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Google Businesses Mozilla The Internet The Almighty Buck

Google Paying for Firefox Installs 233

Posted by CowboyNeal from the paid-to-play dept.
slashkitty writes "Google updated their AdSense service to pay publishers for referrals. What's interesting is that now they pay publishers $1 US for each FireFox download with the Google Toolbar installed. Is this the bump that Firefox needs to boost downloads? Will Google be able to pay the millions for all the downloads?"
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Google Paying for Firefox Installs More

Google Paying for Firefox Installs

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  • Hmmm... I think it's time to upgrade (Score:5, Funny)

    by ylikone ( 589264 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:19AM (#13957791) Homepage
    all the Firefox installs at the lab here. I'll even download them a few times each for every system, to make sure it downloads properly.

  • Will Google be able to pay? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:20AM (#13957798)
    I strongly doubt it. Yessir, I do.
    • But the money goes into their ad sense account to spend on more adwords. It doesn't cost them anything, as it is a check written to them selves.
      • AdWords = Google's advertising program (started as text-only pay-per-click ads on Google' search results pages)

        AdSense = program that lets webmasters/bloggers rent space on their pages to Google to display ads drawn from the AdWords program, in return they get a percentage of the ad revenue made by Google from the ads shown on their pages

        Promoting Firefox with the Google Toolbar promotes the use of Google, which (over the long run) leads to higher revenues as more people see the ads (both on the search

  • Bloody optimists... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by daniil ( 775990 ) <evilbj8rn@hotmail.com> on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:21AM (#13957802) Journal
    Will Google be able to pay the millions for all the downloads?

    Google has, what, three billion dollars in cash?

    Will Google be able to pay the millions for all the downloads?

    Don't you think it's a bit too optimistic to expect "millions of downloads"?

    • Re:Bloody optimists... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Jeff DeMaagd ( 2015 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:24AM (#13957826) Homepage Journal
      I think it invites a massive fraud potential which not only drains money, but bandwidth.

      • Re:Bloody optimists... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Jon_E ( 148226 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @07:17PM (#13960151)
        interesting .. how quickly can you transfer (8.2MB * 3,500,000,000) = 26.72PB?

        Now with the average cable internet download speed approaching 2200kbps (275KB/s), you're looking at 3388.77 years for a single client running at last years average. OTOH, to acheive this in a single day should ideally just require 1236903 cable modem subscribers and a properly distributed and co-ordinated effort. Of course it would probably be easier to simply hack the download counters ..

    • Re:Bloody optimists... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by slashkitty ( 21637 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @12:29PM (#13958161) Homepage
      Ok ok, so that was a bad question... But, is it worth it for the $1 install? Most spyware companies only pay $0.25, and they get massive pop up ads and unlimited upgrades!
    • And also, none of them have noticed that this is perhaps long awaited Google Browser, in some way...
    • Don't you think it's a bit too optimistic to expect "millions of downloads"?

      No - Firefox already surpased 100 million downloads [mozilla.org]. And that was due to "popular talk". But there're lots of people who doesn't know what firefox is - this will help. And don't forget that windows 9x and 2000 users won't have a IE7 version. I don't think that expecting "millions of downloads" from google's plan is "optimist".

    • Re:Bloody optimists... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Skim123 ( 3322 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @04:22PM (#13959272) Homepage
      Don't you think it's a bit too optimistic to expect "millions of downloads"?

      I'll tell you what I expect - a whole slew of forwarded emails from parents and friends I don't keep in touch with much anymore that read, "In response to Google offerring to pay $1 for people to download the FireFox browser, Bill Gates is willing to pay YOU $1 for every person you forward this email to!"

      • Bill Gates is willing to pay YOU $1 for every person you forward this email to!"

        now that i know bill gates can't afford. i could have that spam forwarded to 1 trillion addressees tomorrow, never mind that there aren't that many people, for that kinda money i could hire the best slimy programers in the world to write the best proxy using e-mail account creation software, and make as many email addresses as i could to forward the e-mail to...

        Ah if only my first trillion dollars was _that_ easy to make. reme

  • Payment... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Karma_fucker_sucker ( 898393 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:22AM (#13957810)
    When a user you've referred to AdSense first earns US $100, we'll credit your AdSense account with US $100. When a user you've referred to Firefox plus Google Toolbar runs Firefox for the first time, you'll receive up to $1 in your account, depending on the user's location.And: Will Google be able to pay the millions for all the downloads?

