Microsoft sends Mozilla another cake for Firefox 4 release

[Emil]

Microsoft has once again sent a congratulatory cake to Mozilla, this time for the release of Firefox 4. This would be the third cake the software giant has sent; it's become a tradition that is celebrated upon major version releases of the open-source browser.

"This is a fine gesture," Frédéric Wenzel, a Mozilla software engineer, said in a statement. "Hat tip to our fellow browser makers in Redmond. Remember: Competition is good for business."

The tradition began in October 2006, when the Internet Explorer 7 development team sent a cake to Mozilla for successful shipping Firefox 2. Given the state of the browser wars at the time, many joked about the cake being poisoned, while others teasingly suggested that Mozilla send a cake back along with the recipe, in reference to the fact that the organization produces open-source software. The IE8 development team sent another cake on June 17, 2008, when Firefox 3 was released.

Mozilla has announced that in 2011, there will be four major releases of its browser. That means that there is still Firefox 5.0, Firefox 6.0, and Firefox 7.0 to come. Firefox 5 is slated for a late June 2011 release. Did Mozilla consider Microsoft's marketing budget when it began planning to change its development cycle?

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/42945-microsoft-sends-mozilla-another-cake-for-firefox-4-release.html

 

[Kibaruk]

"Did Mozilla consider Microsoft's marketing budget when it began planning to change its development cycle?"

I can't stop laughing ahhahaha. Go Mozilla!

 

[Steve]

I wonder how it tastes, looks alright? They probably have to set their browsers to use Bing before they can have a slice though.

 

[Guest]

Most probably they got their hands on a new cyanide shipment those days .. )

 

[stewi0001]

wait why isnt someone sueing this time?

 

[Arris]

Damn my US patent on "Cakes with browser release references in icing/frosting" didn't get approved in time

 

[Burty117]

This story isn't an early april fools joke or anything? Its a little hard to believe! well I guess its a nice gesture but still, I do want to try a piece of the cake though!

 

[NeoFlux]

burty117 said:
This story isn't an early april fools joke or anything? Its a little hard to believe! well I guess its a nice gesture but still, I do want to try a piece of the cake though!

I'm not touching anything with a big blue "e" letter on it, god forbid putting in mouth...

 

[Guest]

I guess it now becomes clear why Mozilla is releasing so many new versions faster. All that free cake, who wouldn't??

 

[Mizzou]

I think it's cool, nice to see some good natured rivalries and competition.

 

[Guest]

Thats awesome that they send firefox a cake. Even though they are competers, they still are civil to each other.

Since the cake is from microsoft, I wonder if the cake has any bugs

 

[Raswan]

I hope we can all appreciate, too, that the text is clearly handwritten. That means a) the ie team not only bought the cake, but wrote the message themselves, or b) whichever bakery they use has a twelve-year old on writing duty. Either way, one can appreciate the irony of a software giant at the forefront of the tech industry sending a competitor a cake not with a rendered 3-D photo airbrushed on, or clip art text, but that looks like it was written with a quill under the sputtering light of a whale-oil lamp.

Wonder if they sent one to Google too...

 

[Leeky]

Wonder if they sent one to Google too...

I think they got the poisoned one this year... :haha:

Still surprised no patents, or copryrights have been broken in the production of this cake... Nobody is suing each other either... Shocking!

 

[Benny26]

I wonder if the cake came with a card stating the terms and conditions of consumption?

 

[Guest]

Microsoft appreciates the free R&D work Mozilla has done for them.

 

[ebolamonkey3]

Speaking of which, when does Mozilla's contract w/ Google run out? If M$ can persuade Mozilla to use Bing as its default search engine instead of Google, that'd be a huge victory for Microsoft.

 

[Guest]

Mozilla's cotract with Google runs through 2011.

 

[Guest]

The cake should say: 'Thanks for compelling us to release a (somewhat) decent version of Internet Explorer, which had not happened between Netscape's demise and Firefox's rise'.

 

[Rick]

Guest said:
Thats awesome that they send firefox a cake. Even though they are competers, they still are civil to each other.

I'm sure the cake is sent as a tongue-in-cheek gag and most certainly not intended to be a friendly gesture.

 

[Leeky]

I'm sure the cake is sent as a tongue-in-cheek gag and most certainly not intended to be a friendly gesture.

I thought the same...

Can't have your cake, and eat it.... :haha:

 

[Puiu]

"The cake is a lie!" ^_^

 

[Guest]

Interesting that both cursive P's are not closed off so they could pass as T's...

 

[Guest]

"Let them eat cake!"

 

[gwailo247]

Its really a trojan cake. The E is a very powerful listening device.

So the cakes are coming out of the R&D, not the marketing budget.

 

[Leeky]

Its really a trojan cake. The E is a very powerful

Whoa..... Maybe the IE Team want to steal more Mozilla ideas again... Maybe thats it.. its the cake, the cake has ears! :haha: