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Google/Firefox Link Prefetching
Google has rolled out a new feature that uses a recently added feature in Firefox. Firefox 1.0.2 includes support for link prefetching, which “utilizes browser idle time to download or prefetch documents that the user might visit in the near future.” The documentation was written by Darin Fisher who was hired by Google at the end of January. Only Firefox 1.0.2, which was released a week ago, supports this feature and already Google supports it for the first search result in cases where they calculate you have a high chance of clicking on the first link.
While this may seem a bit sinister, it’s great to see Google really supporting Firefox and pushing more people to use it. The Google Blog post introducing their use of prefetch includes 2 links to Firefox. Mike Lambert says there is nothing bad going on and “Google’s Mozilla developers created a feature for Mozilla that enhances the platform for everyone.”
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