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By Stefanie Olsen
Posted on ZDNet News: Jan 28, 2005 12:45:00 AM

Google is gobbling up talent from the Mozilla Foundation, creators of the insurgent open-source Web browser Firefox; and the hires may feed into rumors that the search giant is quietly building an Internet Explorer-killer. Mozilla talent Darin Fisher is the most recent addition to Google's payroll, following his cohort Ben Goodger, according to Fisher's blog. Goodger had worked full-time as Mozilla's lead Firefox programmer, whereas Fisher contributed to its backend infrastructure while also working for IBM. Both say they will continue to work with Mozilla, which has about 20 core staff and 60 additional helping hands.

For its part, the nonprofit downplayed any significance. "This is not unusual in the world of the Mozilla project," according to a blog posting from Mitchell Baker, Mozilla Foundation president. "A number of people have moved from one employer to another within the Mozilla project. IBM, Novell, Sun, Red Hat, Oracle and now Google have employees contributing to the Mozilla project."

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I don't believe it
Firefox is free. It works great. Why hire people away from Mozilla if you want to USE Firefox? Heck, just USE it - Netscape brands the mozilla browser, for instance. You're hiring people that work for free now, and using them on a project to develop a free browser. Hmm, SOMETHING doesn't add up.... (Read the rest)
Posted by: Roger Ramjet Posted on: 01/31/05 You are currently: a Guest | | Terms of Use
All good news, just means more support for Firefox.  DonnieBoy | 01/27/05
Sure, and Apple is making the XP killer....:)  TechType | 01/28/05
It already has dude..  Jeff Spicoli | 01/28/05
Yeah and the sales of Windows are going up!  ShadeTree | 01/28/05
FUD sure pays off... (nt)  Anti_Zealot | 01/28/05
And NEW SERVERS!  htotten | 01/28/05
Still a commanding lead  ShadeTree | 01/28/05
And they still SUCK too!  Jeff Spicoli | 01/28/05
It is better to be rich...  ShadeTree | 01/28/05
It is better to make sense..  Jeff Spicoli | 01/28/05
No it's probably better just to say...  ShadeTree | 01/28/05
Well Shady..  Jeff Spicoli | 01/28/05
Perhaps you can tell us  Yagotta B. Kidding | 01/28/05
Of course sale skyrocking It's 2005  voska | 01/28/05
Personally,  htotten | 01/28/05
Longhorn ain't done until...  Sunny Jalolly | 01/28/05
GoogleFox  Jeff Spicoli | 01/28/05
When Will LongShot Be Released  RobertoSalazar | 01/28/05
Renaissance all over again  Yagotta B. Kidding | 01/28/05
But is that good or bad?  rapson | 01/28/05
There's a big difference  mactolinux | 01/28/05
Another opensource gutted by big corporate job/$$$ anticompetitive bribes??  GreatInca | 01/28/05
How the Sith Stole christmas Part 2/3 also unfinished becuase of Fox  GreatInca | 01/28/05
What happened?  Anton Philidor | 01/28/05
Will Google STEAL: Mozilla Code?  RobertoSalazar | 01/28/05
Sell /what/ out?  Yagotta B. Kidding | 01/28/05
Why compete on a free browser?  Anton Philidor | 01/28/05
Defensive move  Yagotta B. Kidding | 01/28/05
Diversification is actually a good business strategy  CobraA1 | 01/30/05
I don't believe it  Roger Ramjet | 01/31/05

What do you think?

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