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Firefox Achieves 10% Global Market Share
sebFlyte writes "ZDNet is reporting that according to OneStat's latest figures, Firefox has passed the 10 percent market share mark. At 11.5 percent, it's still got a long way to go to reach Internet Explorer's 85.5 percent, but it's heading in the right direction. The report also mentions some odd geographical variation: Firefox's market share is almost three times higher in the US than UK, for example." From the article: "...other companies have noticed a decline in Firefox over recent months. Last month, Web applications provider NetApplications reported that the open source browser's share of the market dropped by 0.7 percentage points from August to September. Although this wasn't the first time that Firefox' share has dropped, RedMonk analyst James Governor said he believes the overall trend for Firefox is upwards."
Download Mozilla Firefox!
o wser_market_firefox_growing.html
Mozilla's browsers global usage share is still growing according to OneStat.com
Amsterdam - November 2 2005 - OneStat.com (www.onestat.com), the number one provider of real-time web analytics, today reported that Mozilla's browsers have a total global usage share of 11.51 percent. The total usage share of Mozilla increased 2.82 percent since April 2005. Microsoft's Internet Explorer still dominates the global browser market with a global usage share of 85.45 percent which is 1.18 percent less as at the end of April.
"The global usage share of Mozilla's browsers is still growing and it seems that Netscape users and some Internet Explorer users are switching to the Firefox version. It also looks like that browser users of Internet Explorer for Apple's Mac are switching to Safari because the global usage share is still growing. It is also interesting to see that Microsoft's Internet Explorer has less global usage share in the USA as in the UK. Mozilla's browsers are more popular in USA and Canada as in the UK" said Niels Brinkman, co-founder of OneStat.com.
The most popular browsers on the web are:
1. Microsoft IE = 85.45 %
2. Mozilla Firefox = 11.51 %
3. Apple Safari = 1.75 %
4. Netscape = 0.26 %
5. Opera = 0.77 %
Source: http://www.onestat.com/html/aboutus_pressbox40_br
Nearly 17% of Canada, over 14% of the USA and just under 5% of the UK use Firefox!!
Once websites start working better with the standard adhering Firefox browser, IE use will begin to drop off as it will annoy users by not showing pages correctly.
"11.5 percent, it's still got a long way to go to reach Internet Explorer's 85.5 percent"
It only needs to make it to 50% + 1%, at least that's what Quebec Seperatists would have us believe.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
At 10% FireFox is starting to become interesting to malware producers. I guess I'll switch to Opera.
Don't the "makers" of Firefox need cash?
If NPR has pledge drives, shouldn't the Open Source movement?
Just asking.
Help end the use of Sigs. Tomorrow
I think an important bit of data would be to have been told in the synopsis whether FF's growth comes at the expense of IE, or the other smaller browsers (Opera, etc). If it's simply killing off the weaker browsers, then the news really isn't that good, but if it's really taking share away from IE, then that really is important.
And Apple's Safari, supposedly, just hit roughly 3%. Are these percentages
better indicators of OS market share than actual purchase levels which don't
take into account pre-existing machines already in use?
A guy in my company was chastised for having Firefox on his computer. He tried to explain he was *helping* but they made him remove it and gave him an earful. Later, I explained all of the features and benefits... they still didn't want it on any company PC's and have no clue as to what it even is. Pretty sad.
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
My website doesn't render properly with IE, and I get quite a few visits from various tech sites. Firefox's market share for my site is therefore around the 20-25% mark.
I'd be interested to see how the content and target audience affects the browser distribution at various websites.
P.S. Please don't visit my site. It's rather dull, and I'd prefer not to break it.
Argh.
...how much can we trust those figures? Not a lot I would say. In particular I find the 3* as much FireFox usage in the US compared to the UK disturbing. I would expect the two nations to have roughly the same uptake rate since they are braodly similar. I would also expect other European nations to have a slightly high uptake rate (as has been shown in other result). Perhaps the figure is absolute rather than per 1000 people or maybe there is some error in their recording which causes people browsing from unknown countries to get lumped in with America. Either way without an explanation it casts doubt, in my eye, on the validity of the results.
I used to have a better sig but it broke.
The first one pissed me off because the .de and .com versions don't seem to have problems. The second one was problematic because my wife wanted to order something and didn't understand why the website was broken (Firefox is mandatory at my home). She blamed the website though, but I had to show her Internet Explorer so she could order the stuff she needed.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
I disagree. It's very rare but every so often I come across a site that requires the use of IE. The larger the marketshare of Firefox grows, the less that will happen.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
If I were to guess I would say that people who use Firefox spend a whole lot more free time on the web that people that suffer with IE.
This figure does not take in to account browser choice. I would also surmise that most people who use a web browser at work are forced to click the big blue "E".
At my computer labs at school we do have a choice between IE or Firefox. The IE icon is in it's default desktop location underneath My Computer and My documents. I imagine this is clicked out of habit rather than preference. The Firefox icon is on the bottom of the desktop. It will take years of habit changing before Firefox is the preferred browser for a majority of users.
