Mozilla Hatches For-Profit Subsidiary

By Geoff Duncan Published August 3, 2005

The non-profit Mozilla Foundation, makers of open-source Internet applications including the Firefox Web browser and Thunderbird news and email client, have announced the creation of a fully-owned, for-profit subsidiary called the Mozilla Corporation. All 36 employees of the Mozilla Foundation have been transferred to the new Corporation, and Mitch Baker will take on the title of president for the new Mozilla Corp. (It’s unclear as of this writing whether the new title represents a promotion from Baker’s previous role as "chief lizard wrangler.")

While the Mozilla Corporation stresses it will not conduct itself "like a typical commercial entity," the reorganization is clearly intended to cash in on the growing popularity of the open-source Firefox Web browser, which recently celebrated having been downloaded more than 75 million times and is estimated to account for approximately 10 percent of today’s Web browser usage.

Recommended Videos

Mozilla Corporation says Firefox and Thunderbird will remain free, and that revenues raised by the corporation will be poured into the development of Mozilla open-source technologies. The non-profit Mozilla Foundation will continue to be responsible for policies, maintaining the open source project, and overall project coordination, while the Mozilla Corporation will focus on "productizing" various Mozilla technologies and raising revenue via marketing, sponsorships, and distribution.

Former Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Computing

Deepfake bosses are crashing video calls, and researchers are trying to expose them

Seeing your boss on video no longer proves they are real

Researchers at Fraunhofer SIT are fighting against deepfake meeting video calls

Entering into a meeting with your boss and several familiar coworkers inside a video conference is the next area vulnerable to cybercrimes, and it's all because of deepfake technology. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology SIT are working on a real-time warning system designed to identify attempted fraud during corporate video conferences.

The report states that criminals are increasingly targeting video meetings for identity theft and financial scams, taking advantage of the trust people place in familiar faces and voices. The intention is to flag suspicious activity while the meeting is still taking place. This gives an employee a chance to stop before following an expensive instruction from an AI-generated executive.

Computing

Apple will finally stop making iPhone-to-Windows copy-paste such a chore

Your iPhone may finally copy and paste with a Windows PC like it should

Apple Universal Clipboard feature

Copying something on an iPhone and pasting it onto a Windows PC should be one of the least remarkable features imaginable. While this simple process seems effortless between an iPhone and Mac, Windows users are still left waiting.

Now, Microsoft is formally asking Apple to provide interoperable clipboard access through the company’s European Union interoperability process. The request, submitted on March 25, argues that iOS restrictions prevent third-party platforms from creating an experience comparable to Apple’s Universal Clipboard. Apple has now reached Phase III and committed to developing a solution.

Computing

Chrome wants more extension reviews, but good ratings won’t keep malware out

Google is testing built-in extension review prompts, but good ratings can still hide malware

malicious-google-chrome-extensions-on-web-store

Google is preparing to add extension review links directly inside Chrome, putting feedback closer to the menus people already use to manage their add-ons.

A Chromium change, first spotted by Windows Report, points to review options in the Extensions menu, the chrome://extensions management page, and extension context menus. Only eligible Chrome Web Store extensions in good standing would qualify, and the feature is still under development.