Google and Mozilla have agreed to keep Google as the default search engine on the Firefox Web browser for three more years, the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation announced last week.
Google’s search relationship with the Mozilla Foundation began in 2004, when it became the default search engine on the Firefox browser; Google also helped fund the Mozilla Foundation. With support from Google, Firefox challenged Internet Explorer for browser dominance, even though Internet Explorer controlled 90 percent of the market when the deal was first struck in 2004.
But Google released its own browser, Chrome, in 2008, and Chrome passed Firefox as the No. 2 most-used browser worldwide in November, according to StatCounter. The deal between the two entities expired in November, the same month Chrome surpassed Firefox in user share.
San Jose Mercury News
