The head of Mozilla has welcomed Google's entry into the browser market, and has said that it will not affect the relationship between the two organisations.

John Lily said in a blog posting that he hoped Google Chrome would spur more innovation.

"More smart people thinking about ways to make the web good for normal human beings is good," he said.

"Competition often results in innovation of one sort or another. In the browser you can see that in spades this year, with huge JavaScript performance increases, security process advances and user interface breakthroughs.

"I would expect that to continue now that Google has thrown its hat into the ring."

Lily pointed out that Google and Mozilla had worked together in the past on new product technology, like the anti-spam and anti-phishing technology found in the Firefox and Chrome browsers, and said that this work would not stop.

Google has also supported the Mozilla Foundation financially, which Lily expects to continue as well.