Google and Firefox Aren't Friends, But Are Still Friendly

Despite competing heavily for Web browser dominance, Google and Mozilla still enjoy a friendly (if perhaps tenuous) corporate partnership, according to Talking Points Memo.

Despite competing heavily for Web browser dominance, Google and Mozilla still enjoy a friendly (if perhaps tenuous) corporate partnership, as Talking Points Memo reports. Mozilla Firefox, made by the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation, and Google Chrome have been duking it out as the second and third most popular Web browsers for some time, and Chrome just gained the upper hand last week, edging Firefox from the No. 2 spot behind Internet Explorer. Chrome's ascension could be seen for some time, which had tech watchers thinking that the reported $85 millon deal between Google and Mozilla -- in which Mozilla gets royalties for making Google the default browser search engine for Firefox -- wouldn't be renewed after it was set to expire this November. Throwing even more water on the prospects of a renewal: Mozilla started partnering with Microsoft on another Bing-centered browser in September.

Now that November's come and passed, TPM's Carl Franzen asked Google and Mozilla what the status of their deal is, and word is is that it's still on. "We can confirm that we still have a deal with Mozilla, but have nothing new to share at this time," says a Google spokesperson. Mozilla however was tight-lipped with TPM and with Computer World today. It's another example of the seemingly convoluted relationships many tech companies find themselves in with their corporate rivals, with whom they compete on some projects while partnering on others.