    Easily. If Google can pay the $100, the $1 (1%) will be no probelm especially since there's a disclaimer - the depending on the user's location part.

  • Spyware (Score:5, Insightful)

    by saskboy ( 600063 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:22AM (#13957813) Homepage Journal
    I'm sure Google is completely innocent of spyware, but I'm resisting installing the Google toolbar in Firefox, or IE. There's already a Google search bar in Firefox, and I've been anti-addon-toolbar for years now, since every unstable system I've worked on had at least one of them. When the great Google Toolbar Trap is sprung, I'll be on the outside of the box, thank you very much.

    • Re:Spyware (Score:4, Interesting)

      by mla_anderson ( 578539 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @12:03PM (#13958021) Homepage

      The Google toolbar gives me enough advantages that I install it. The option to open searches in a new tab/window is very nice as is one click link to search on the page for search items. In addition spell check can be very handy (if I remember to use it). I don't use the other options very much, but until they start acting more evil I'll keep it around.

      • Re:Spyware (Score:3, Interesting)

        by an_mo ( 175299 )
        The option to open searches in a new tab/window is very nice as is one click link to search on the page for search items

        You can do that with the preinstalled google box you know.

    • I saw this toolbar once at a friend's, and they only used it to search Google without having to get themselves to google.com and for its popup blocker. But Firefox itself does both of these better - popup blocking is supreme now and the mycroft search takes up less space and can search hundreds of sites.

    • Re:Spyware (Score:5, Informative)

      by Dr. Spork ( 142693 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @12:28PM (#13958155)
      What's great about the Google toolbar in Firefox is just how configurable it is. I've only kept a couple of buttons from it on the left side of my menubar. Really, if this were bundled with Firefox, it would seem harmless enough to not bother me. What I like about Google is that they didn't force Firefox users to display the toolbar in some sort of a monolithic way. It's just as configurable as all the UI elements that come standard with Firefox.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:Spyware (Score:3, Informative)

      by gad_zuki! ( 70830 )
      > I'm sure Google is completely innocent of spyware

      The price for the toolbar with pagerank is spyware. Google is a data-mining company, not a charity. Its in the TOS.

  • Wow. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Spy der Mann ( 805235 ) <spydermann DOT slashdot AT gmail DOT com> on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:23AM (#13957815) Homepage Journal
    Google REALLY wants to fscking kill Microsoft! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

    This is much better than a fight between gladiators. Popcorn, anyone? B-)

  • Able to pay? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by HexaByte ( 817350 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:23AM (#13957820)
    Will Google be able to pay all those million? Get a grip! They've been paying millions for all those open-source programmers that are working on Open Office and other programs.

    They want to hurt Micro$oft, and paying a couple of hundred million to make Firefox hit critical mass is just small change to a company with a few billion to spread around.

    When Firefox DOES hit critical mass, which means that web developers HAVE to create web apps that render/function correctly in Firefox, people will have less reason to stick with IE, adding more impetous to the Firefox migration, and weakening the MS lock-in on the web.

    • which means that web developers HAVE to create web apps that render/function correctly in Firefox,

      There's no excuse even today to do any cross-browser detection. /me checks to make sure I'm wearing my asbestos underwear.

    • Re:Able to pay? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by jtjdt ( 928754 )
      Hellooo, the program is only for people ALREADY signed up for AdSense. That means, those people have already PAID Google. Google loses nothing at all. Plus look at the stats

      390.43 +4.48 (1.16%) 4 Nov at 4:00PM ET
      Open: 389.98
      High: 391.79
      Low: 385.45

      Volume: 8,824,846
      Avg Vol: 9,472,000
      Mkt Cap: $$$$110.29Billion $$$$

    • Re:Able to pay? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Patrick13 ( 223909 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @12:49PM (#13958254) Homepage Journal
      > Will Google be able to pay all those million?

      Does you have any idea what a toolbar user is worth to Google? Conservative estimates are around $50 per year per user, due to the searchers clicking on Google Adwords advertisements that show in the search results.

