14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft, Google, and Mozilla might be fierce competitors in the browser market, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t respect each other.
In fact, the migration of Microsoft Edge to Chromium brought Microsoft and Google closer together, as the two are now collaborating on improvements for the engine that’s powering their browsers.
However, the Microsoft-Google-Mozilla trio is part of a cake-giving tradition that makes the headlines every once in a while, as the three companies send each other delicious treats whenever one of them ships a new browser.
It happened this month when Microsoft released the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge, and both Mozilla and Google sent cakes to the Microsoft Edge team to congratulate them on this new milestone.
The whole tradition was actually started by Microsoft back in 2006. At that time, Firefox was still in its early days, but the release of version 2 was seen by the Redmond-based software giant as the right occasion to congratulate its emerging rival on the release of a new browser.
Shortly after Firefox 2 became available for download, the Internet Explorer team sent Mozilla a cake with a special message: “Congratulations on shipping! Love, the IE team.”
And Microsoft’s engineers just didn’t want to stop there. They continued sending more cakes when Mozilla shipped Firefox 3 and Firefox 4, but decided to switch to a less-expensive cupcake when Mozilla eventually embraced a six-week release cycle for the browser. After all, eating cake every six weeks can’t be a good thing for anyone, right?
Mozilla eventually decided to return the favor in 2012 when they sent Microsoft their own cake after the release of Internet Explorer 10. “Congratulations on IE10, love Mozilla,” the cake which had a gigantic Firefox logo right in the center read.
Since then, Microsoft and Mozilla have been sending each other cakes on every major browser release, but Google decided to join the fun only in 2015. That year, the Redmond-based tech giant finalized Microsoft Edge, originally called Project Spartan, and bundled it with Windows 10 as the new default browser, replacing Internet Explorer after so many years.
Google has thus used this occasion to congratulate Microsoft on the new browser, sending them a delicious treat. “Congratulations on the launch! Chrome team,” their cake read.
The three continue the tradition these days, which makes a lot more sense now that Microsoft has a new browser that will receive major updates every six weeks. The bigger problem is that Mozilla has switched to a four-week release cycle for Firefox, so now might be a good time for Microsoft and Google to find something less sugary than a cake.
Since both are based on Chromium, Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome will receive major releases every six weeks, with minor releases published every two or three weeks. The Dev channel receives updates every week for Microsoft Edge (or sometime twice for Google Chrome), while Canary builds are updated every day.
While these companies continue the cake-giving tradition, it doesn’t necessarily mean they agree with everything the others do. For example, Mozilla has been one of the biggest critics of Microsoft’s transition from EdgeHTML to Chromium, with the company’s CEO blasting the software giant for “handing over control of even more of online life to Google.”
The migration to Chromium produced many benefits for Microsoft, including the possibility of launching Edge on non-Windows platforms. The Mac build is already available for download, and the company is now planning a Linux version that is projected to land in the coming years too.
