Mozilla, the company behind my favorite web browser Firefox, is quickly gaining in the browser market (especially here in the U.S.) and reportedly, doing very well in recession:

Mozilla has published its audited financial statements from 2008, reporting $78.6 million in revenue for the fiscal year—a five percent increase from 2007. Aside from a weakened investment portfolio, the browser maker has not been hit hard by the economic recession.

I don’t think Mozilla will be impacted much by recession mostly because their business in the internet/search arena, plus they have been gaining more market share of the browser market over the last couple years. (while Microsoft is losing the browser war with its slow Internet Explorer)

I think in the end (or in another 10 years), Google’s Chrome and Mozilla Firefox will still be around (at least in the U.S.) while Microsoft’s Internet Explorer becomes obsolete (I hope so).  I truly wish Microsoft only focused on making operating systems and leave the browser market to Google and Mozilla.

I support open source, which both Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome are, while MS IE is not.  Duh!  Perhaps if MS goes open source one day, I might change my mind about using IE again.

Some view the emergence of Google’s Chrome Web browser as a potential risk to Mozilla’s long-term sustainability, because the organization depends heavily on revenue from the search giant to fund its operations. There is no immediate risk, however, as Google recently committed to extending its contract with Mozilla to 2011. Although Google’s browser is gaining traction, the search giant still has plenty of incentive to pay for privileged placement in Firefox, which has considerably higher marketshare. According to Baker, the competition is a win for the open Web.