A recent post of mine about Firefox and my general view of corporations and organizations caused a bit of a stir. It even caught the attention of Asa Dotzler, a prominent Mozilla employee. In Mr. Dotzler’s rebuff of my post he said something that has really bothered me. He said “It’s really hard for me to believe that either [Microsoft or Adobe] have the free and open Web at heart when they’re actively subverting it with closed technologies like Flash and Silverlight.” But are they really subverting it? Where exactly is the line between serving the consumer and subverting the web?

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The browser wars have been heating up lately with the recent releases of Firefox 3 and Opera 9.5. As a long-time Phoenix Firebird Firefox user and recent convert to Opera Mini (which is excellent, btw) on my Treo, I thought I’d run these two through their paces to see what they are made of. The hits and misses after the jump.

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A few days ago TechMeme picked up a story at Search Engine Land about how Firefox doesn’t make you choose a search engine. Firefox 3 was recently released, and as always Google is still the default search engine. Sure there are some other search engines you can select but why doesn’t Mozilla give you choice? The answer…after the jump.

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A revolution is easy to spot when looking backward, but they are much harder to see when they first happen. Microsoft, Apple, eBay, Amazon…all revolutions with ramifications that weren’t seen until much after they first released a product, or came online.

But I predict a revolution in an event that took place just a few days ago at the Worldwide Developers Conference, where Steve Jobs announced the latest version of the iPhone. I know, I know, you’re thinking that I missed the boat. The iPhone revolution already took place; this is old news.

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There’s an interesting article over at ZDNet UK. The idea is that people don’t need to go to a search engine to find what they need. If they want a review of a product, they will go to Amazon or CNET. If they want to find out about a place or person, they will head straight to Wikipedia. If they want something funny or interesting, they’ll got to YouTube or Digg.

I find myself doing this. Instead of going to Google (that will return 6 million pages), I will often head straight to Wikipedia. I’m not saying I don’t use Google, but I am finding that I use it less. If I’m looking for a review of a product, Google is simply unusable. Instead, I’ll go to any number of sites that I have found useful (and bookmarked), to find that information.

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I’ve chimed in on my opinion of Firefox 3 and the browser’s direction before, but the latest “news” on Firefox 3 has me rolling my eyes. Mozilla is trying to set a new Guinness world record for “most software downloads in 24 hours.” Is it just me or is this a lame attempt to look like a plucky underdog?

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Paul’s Soapbox is a regular feature of TechConsumer where I sound off on various tech topics/products that I’m interested in (or hate). This is just my $.02, so consider yourself warned. This week’s subjects are all over the place: DRM, “3G” Wireless, and Playstation Home.

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More details are likely forthcoming shortly, as Microsoft plans to announce a big search initiative later today. But in the meantime, restless bloggers have already stumbled upon some particulars.

Microsoft’s “Live Search cashback” will pay you back 2 percent to 30 percent of the price of products you find (via Live Search) and purchase from online participating retailers. Notable merchants already signed up include Sears, Barnes & Noble, Office Depot, Home Depot, J&R Electronics, and others.

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