That is sad. It was a good run. Put MS though its paces. There may never be a tour de force like Mozilla/Google at MS' heels again.

I'm not sure I follow. They think that if Firefox shipped with a different home page that people would switch from Google to that new search engine partner? I doubt it. The first thing I do when I start up a new browser is change the start page. I would use Google regardless of my choice of browsers.

Fuser were not the majority. MOST if not ALMOST ALL people who use a web browser couldn't even tell you how to even clear your browsing history , cache & cookies. so yea if firefox shipped with a new start page I'm sure the new start page would see a healthy increase in "searches"

I think it's just a bad idea to cut ties with Google as it is the world's largest search engine. Heck, it's become an instinct for me to type www.google.ca without thinking whenever I need to look up something even when there's a Google searchbar.

I would argue that the majority of those using Firefox actively chose a different browser, and would thus be intelligent enough to change their home page. It's the first option on the first tab in Preferences, or you can just drag the icon by the url about 20 pixels to the left to the home icon.

I agree with macer1. The reason IE is still king is because many people don't even know there are other browsers out there, much less how to install them. This is why having that IE icon on the desktop by default is such a big issue with the EU and its anti-trust litigation. Its easy to say people will download or change what they want, but most people aren't technically inclined (this is why linux fails). These people are lucky they can find the power button on their computer. This deal between Google and Mozilla affects people who probably had FireFox installed on their computer by a friend or family member, and otherwise have no idea whats going on behind the scenes. All they do is search in Firefox, and right now that leads to Google. In the future it might lead to Yahoo! or Ask, who knows.

I really want to believe most of those who use Firefox use a different browser, but I myself use Google esp with the search bar on the top right. Would you have any research to back up this claim?

Regardless of internet savvy, I'm sure that Firefox switching default search companies would have an effect on the search engine market. It might only shift it a couple of percent, but that's a sizable amount. Of course I'm using Chrome as I type this (switched from FF), so now it seems that world of search has calmed down and the browser wars are starting to heat up again (especially with the new EU push to get IE out of Windows 7).

I'm confused as to what you want me to back up. Firefox does not ship with Windows or Mac operating systems, which account for 98% of total operating system market share. Thus, for Firefox to hold 22% of the market, many using Mac or Windows must have actively installed Firefox as their primary browser.

I disagree. Anyone who reads a newspaper or watches television knows about Firefox. Back when IE was getting hit with malware on a weekly basis it was a regular feature on network news. People are just lazy.

Nah, you give people too much credit. Most people are extremely computer illiterate and don't even know what a browser is. One of the most frustrating things is trying to help friends and family with their computers because they're completely clueless about everything, even ones who grew up with computers still don't know how to do much besides install games or use basic software. I think laziness factors in too but it's not that big of a percentage.

Firefox Girl is hot

If the homepage was replaced with cuil or Ask.com alot of people may not change it. Yahoo kinda fell behind the times but it would still help for them to be the default page on some browser . I guess we'll see.

I use google a lot for my browsing and searching with Firefox. That's mainly because of the convenience of it being located in my address bar. I could change it any time, but I have no reason yet to do so.

TH has had some good articles today, most of them very interesting to read and respond to.

Google = Evil

I'm confused. If firefox and google go their separate ways, does this mean that www.google.com wouldn't exist when browsing the internet on firefox, or would this just mean that the default homepage on firefox would be different?

gold jacket, green jacket, who gives a sh1t

Unless google and firefox started despising each other and decided they would not allow users to use each other's services, then Google and Firefox will always work together. If Firefox stopped allowing Google to be used, Firefox would lose tons of market share. If Google decided to stop allowing Firefox users, Google would lose tons of market share.
I'm not an expert, so take my opinion with a grain of salt!

if they changes it , I would change it back to Google!

There are a lot of technology illiterate people out there (I work with some).

i never use the Firefox Google search page. I change my start page to the standard Google one straight away. I normally use the top-right search bar anyway.

I'm confident in saying that Firefox blocking any website would go against the whole concept of open source.

Lol, exactly the type of people the guys are talking about up above. Even on an enthusiest site, you'll see people who really dont have the time, passion, or ability to be educated about this type of thing, and will use just whatever is avaliable and wont inconvenience themselves to change it.

I really don't like this move for Firefox, especially if the company switch is to yahoo!, which I for one hate with a passion. It's those bloody ask/yahoo search bars that keep popping up when I least expect them.

The Firefox/Google combo has been a winning combo for years, why change a good thing?

Excuse me but you sir/mam are an a**hole. I feel I'm pretty educated with computers, seing as i have built very decent computers myself, have many certs, work on computers on my freetime/ IT person for my work. so if you would call that uneducated then idk what would be considered educated short of having a degree in computer physics, etc. I was just confused as to the ability to still use google as a general search engine with firefox, not whether it would still be the default homepage, seeing as i actually have www.tomshardware.com/us as my homepage.

I'm sorry if it slighted you. I didnt intend to insult you at all, just use you as an example of the consumer who wont understand.

I know many people who work on computers in their free time, have superior knowledge in the workplace in buisnesses that dont hire full time IT, and hell even my cousin has every low level microsoft cert via the military. But does that mean that he has any idea what's going on? Not at all.

An educated outlook on this subject would assume very easily that the mozilla team would never intentionally block out the google domain because of one: the comsumer backlash they'd suffer. And Two, because they are an open source software foundation.

+a googol

I hate yahoo as well. They have a very cluttered aesthetic that really turns me off, along with their various cluttered toolbars. Google is very clean and uniform, and I find their aesthetics pleasing.

Even if the default search provider changes, I will likely remove it, and add google (along with Wikipedia and a few others).

...

Someone needs to Firefox that Girl!!

...

I like the new firefox logo they've chosen. ;>

Ouaah! It sounds it must be a pleasure to ask you any computer question Maxor127.

Now that Chrome is released and has proven to be a better and faster platform for the web than Firefox, (or as soon as two or three drawbacks will be corrected) it is only a question of time before Google stop sponshorship with Mozilla.

The contrary would be very surprising.
That Google would keep to invest in Mozilla at 88% just to be the default home page during Firefox installation is a ridiculous argument made by many here (skine, macer1, hellwig...) who might consider themselves part of a very limited world technical elite
but seems more to ignore day to day reality.

- Most people using IE search the Internet with ... Google
though Microsoft doesn't put Google as the default in IE.

- If you have a family member who has installed Firefox
(because you are unable to click on the button 'download' ???)
he might also put Google as your search engine.

- Internet Users can surf the Internet, don't they?
They can use a mouse and a keyboard,
they can buy stuff, go to EBay, Amazon, Expedia, download music, movies...
they understand the concept of a shopping card,
they can register to web sites, groups,
they can create Blogs or pages in MySpace, FaceBook, LiveJournal, MyCyberSpace, Xanga,
they have installed Adobe Flash, Apple Quick Time...

So they will certainly be able to use Google if they want to.
Google didn't win the market by being the default search engine.
Thus, they have nothing to fear by dropping Mozilla.
fuser is correct.

I wasn't clear. I'm assuming you meant those who used Firefox actively chose a different search engine in the first quote? I was wondering if you had facts to back that up that people who use FF used Yahoo or another search engine besides Google as Google comes with FF?

Here's one big reason. Google is a profit corporation driven by, of course, making profit. Mozilla, the organization that created Firefox, is a not for profit organization and is focused on helping internet users. With 2 different goals and philosophies, it becomes very easy to see why both of these companies can clash. It's not helping Google released their own web browser Chrome which is a direct competitor with Firefox.

No wonder why Mozilla and Google are having a hard time working with each other.