      It's win-win for Google: they generate far more revenue per user than they shell out; they promote open source (ie "do no evil"); and they hurt their primary competitor, MSN, to boot.

  • One other way.. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by CSHARP123 ( 904951 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:24AM (#13957828)
    This is pretty good move from google. They know it is not possible to bundle with IE. The next best is to push with other alternative that is firefox. The advantage for google is to tap potential customers(?) who use Mac OS or Linux or Windows.

  • Huh? and yes. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Will_Malverson ( 105796 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:26AM (#13957834) Journal
    It seems to me that when posting a story like this, at least one of the links should lead to something that actually discusses the subject of the article.

    Here is a link to the actual section of the Google AdSense FAQ that mentions the dollar per Firefox install:

    http://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.p y?answer=27406&ctx=en:search&query=firefox&topic=0 &type=f [google.com]

    Also, Google currently has over 7.5 billion dollars [yahoo.com] in the bank, so yeah, they could pay one dollar for EVERY PERSON ON EARTH to install Firefox and not go broke.
    • "Looking for any information on how to get my Creative Audigy to not pop my speakers when I shutdown or restart my PC"

      Presumably you want Creative to fix the problem at the hardware level. Since the pop indicates poor design or poor components in certain areas around the op amps.

      The easiest fix for Creative (somwewhat cheesy tho) is to have them modify their drivers to introduce a band pass filter during the power on/off sequence of the computer. I suppose this part assumes Windows OS.

      The best solution is

  • Of *course* Google can pay! (Score:3, Informative)

    by shylock0 ( 561559 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:26AM (#13957838)
    The suggestion that Google might not be able to "pay for all those downloads" is absolutely rediculous. If there are 10 million Firefox downloads, and Google is paying $1 each, that's basically little more than a rounding error in Google's financial statements. You can check them out at the SEC if you don't believe me. Those numbers are in thousands. As in, Google has cash or marketable securities in the area of 2.1 billion dollars. 10 million is practically rounding error. Google's balance sheet is here: at the SEC [sec.gov]

    • Actually 7.1 *billion* (Score:4, Interesting)

      by shylock0 ( 561559 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:32AM (#13957865)
      Ok, so I lied -- I found the Fiscal Year 2004 balance sheets, instead of Google's most recent quarterly report. which you can find here [sec.gov]. Google does have 7.1 billion in cash and marketable securities. 10 or 20 or even 30 million is rounding Error. Unless every man, woman, and child on the planet decides to download Firefox, Google is fine here.
      • What if they run out of Firefoxes? Is the Mozilla Foundation ready to start manufacturing new Firefoxes that fast? Won't that cause forced overtime at the factory, overworked laborers, spot shortages, gray marketing, maybe even out-sourcing? Somebody's got to look into this!

  • There are still some reasons to use IE... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anyd ( 625939 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:26AM (#13957840)
    I still use internet explorer (yea yea..) mostly because I don't want to install anything more than I have to. Windows is bloated enough as-is, and I don't need or want extra luggage attatched to my everyday computing. I've actually found that IE is fairly non-obtrusive if you turn all the extra crap off. I guess I've just found that I don't often use Firefox's extra features. I generally browse one page at a time, and I don't use my web browser for anything much more than reading the news (/.) or checking my email.
    • I agree, mate.

      Sometimes I spark up IE to test how many pop-up windows I can fit into my RAM. Much easier than rebooting to let BIOS test the memory.

      IE's great for getting a metric for maximum render-time for the Web pages that I whip up.

      I also like to see how well Microsoft Defender (né Anti-Spyware) does in identifying the 30 or so cool things that get installed secretly on my computer when I browse a few sites with IE.

      It's a Web browser and a test suite all in one.
  • "Will Google be able to pay": that's a phrase we haven't heard in a while!

  • Google vs. Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Chris_Jefferson ( 581445 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:27AM (#13957844) Homepage
    Now, I agree with those people who think Google is basically a good company. However I also think one of the major reasons they are doing this is because Google want to make sure that Firefox's taking over from IE continues, as based on past experience, if Microsoft can keep IE in a monopoly position, it's only a matter of time until various bits of Google start getting "accidentially broken" during IE service packs. Also spreading firefox stops an increase in IE-only websites.

