Mozilla's next browser is built on Chrome technology, for now

After struggling in recent years against the dominant Google, Mozilla has decided to give in somewhat and dedicate a six-person team to develop a radically different browser. The shocking part: Tofino, as it's called, is using an outside project Electron, which in turn is built on the Chromium foundation (which powers Chrome). With this move, Mozilla joins a long list of companies that have adopted Chromium, most recognizably Samsung and Opera.

Mark Mayo, senior vice president of the Firefox project says internal resistance to the shift has been vehement, to the point he's surprised the project got off the ground at all. No doubt it helps that the long-term plan is to adapt the company's proprietary Gecko technology and so replace Electron and Chromium, according to Mozilla engineer Kyle Huey.

Chrome accounts for 47 percent of browser usage; Safari sits at 13 percent, and Firefox at 9 percent, according to StatCounter.