Mozilla Firefox Lead Engineer Joins Google

Ben Goodger, Lead Engineer for the popular browser Firefox has announced that he is no longer paid by Mozilla, and has joined Google.

In a posting on his blog,
Ben noted his role will remain unchanged at Mozilla. “I will continue
doing much the same work …with the new goal of successful 1.1, 1.5
and 2.0 releases”. Ben, 24, has been working on Firefox since Summer
2003 after the demise of Netscape browser development. Before working
on the Firefox project he spent time with America Online/Netscape
contributing to a range of their Netscape products (6, 6.1, 6.2, 7.0,
7.1).

Mozilla and Google have been working closely in 2004 behind the scenes. A recent Mozilla Developer Day 2004
was held at the Google campus allowing those interested in developing
applications for Firefox to learn more. Google have invested heavily in
JavaScript powered web apps like Gmail and Google Suggest. Some have
speculated on Ben Goodger and Chris Wetherell

teaming up to make new Gecko based programs. Google is currently
featured as the default homepage and the company have a ‘customized’
search engine for the Firefox browser.

Speculations in 2004 pointed towards a “Google Browser” as people found references to “Gbrowser”
in various Google applications. At first the rumours were dismissed by
the Mozilla Foundation, noting that there would not be a tie up between
the two companies. However, Goodger’s “know-how” in the browser world
is another sure indicator of the Google’s interest in this area; time,
as with so many Google projects, will tell.

View: Ben’s Announcement
View: Google Inc.