A smart person might have the equivalent of six months’ expenses saved up, just collecting interest and staving off panic attacks.  Mozilla is even more set, as its search partnership with Google has been extended by three years.

The most recent available figures concerning the companies’ relationship come from 2006, and back then, Mozilla received about $56.8 million – or 85 percent of its revenue – thanks to the deal.

 John Lilly

There’s no reason to believe Google’s become less important in the meantime, and Mozilla’s CEO, John Lilly, told Jason Kincaid, "We’re very, very happy about our relationship with Google and this makes sure that Mozilla will be sustainable and thrive for quite a long time to come."

Indeed, the partnership was set to expire in November of this year, so if the renewal wasn’t a sure thing, Lilly might have been starting to sweat.  But an expiration date of November, 2011 will provide him all sorts of time in which to take a breather and work on alternatives.

The one thing this development won’t do is quiet the critics who feel Google and Mozilla are growing a little too close; there has been talk about a conflict of interest.  Still, Firefox fans are likely to value its survival above uncertain rumors of impropriety.