...of course, that's on a rather technical web site, RubyForge. Numbers are here.
The Army reading list
For web developers the important thing is that we've passed the first inflection point: that is, companies can no longer afford to ignore Firefox.
But we're still a long way from the second inflection point: where can stop hacking to support IE (6, maybe 7). That's not happening for a long time, but if you look back 5 years, supporting IE 6 is really a piece of cake compared to IE 5, NS 4, etc.
According to somefakewebsite.com, which was created just a few moments ago as an imaginary source of invalid figures for the entertainment of others (or isifeo, as we like to call it here at randomslashdotcomments inc.), The number of windows viruses has decreased by another 1% due in part to the decreased use of web browsers that let websites install software on your computer, and also due to Norton's virus writing labs not keeping up with their anti-virus labs. (but marketing is right on schedule!)
It is also interesting to note that the linux virus ratio has increased to an estimated 0.01% this month, which is partly due to the windows users that recently switched to linux and installed the Bonzai Buddy via Wine, and the number of pop-tarts in my office has just decreased by 1 serving. ... make that 2 servings.
On a more serious note, I wonder what the market share ratio would be like if Internet Explorer wasn't part of the windows operating system.
"Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed." -C.S. Lewis
Why? Because there exists no proof that all parties involved in market share tracking can agree on. I will not be surprised if anoher party comes up and says something to the effect..."not so fast Firefox..."
Web applications provider NetApplications reported that the open source browser's share of the market dropped by 0.7 percentage points from August to September
I couldn't verify it in TFA, but my first thought is that millions of kids go back to school around the end of August and begin using a browser which they haven't chosen. So it probably doesn't mean anything except that schools tend to not be early adopters.
People stop you to ask about it, or give you a knowing nod. It's like being part of a special club.
With Opera recently becoming free (as in beer), there's no better time to switch. Most of the important functionality from Firefox is there (and incidentally was there first), even most of the things that require plugins for Firefox (automatic saving of tabs, mouse gestures, ability to "undo" closing a page, etc). And it has far better (in my opinion) single-key shortcuts (no CTRL or ALT modifier required) to do things like maneuver around a page without using the mouse, switch tabs, increase/decrease font size, go forward/back, and so forth.
If you're at all serious, make the leap--I think it's well worth it.
~ roscivs
I have to disagree. This is excellent news for my site...
You should our website. Evertime you place your mouse cursor over some text the entire pages starts jumping around. It's a horrible experience and can really disorient the viewer. The last time I recommended our web master make our website Firefox friendly, I was given the reply of "Firefox is only 2% of the market share". Hmm, good thing I saved the email because now I can reply with the current stats. Plus with a little management on my side, maybe it will happen this time. Thanks Slashdot and ZDNET!
I am a free(dom) software user and fan. However, whenever I hear talk about ___ software being a revolution I always dismiss it as hype. It is not revolution until a piece of software has at least double digit market share.
I am happy to see that in the case of Firefox, that is is NOW, indeed, a revolution.
Steve
I am working to spread the firefox browser.
We all know that sex sells.
So try to look at this site http://www.thelovesearch.com/ using Microsoft
Internet Explore. It will try to convince your to use Firefox using
sex appeal.
If we could convince all porn sites to only support Firefox the battle
would be won in a few weeks.
Or am I dreaming now ??
Is Opera UA still stuck on IE by default ?
Would be nice to be able to monitor Opera market share, especialy since it got Free (as in Beer)...
At 10% FireFox is starting to become interesting to malware producers. I guess I'll switch to Opera.
That's what's good about web standards. It's becoming increasingly possibly for you to make a choice like that because content less and less tied to one browser.
FF and Opera are both commited to implementing and supporting web standards like XML, SVG, and CSS. The bigger share they get, the more reason people have to develop standards-compliant content.
A virtuous cycle.
You know, it's exactly that attitude of "world domination" that got the Web into the mess it is today. Firefox is not for everyone. I don't want to see it become "what you have to use whether you like it or not", because we've been down that road.
What is nice to see is that users of alternative browsers do make more than single-digit percentages, which of course means they're harder to dismiss. If Apple, The Mozilla Foundation, and Opera can all assure they take the high road at all times with regards to fixing rendering/parsing/etc bugs, MS won't be guaranteed to be the same, but it'll certainly make life easier on web designers.
If designers have to somehow work around 3, 4, 5 different browsers' rendering habits and bugs- things will be a disaster, they'll be frustrated and tempted to just support IE and "the next biggest fish", etc.
Also- I hope all the non-IE browsers are now 'shipping' by default with their own browser strings, not set to pretend to be IE...
Please help metamoderate.
I can't believe 9 out of 10 people still fire up IE to surf the web. *deep sigh*
"hey, could you pass me a paper towel? er.. I mean... DEPLOY ABSORBTION PANEL!"
