Death is saddest when there is no one left to mourn. That’s how Internet Explorer died. For 27 years, the browser was cared for, used, hated, until in the end everyone just didn’t care. When Microsoft stopped releasing security updates two months ago, it triggered only one emotion: relief. Finally the digital dinosaur is gone.
Firefox hasn’t sunk that low yet. Unlike Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s browser still has loyal fans. But there are fewer: Ten years ago in Germany, Firefox had a market share of more than 60 percent on the desktop, of which only a third is left. The browser plays almost no role on mobile, Firefox runs on only one in 200 smartphones worldwide. Shortly before its 20th birthday next September, the browser is not yet fighting for survival, but for its relevance.
“It would be wrong to only seek responsibility from others,” says Mozilla boss Mitchell Baker. “We didn’t always do everything right either. There was a phase when it was good that we had more competition.” It refers to the year 2008, when Firefox was on its wayto unseat Internet Explorer. Back then, Google released its own browser, heralding the demise of Firefox. Chrome quickly became the market leader, Firefox crashed.
“We knew nothing”
And that in two respects: people ran away from Mozilla, and the browser crashed frequently. “We’ve done everything we can to have no data for many years,” says Baker. But that made the work difficult. “We didn’t know. When does it crash? What features are people using? What extension is slowing down Firefox?” Companies like Google would have fewer problems collecting data – a key advantage for Chrome. “So we had to come up with a system for learning more about how Firefox is being used without compromising people’s privacy.”
Mitchell Baker 2015 at the economic summit of the Süddeutsche Zeitung in Berlin.
(Photo: Johannes Simon)
They succeeded, but Google had developed a stable, fast and secure browser and used its market power to consolidate Chrome’s position. This development threatens the future of the non-profit Mozilla Foundation, which develops Firefox together with the for-profit Mozilla Corporation. Whoever installs the browser searches with Google by default. Google pays more than 400 million dollars a year for this, Mozilla’s most important source of income by far. The contract expires next year, and the fewer people use Firefox, the less Google might value the privilege.
On the one hand, an organization like Mozilla, which is committed to data protection. On the other hand, a giant like Google, which not only builds the biggest browser, but also sells the most ads. How does that go together? “It may sound a little contradictory, but Google is a good partner for us,” says Baker. “Google relies on an open web that they can search. That’s what differentiates them from Amazon or Meta. So a lot of what Google is developing fits our ideas. Not everything, but some.”
It would be a shame if Firefox disappeared
That may be the case, but Google is a listed company that acts primarily in its own interest. The same applies to Apple and Microsoft, who develop the other two major browsers, Safari and Edge. If you talk to employees at these companies, they all agree that it would be a shame if Firefox went away. Almost all browsers, including Edge and a number of small competitors, are now based on Google’s Chromium engine as the technical basis. That’s why more and more pages are only optimized for this. With Firefox, a part of digital diversity would also be lost.
There is more at stake. Because browsers not only control how websites look, what advertising they are allowed to display and what operators learn about visitors. They also collect masses of sensitive data themselves: Every page that you call up is logged, every search term is registered, and every password can be saved if you wish. “When you choose a browser, it’s absolutely essential that you trust the company behind it,” says Baker.
Few organizations have done as much to earn that trust as Mozilla, which has championed privacy and digital rights for decades. “Unlike some other companies, it’s not just marketing for us,” says Baker. “Our stories, our products and our actions show that we mean business.”
The corporations use their power
But apparently that’s not enough. Many people don’t think twice about their browser. You simply use what is preset. This is a lever that the three big tech companies are using. “Just count it up: How often does Microsoft force Edge on a new Windows machine?” says Baker. “You must really want Firefox to set and keep it as your default browser.”
Mozilla has it even harder on mobile devices. Safari and Chrome are deeply integrated into the system, and Apple also limits the functionality of Firefox. “With Microsoft, Apple and Google, three large companies are developing hardware, the most important operating systems and browsers at the same time,” says Baker. “They are exploiting this power and that makes it difficult for us.”
Two years ago, Mozilla had to lay off 250 employees. That was painful, Baker says, “really brutal,” and you can tell she’s serious. “But many sectors have suffered from Corona. Our existence is not threatened.” Mozilla is working to position itself more broadly. With paid offers such as the Pocket bookmark service and a VPN, the aim is to become less dependent on the search engine deal with Google.
“That’s not only necessary from an economic point of view, but also in terms of content,” says Baker. “Many people use apps, Apple and Google control access. Our options on smartphones are limited. With Firefox alone, we therefore have less influence than we would like.”
Despite this, the browser is and remains the most important product that Mozilla develops. When Microsoft buried Internet Explorer, Edge had long been a successor. Mozilla only has Firefox, Baker knows that too. “We haven’t come to terms with the fact that our browser is continuing to lose market share,” she says. “We are convinced that Firefox has a future.”