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Firefox Continues to Bite into IE Usage

Posted by Zonk on from the watch-out-for-the-dew-claw dept.

InformationSage writes "According to Information Week, Firefox usage is now over 6 percent, pulling Internet Explorer usage down below 90 percent. 'Firefox is currently the only browser that is increasing market share on a monthly basis, and it is growing at the direct expense of Microsoft's Internet Explorer'"

10 of 521 comments (clear)

  1. What about Mozilla? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's good that Firefox is gaining market shares... but what about Mozilla?

    The whole mozilla projet (mozilla + firefox) is what *really* matters, not only Firefox!

    1. Re:What about Mozilla? by ooze · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Now they should make some efford and really put the Gecko Runtime Environment in a seperate package on each platform that can be installed independently of the single applications, and you can have all the advantages of the Mozilla suite (no overhead for running every singe application) and of Firefox and Thunderbird etc. (e.g. sleeker clients with better marketing) at the smae time. Would also ignite a whole new development movement for XUL tools and applications.

      --
      Just because I can imagine doing a hippopotamus, doesn't mean I'd like to do it.
  2. Re:Next IE version. by rbarreira · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think it could, and I also think it will be easy for Microsoft to stop firefox growth. They only have to ameliorate IE enough for people not to care about installing and using another browser. The only reason firefox is growing is because IE is flawed and annoying in several ways, so if a part of Microsoft's army of programmers is directed to remove that factor, firefox's growth will decrease greatly, in my opinion.

    Then again, there may be some major annoyances that they won't be able to remove for compatibility reasons, such as ActiveX (which as you know is responsible for much of the spyware problem). What people should do is get rid of features like that completely, so that IE can be a secure browser...

    --

    The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
  3. Re:I wonder by GNUALMAFUERTE · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That is certainly important. Free Software encourages diversity. back in the day, even in the world of proprietary software, people had alternatives, they would ask you what OS you run, if you had a gui or not, what word processor you used, or what spreadsheet, what browser, etc.

    Now, people using proprietary software uses a given set of applications, for a given set of basic tasks, and there is allmost no variation, besides versions.

    Free Software encourages the necesary diversitiy in the software that is used. I Think there are not 2 geeks that has the same setup on their Free Software Box. We have various OSs to choose from, and we do, in the case of GNU/Linux, we have different distros, we use various browsers, terminal emulators, editors, office suits, IM programs, media players, mail clients, etc,etc, etc.

    ALMAFUERTE

    --
    WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
  4. True for a lot of open source software... by StandardsSchmandards · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is true for a lot of open source software. Developers often ignore the need for more advanced management of applications. A lot of companies will not touch software unless installation and configuration can be managed properly.

    I believe that it is quite easy to add this type of support to a lot of open source software. A simple thing like creating an MSI-package for your application will often help deployment a lot.

    Maybe all that is missing is a few decent tutorials on packaging and AD integration to get open source software into corporate IT-environments?

    --
    Standards Schmandards
  5. Firefox for the masses... by asciimonster · · Score: 5, Insightful
    If the uses of firefox increases, shouldn't we think about makeing this broser more appealing for "the masses"? In other words how do we make a better browsing experience for everybody? (I mean: How do we have Firefox protect John Doe from doing dumb things on the internet?)

    I was thinking about the following: Every time the is a security warning, such as "Do you want to install this programme?" or "Do you want this java applet complete access to your hard disk?", shouldn't there also be a button marked "I have no idea what this means" and make it the default button. This button has obviously the same function as cancel.

    1. Re:Firefox for the masses... by MochaMan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How about "Trust", "Don't Trust", "More Details"?

      Yes/no leads to blind clicking of the default because the user has no cue as to what she's doing from just the buttons alone (which is all most people bother reading). Sticking verbs on actually lets the user know what they're doing, even if they do accept the default. Clicking something that says "Trust" or "Don't Trust" reinforces that there is some kind of risk involved, whereas yes/no dialogs all look the same.

  6. Fighting for Market Share of a Free Product by bender647 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why would Microsoft care how many people use IE? They give it away for free. Is it just that Firefox is a "gateway drug" and leads to use of other non-Microsoft solutions?

  7. Re:Uhh by Decaff · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's 6 freaking perecent. It's not much. It's nothing to get excited about, nor is it news.

    For developers who produce public websites it is very important. It used to be the policy of some organisations to only develop for IE viewing. That policy no longer makes sense. It would mean that more than 1 in 20 of your customers would have difficulties with your website. For a business with thousands of users (or more), like a bank, that is a real problem.

  8. Re:But wont.. by Guppy06 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Better security"

    Ah, but what's the standard? Better security than Firefox, or simply better security than IE6?

    "Tab Browsing"

    We'll have to see the specifics of their implementation, won't we? For example, will I be able to force IE7 to operate in just one window?

    "Conformance to standards"

    Yes, but for Microsoft's definition of the word "standard." Rarely does it have anything to do with how the rest of the world uses that word.