    So in conclusion, Firefox gets some more installs, Google gets some more google toolbar installs, lots of websites gain "install firefox" links, IE loses a bit more market share and Google loses a bit of spare change. Everyone wins, except those people we don't like :)

    • Re:Google vs. Microsoft (Score:5, Interesting)

      by IntlHarvester ( 11985 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:54AM (#13957981) Journal
      Sorry to bitchslap you with facts, but Google just introduced a major desktop product based entirely on IE and COM/ActiveX infrastructure. Just the kind of Internet product that Microsoft has been talking about since Pearl Harbor Day, 1995.

      If Google actually thought that way, they would build their stuff on Mozilla technology. But facts speak louder than words.
    • Not to mention that Google, as a large provider of RIA services, would really, really like MS to be forced to actually follow standards.

      Personally I suspect that it's not deliberate on MS's part though: if they could follow simple standards, then we wouldn't have Excel and Word doing different things with something as simple as alt-f4!

      Justin.

  • Google is now the 'Killer App' (Score:4, Insightful)

    by rkcallaghan ( 858110 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:34AM (#13957875)
    1$ is a small price to pay to spread their wings like this. Google has the branding for their website, of which google has become a household term in the American language. They support IE for its massive install base, but I think its pretty clear Google wants its own software, and who can blame them!

    Google makes stuff good enough you actually want it. Are you listening, Linux on the Desktop Zealots? Half of all articles on /. talk about how Linux is "oh so close", and has been for years. In that time, I've been a linux supporter, I have a linux machine -- but now all my machines look more like Google machines than Linux or Windows. See the comparison here too with iPod/iTunes? Apple made a player that you would actually want, and sold music in a format you would actually want.

    ~Rebecca

  • Millions? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by earnest murderer ( 888716 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:35AM (#13957879)
    "Will Google be able to pay the millions for all the downloads?"

    Checks NYSE.... Do you suppose? Since we're talking about a lot less than "millions", more like a million or so on a good year here on out. That's for all installs, not the fraction of installs with google toolbar.

    Since the data/referals they'll get will grow/improve significantly. I would imagine that this is a screaming deal for all parties.

    Personally, I doubt I'll use it. The last thing I need is another toolbar I don't use (actually I would use the spell check, but that's a lot of real estate to give up to somthing that should be on the tools menu). The search bar is already more than I want. By more I mean I generally turn it of an use keywords to forward search terms to google from the address bar.
    • Yeah funny that, I would never use a google toolbar, given that I can add all that functionality in my web browser anyway. Someone else mentioned that google makes things people want, and then asked for the linux devs to hear that. LOL I got Linux right here, and you know that spell check? I got it built in.........no toolbar needed!

  • Google has no choice but to push firefox (Score:5, Insightful)

    by codepunk ( 167897 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:46AM (#13957940)
    Google has no choice but to push firefox as hard as they can. The are facing a threat from the next version of windows / ie. Without a doubt MS is going to use their monopoly desktop to force people to msn search by embedding it into windows. Google should have already been doing this 6 mos ago including a direct download link right on the home page. Same thing goes for open office they need to be using it as a weapon right now also.

  • gmail, openoffice , firefox? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sonamchauhan ( 587356 ) <sonamc@NOsPam.gmail.com> on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:47AM (#13957944) Journal
    Hmm... a scenario:

    Google starts providing OpenOffice as a client-side components within Firefox, perhaps downloaded as XPCOM [mozilla.org] components, perhaps using the GoogleToolbar as the entry point. The browser now provides straightforward access to both thin and thick client functionality.

    The gmail, google maps, etc interfaces are melded in too, providing a uniform interface to a free persistent 'office environment' that people can access through any browser, anywhere, with temporary working files stored locally for performance and content network-backed to Google's servers...

    This could explain Microsoft's recent launch of Windows Live [itnewsonline.com] as - perhaps - a preemptive defensive maneuvour.


    • I'd really like to see something on OpenOffice's scale and compatibility level done in more of an AJAX style, as daunting as that is, rather than see it be an XPCOM component. I don't like being locked into Firefox any more that I like being locked into IE. Ultimately we should be free of lockin everywhere, with the only requirement being that the user platform conform to certain open standards. XPCOM quibble aside, I very much look forward to the future you describe. I think the key component is that G
      • Thanks for the comment - glad you substantially agree.

