
Submission + - Students Beat Mozilla and eBay to Firefox Add-on
An anonymous reader writes: The Grooveking Blog reports on a group of Stanford students who got together to help promote Firefox and ended up releasing a long overdue eBay Toolbar for Firefox before the joint extension from Mozilla and eBay could be released in Europe.
According to John Lilly, COO of Mozilla, the preemptive release of the eBay Toolbar even ruffled some feathers among the eBay execs in Europe.Besides basic search features, it removes external ads on the site and allows users to see thumbnail pictures on ALL search items, even those sellers didn't pay for. An eBay toolbar has been long overdue. Users have petitioned for one on eBay discussion boards since October of 2005. Succumbing to popular demand, the eBay Developer's Program put a Firefox toolbar in the pipeline, but it seems that the Stanford students beat them to the punch. eBay can't be too enthusiastic about this toolbar since it cuts directly into its main sources of revenue: ads and thumbnail fees. But eBay users get a really good deal.