For many years, Mozilla Firefox's survival relied more on Google since it had taken over its funding.
But things have changed, and in an interview with CNET, Mozilla said that the browser's financial future looks better than ever! Google used to pay Mozilla to be the program's preferred search engine, but now the company doesn't want to put all its eggs in one basket. That's why it signed separate deals with Yahoo, Baidu, and Yandex so that each has a prominent position in the US, China, and Russia, respectively.
The continued existence of the famous program is very important since it is the only browser that is not owned by a major technology company. Chrome, which is controlled by Google, holds 50% of the market according to recent data from StatCounter. Microsoft's Internet Explorer may no longer be very successful but it is within striking distance of the coveted second place with 15% of the market. Apple's Safari is also in the top 5, while the only other independent on the list is Opera, which holds less than 2% of the market
Of course Mozilla claims that its future is secure but we should be wary of that. After all, Yahoo is finding its old self again and is slowly returning to the top. And even worse, some of Yahoo's search queries are now provided by Google, so the Mountain View guys still have access to Mozilla users, they just don't have to pay for the privilege anymore.