        > done in more of an AJAX style

        Unfortunately, AJAX, while useful:

        (a) isn't responsive enough

        (b) is not rich enough.

        (c) doesn't have deep enough access to local resources (eg: local drag and drop, copy and paste, vision and voice input processing, spellchecker and grammer checker processing,)

        (d) require a total rewrite (perhaps innovative automated MFC/Swing -> HTML translation libraries can help)

        (e) depends totally on network access (no ability to

  • Bump to boost downloads? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by inerte ( 452992 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:47AM (#13957947) Homepage Journal
    Er... no.

    That's Google trying to control the plataform. They can contribute to Firefox, either hacking its source or creating extensions. Imagine Firefox with IE marketshare, ~85%, and Google releasing a new product tomorrow, integrated with their Toolbar, on all those desktops.

    Plus, Javascript/DOM/XUL support made exactly the way they want.

  • There's always a catch... (Score:5, Informative)

    by David E. Smith ( 4570 ) * on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:53AM (#13957976)
    When a user you've referred to Firefox plus Google Toolbar runs Firefox for the first time, you'll receive up to $1 in your account, depending on the user's location.

    Emphasis mine.

    This implies that if a user's computer has ever had Firefox installed before, it's ineligible for a referral. Also note "up to" a buck, which implies many users (I'd guess users outside of the United States, but it's not stated anywhere I can readily find) will yield less.

    Edit: Found some fine print, where it explicity states the PC must never have had Firefox installed before, regardless of the presence or absence of the Google Toolbar. I imagine a LOT of folks have downloaded Firefox, played with it, then uninstalled it, which means AdSense users don't get kickbacks.

    I've put up a link on my site regardless, but I'm not expecting BIG CASH PRIZES.

  • I don't need a toolbar.
    Why does Google want's me to use their toolbar?
    What benefit has Google me using their toolbar?

    Okay, I (re-)install Firefox, publisher gets 1$ then I uninstall the toolbar.
    ==> Google loses 1$
    • The toolbar allow Google to track where site do you visit, the they improve the pagerank. This is stated up front at the installation and Google allow you to opt-out of this BEFORE installing, here is from the privacy information:


      Google may collect information about web pages that you view when you use advanced features such as PageRank, SpellCheck, AutoLink, and WordTranslator. However, these advanced features can be easily disabled or re-enabled at any time by selecting

  • ..with google toolbar? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by elfguygmail.com ( 910009 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @11:58AM (#13957996) Homepage
    The part that scares me is the "download firefox with google toolbar" part. I hope the official builds never include the google toolbar, that would be like IE bundeling Alexa or something. If people want that toolbar they can go get it. Personally I think the toolbar is very bad. First most of its features are already in Firefox, and the only useful feature that isn't, pagerank, is a major privacy concern since it clearly said it sends every URL you visit to google. So no thx.
  • I have Google Adsense, and I have the new REFERENCE tab. But there should be 2 subtabs according to the Google email announcing the service. But I only have one subtab (Adsense) and no "Firefox plus Toolbar". Anyone else with the same problem? Maybe as I am in Argentina I am not qualify for this promotion (it depends of the location?, according to other post).
    I already emailed Google customer sevice about it.

  • Not available to all webmasters (Score:3, Informative)

    by MTO_B. ( 814477 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @12:22PM (#13958132) Homepage
    My Google AdSense referral page does not include any reference to the Firefox referral program.
    It seems they are limiting it to sites in USA or in English (just guessing).

  • A better idea perhaps ... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Slashdoc Beta ( 925619 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @12:22PM (#13958133) Homepage
    How about just having a "download Firefox" link on Google.com? They get, what, a billion visitors each day? All the people who really want to spread firefox are already spreading Firefox [spreadfirefox.com].

  • News Flash (Score:4, Funny)

    by coolcyber ( 901771 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @12:23PM (#13958135) Homepage Journal
    News Flash-- Microsoft paying 2$ for every firefox uninstall.

