Digital Journal — The Mozilla Foundation can have their cake and eat it, too. Especially since their chief Web browser rival Microsoft sent them a congratulatory confectionary on the release of Firefox 2.
According to a post on a Mozilla employee’s personal website, Microsoft recently delivered a large cake to Mozilla’s Mountain View, CA, office to congratulate the company on the launch of the latest open-source browser. A short icing inscription read: “Congratulations on shipping! Love, the IE Team.”
Microsoft even had the chutzpah to add its Internet Explorer logo on the cake.
While we find it surprising (read “doubtful”) that Microsoft would actually send a cake, the Mozilla employee photographed it and posted the pic on his personal blog, adding the cheeky line, “No, it was not poisoned.”
You could take the dessert gesture two ways: Microsoft is acting thoughtfully in regards to its browser battle with Mozilla, even though Microsoft is the runaway leader with 86 per cent of the market (compared to Firefox’s 11 per cent). The gift shows some class in an industry that can often resort to malicious tactics to undercut a competitor’s new products.
Or you could regard Microsoft’s sweet present as the first salvo in what will be an intense
clash between Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2. There’s a certain smarminess to the congratulatory cake, as if Microsoft is saying, “This is the only kindness we’re willing to offer you, Mozilla, so enjoy it while you can.”
Either way you look at it, the gift is odd. It would be like Nintendo shipping a candygram to Sony with the note, “Thanks for bringing your new PlayStation to market, can’t wait to try it out.” Are tech companies getting soft or going cordial?
