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Firefox Growth Slowing?

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the reaching-equilibrium dept.

ninja_assault_kitten writes "Silicon.com has an interesting article on the apparently slowing growth of Firefox. To quote the article, 'The slackening of Firefox's growth could mean that the browser has converted a substantial proportion of its natural constituency, thought to be early adopters and the technically savvy. It could also show that the browser's widely publicised security flaws have begun to undermine the foundation's argument that people should switch from IE to be safer.' One thing's for sure, with the release of 1.0.3 and now 1.0.4 we can probably expect to breach the 80 million download mark shortly."

15 of 433 comments (clear)

  1. How many unique downloads? by xquark · · Score: 5, Interesting

    80 million I'm assuming a composite...

    Arash Partow

    --
    Arash Partow's Philosophy: Be a person who knows what they don't know, and not a person who doesn't know.
    1. Re:How many unique downloads? by switcha · · Score: 5, Insightful
      lies, damn lies, statistics..

      and disingenuous posters

      I'm pretty sure all those downloads(+20 of them) count in on that 80 million.

      And so what? A download total number (used for marketing) is essentially used as a "vote of confidence". If you liked the browser enough to not only install each version as it came out, but install each of those on multiple machines, then Hell Yes it's a "vote of confidence" and should count towards the Total Number.

      I use Safari, and could really give shit about how many downloads Firefox, Mozilla or frickin' IE get. What I do know is that you're trying to somehow dilute the legitimacy of the number of downloads when your very multi-downloads were an endorsement of the quality of this product.

      --
      You know what? ... A little club soda *did* get that out!
    2. Re:How many unique downloads? by VortexMK · · Score: 5, Informative

      Some companies downloads just one copy of Firefox and then everyone in the company installs that one copy... at least my company (30+ people) does it to save bandwidth. I bet that that many other companies use the same practice.

    3. Re:How many unique downloads? by Trillan · · Score: 5, Informative

      Downloads initiated through update don't count.

  2. Translation to layman's term- by guardiangod · · Score: 5, Funny

    All the geeks on planet earth are now using Firefox.

    1. Re:Translation to layman's term- by pebs · · Score: 5, Funny

      transalation:

      All the geeks on planet Earth are not using IE.

      (If you're using IE as your main browser, you're obviously not a geek.)

      --
      #!/
    2. Re:Translation to layman's term- by ignorant_coward · · Score: 5, Funny


      Real geeks stick their tounge on a frayed Ethernet cable.

  3. Firefox is entering an already saturated market by El+Cubano · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It could also show that the browser's widely publicised security flaws have begun to undermine the foundation's argument that people should switch from IE to be safer.

    Um... I don't think that's it. While the security flaws might be causing some to think twice, the real issue is market saturation. There does not exist a desktop computer sold in the last 10 years that didn't come with a web browser. They are essentially entering a 100% saturated market. Nonetheless, I think their accomplishments are stunning.

  4. Firefox users blocking WebSideStory? by A8bbNjwk · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From TFA, "Website measurement and marketing firm WebSideStory said"

    Could it be that Firefox users are blocking marketing firm WebSideStory's tracking images? These guys are just as evil as DoubleClick in assembling a massive database of information on web users' browsing history. Wouldn't ignorant IE users be more likely to allow WebSideStory to track them?

  5. Re:80 Million Downloads...who cares! by ColMustard · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's funny. The first thing I install is Linux.

    Oh I'll burn for that.

    --
    Moof.
  6. Hey here's a thought by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you have to look at the second derivative before you start finding bad news, maybe the news isn't really all that bad

  7. Re:And shortly after the 80 million mark... by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Arbitrary? The number of mammal digits gets decided only after millions of years of evolution. The decimal notation of counting is developed independently all over the world to mesh with finger number. People finding mystical significance in number spurs Greek mathematics and philosophy and eventually Western Civilization.

    And a punk like you comes around and finds round numbers arbitrary. Just where do you get off, huh?

  8. Just say no to IE. by ignorant_coward · · Score: 5, Funny


    Using IE instead of Firefox over security concerns is like keeping your eyes closed when hooking up with a drugged up bag of herpes prostitute.

    Just stick with Firefox. It's like using a rubber, which at least is 90+% effective at keeping out the herpes.

  9. Re:Widely Publicized? by GarfBond · · Score: 5, Informative
    It was actually originally reported to the Mozilla Foundation as a critical security bug (bug 292691, still closed access since May 2), and was actively being worked on with the original bug reporter under wraps before someone managed to leak it without anyone's permission, at which point FrSirt (or whatever their name is) and Secunia repackaged it as their own security advisory.

    True credit belongs to Paul from Greyhats Security Group and Michael Krax (and in the spirit of this post, I'm going to give credit to mozillazine for originally posting the summary I'm writing this off of).

    I am still trying to gather all the details as to how my research was leaked, but recent conversations are leading me to believe that it was a misplacement of trust, not a server compromise. However, I do not want to jump to conclusions too quickly, as this will only lead to more problems. That's all I will say about that subject, as I don't want to offend anybody.
  10. Stats from my site by mjtg · · Score: 5, Informative
    Here are some stats from a site that I help maintain. It is an Australian state government website that receives about 3 million hits per month. The site is not technology-oriented, and about half of the hits come from overseas, so they're probably a reasonably good sample of browser use.

    Here are some running percentages for IE and Firefox over the past year:

    2004-05: IE 94.1%, Firefox 0.6%
    2004-06: IE 94.0%, Firefox 0.9%
    2004-07: IE 93.1%, Firefox 1.3%
    2004-08: IE 93.1%, Firefox 1.8%
    2004-09: IE 92.6%, Firefox 2.0%
    2004-10: IE 92.5%, Firefox 2.5%
    2004-11: IE 91.9%, Firefox 3.1%
    2004-12: IE 89.3%, Firefox 4.5%
    2005-01: IE 88.0%, Firefox 5.6%
    2005-02: IE 87.9%, Firefox 5.7%
    2005-03: IE 88.0%, Firefox 5.9%
    2005-04: IE 87.3%, Firefox 6.2%
    2005-05 (first 12 days): IE 88.8%, Firefox 5.9%

    The big jump towards Firefox occured late last year with the Mozilla Foundation's marketing blitz. Since then, there does indeed appear to be a slowing up in migration towards Firefox. This month's stats so far actually show a reversal.