    • Hmmm, I just thought of a profit motive, hehehe

      1. Install Firefox
      2. Uninstall Firefox
      3. ???
      4. Profit!
      5. goto 1

      I can even code this:


      for(;;) {
      firefoxInstalled = installfirefox();
      if(firefoxInstalled == true) {
      firefoxUninstalled = uninstallfirefox();
      firefoxInstalled = false;
      }
      if(firefoxUninstalled == true)
      money += 2;
      }

      Now, on the road to millions!

  • Has anyone else noticed that installing the Google Toolbar in Firefox causes "title" tags in images not to display properly? I uninstalled the Toolbar and went back to the Googlebar extension because of that. It can be rather frustrating if you don't know what is causing it.

  • Honest Question (Score:4, Insightful)

    by miyako ( 632510 ) <miyako.gmail@com> on Saturday November 05, 2005 @01:00PM (#13958290) Homepage Journal
    This isn't meant as a troll, but honestly what's the point of the google toolbar on Firefox?
    I could understand wanting to have integrated google search and pop-up blocking for IE, but Firefox has google search built right in (along with several other searches), and I can find thing on a given page easy enough with ^F. If I find a term on a page I want to google for it's as easy as highlighting it, ^T, middle click into the google search window.
    Given that, what's the point of having a google toobar for Firefox?

    • Re:Honest Question (Score:3, Informative)

      by dnaumov ( 453672 )
      I use Google toolbar for the form spellchecker and also for the ability to search for keywords in my GMail emails. The GMail integration is a killer feature.
    • Because it's extremely customisable and it's not necessarily a toolbar. All the elements that appear on the toolbar can be dragged around and displayed on any toolbar just like any other firefox toolbar button.

      So you can think of it as just an enhancement to the built in google search

  • Ponzi-scheme (Score:4, Interesting)

    by grazzy ( 56382 ) <grazzy@quake.s w e . net> on Saturday November 05, 2005 @01:27PM (#13958378) Homepage Journal
    I cant believe how lame this idea is by Google. There will be a complete feast of recruiting over at forums such as DigitalPoint etc. I can easily see how people will try to divide their income into as many accounts they can possible create to get that 100 bucks for a signup.

    So lame. So 1996. Go google, king of pyramid-schemes.

    • I can easily see how people will try to divide their income into as many accounts they can possible create to get that 100 bucks for a signup.

      And I can see Google denying these referral bonuses based on matching tax ID numbers.

      • Dude, I'm not "worried" about americans doing this, hardly worth it.

        What I'm worried about (as a swede) is that googles reputation on the net will fall and my revenue as a publisher. But sure, MSN and Y! are getting their stuff togheter anyday now..

  • Is this the bump that Firefox needs to boost downloads? Will Google be able to pay the millions for all the downloads?

    Sheesh, would you say that if it were the Yahoo! toolbar? How will this help FireFox exactly? Having a bunch of people list the Google Toolbar for FireFox will apparently help it's spread?

    Nothing against Google... but "this will help FireFox" seems like a very odd way to connect the dots.

  • Three questions (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Browncoat ( 928784 )
    There seem to be three questions that have risen from this.

    1) Can Google afford this? The answer is Yes.
    2) Who gets paid? Only first time users, apparently and only once. So that means that all of us Firefox users aren't going to get "up to" $1.
    3) How is this going to benefit Google or Firefox?

    I like the idea of Google and Mozilla teaming up. The Google search bar already appears on Firefox by default and the Google toolbar is helpful for certain people. It all depends on whether you really use it

  • Money (Score:2, Interesting)

    by x_terminat_or_3 ( 873666 )
    They certainly have enough money to pay the "milions" of FireFox downloads. And rest assured that they will MAKE money out of it as well.

    The prime reason for M$ being number one is because M$ bundeled the browser with its operating system. I certainly hope that FireFox or why not KHTML-based browser beats m$ explorer. IMHO the only way to make the web more secure. Heck why not abandon m$ altogheter and switch to Linux or Mac. Stories of viruses, worms, and zombie's will all soon be a thing of the past.

  • Interesting Thought (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ebtebee ( 858828 ) on Saturday November 05, 2005 @03:27PM (#13958958) Journal
    I was just wondering if there would be a similar positive response if Microsoft started paying a small amount to people for using MSN Search or making IE only websites. What do YOU think ?

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