstall once i clean up my comp to see if it was because i had too much crap. but either way the tabbing feature and that little search at the top right hand corner is genius!

really?

must be the spyware or something...cauz firefox doesn't seem to be a bloated software.

[sOKaLiBoY]

firefox is way better then ie. i notice that the pictures load a little slower but i can live with that

[bluemonq]

i guess i should be happy that people are using non-ie browsers. but tabs and searchbox? opera started it. and g-boogie? if you're using an older computer, i believe it can be explained by the fact that, as i recall, firefox in its current incarnation is NOT true windows native; it uses XUL. whereas opera runs on pretty much anything but a 486 just about normally, and as fast or faster than firefox. seriously, if your only excuse is that there's ads, choose the text ads option after you install; it's barely there, and you get all the functions of paid-for opera.