Microsoft Says Thanks to Mozilla, Courtesy of Google's Slipup
Here’s the story so far: first of all Google CEO Eric Schmidt made a comment that spurred a lot of controversy (see here). To this comment Mozilla founding member Asa Dotzler responded by saying that Firefox users would be better off switching to Bing (see here). Just to jog your memory, here is what the two said.
Eric Schmidt: “I think judgment matters. If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place. If you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines -- including Google -- do retain this information for some time and it's important, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities.”
Asa Dotzler: “I think that the thing that bothers me most about Google CEO Eric Schmidt's comment is that it makes clear that he simply doesn't understand privacy. That a company with so much user data on its servers is led by someone who just doesn't understand privacy is really scary to me and it should be scary to you as well.” He then linked to the Bing add-on and said that “Yes, Bing does have a better privacy policy than Google.”
As you know, Bing is Microsoft’s decision engine, not search engine. Having someone from the Mozilla camp speak out against Google and lead Firefox users towards Bing is a big thing. Keep in mind that Google makes up for 90% of Mozilla’s revenue. It would seem that Microsoft appreciated Asa Dotzler’s gesture - that would be recommending Bing as an alternative to Google. So what did Microsoft do? Just check out the image below.
That is a firefox. All day yesterday, the 14th of December, Bing featured a firefox on its homepage.
Eric Schmidt: “I think judgment matters. If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place. If you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines -- including Google -- do retain this information for some time and it's important, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities.”
Asa Dotzler: “I think that the thing that bothers me most about Google CEO Eric Schmidt's comment is that it makes clear that he simply doesn't understand privacy. That a company with so much user data on its servers is led by someone who just doesn't understand privacy is really scary to me and it should be scary to you as well.” He then linked to the Bing add-on and said that “Yes, Bing does have a better privacy policy than Google.”
As you know, Bing is Microsoft’s decision engine, not search engine. Having someone from the Mozilla camp speak out against Google and lead Firefox users towards Bing is a big thing. Keep in mind that Google makes up for 90% of Mozilla’s revenue. It would seem that Microsoft appreciated Asa Dotzler’s gesture - that would be recommending Bing as an alternative to Google. So what did Microsoft do? Just check out the image below.
That is a firefox. All day yesterday, the 14th of December, Bing featured a firefox on its homepage.