Sadly, despite your letter writing, you still fired up IE and gave them business. Unless there is ZERO suitable competition to purchase from, then a better approach would be to have written and let them know that their named competition did receive your business due to their unrestrictive Web site.
Pushing for Free Software and open formats/protocols is not easy and it does require some sacrifice of convenience. Some people only understand the bottom line.
"Insanity is doing the same thing over again expecting a different result."
"Web applications provider NetApplications reported that the open source browser's share of the market dropped by 0.7 percentage points from August to September."
Sure... it's the new school year, new computers ship with IE installed, I am not surprised at all.
\u262D = \u5350
My employees install Firefox for 90% of our customer base. hey delete all IE icons and references. Yet within weeks almost 90% of the customers are back to using IE. The reason? Familiarity.
I can't figure it out. I'm no OSS fanboi, but IE sucks. Why the addiction for so many?
At 11.5 percent, it's still got a long way to go to reach Internet Explorer's 85.5 percent
Yeah, I can't wait until IE and Firefox are at 85.5%!
I am optimistic, but if firefox can get around 25-50% of the market we could see more people using open source products. I think with many Open source products that are not popular is the fact they are not so easy to use. Firefox has figured that out. They have even made it easier in Firefox 1.5 by having automatic updates and force pop-ups into tabs. If the rest of the open source community can look at firefox and take some ideas like ease of use people may start going toward open source other than people like myself. Some already have like Novell and IBM putting a nice GUI to many difficult applications to make it easier for everyday people to admin or use as a desktop.Hay, If i can get my girlfriend into open source like firefox and thunderbird i think their might be a new era of applications coming from open source development.
I can only imagine that the next major release of Firefox (1.5) will cause another wave of Firefox adoption. Personally, I am currently not pushing Firefox that strongly since I know that if I help someone install 1.0.7 today, I'll have to do the same thing with 1.5 in a few weeks. But I will once again be pushing the browser heavily once a new, production-version of the browser is ready. Also a new release means new publicity. I think 1.5 will easily push Firefox into the 15-20% range.
the overall trend for Firefox is upwards.
That's the point. There are too many people in the news business today who only went to one week of statistics in university, the one where they were told how to "lie with statistics" (and yes, my prof had a special lecture about that in his curriculum).
Posting "Firefox down 0.7%" one month, and another "Firefox share declines again" a few months later is misleading and dishonest if it refers to two dips in an overal upwards trend. Everyone who's ever done statistics knows that very few graphs are monotonously rising, and even the strong rising ones have some dips in them.
The overal longterm trend can be calculated and extrapolated, and it's much more important than what it's been up or down this week, except on the stock exchange where you can actually make money on a moment-by-moment trading basis.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
*chuckles* actualy... if you knew anything about css you would probably rewrite it and then discover that very little of CSS's features work in IE and then you would have to retrain yourself to not know anything about css and break all your code to make it work properly.
Web Design was where I first learned to hate Internet Explorer.
~Anders
Europe is far ahead. Take a look at Xiti's map: http://www.xitimonitor.com/etudes/equipement11.asp
Although I agree that IE7 will slow down the growth of firefox I doubt it will really diminish the current market share. Slightly better support for web features will cut a little bit out of the "it only works in IE" problem, and most of the new stuff in IE7 is in firefox, or a plugin. In the end a lack of new features combined with any possible previous bad IE experiences will keep the new FF users where they are.
In the future I see technologies like xul as "where things are going".(and yes microsoft has one too) HTML+Javascript is only going to get us so far, and although using the javascript to dynamically update pages can do some (comparatively) awesome things, it does not have the feel of a real solution to it. So if I were a web developer[1] I would start playing with these tools now to be ready in ~3-5 years when they become a preferable alternative.
[1] I am not a web developer. If you are one, and I sound like I don't know what I am talking about, that is probably because I don't.
Slashdot: Where anecdotes and generalizations can be freely substituted for facts, logic, or intelligence
The most popular browsers on the web are:
1. Microsoft IE 85.45 %
2. Mozilla Firefox 11.51 %
3. Apple Safari 1.75 %
4. Netscape 0.26 %
5. Opera 0.77 %
Is that the new l33t alphabet or something, because I don't see it.
I don't know if Firefox is really much more secure in terms of virus/spyware than Internet Explorer or not.
I think you'll find that IE's reliance on ActiveX plays a major part in the difference. Personally I'm running Firefox with the NoScript extension for that extra bit of protection (blocks javascript by default with easy right-click access granting for trusted sites). While I presume you can block JS in IE, I doubt the functionality exists to quickly enable it on a case by case basis.
Of course I'm not really especially concerned with virus/spyware infecting my OS but I won't rehash that tired old argument.
I use NoScript.
One recent exploit that worked even with NoScript enabled was the highly critical 'Firefox IDN URL Domain Name Buffer Overflow'.
http://secunia.com/advisories/16764/
I'll probably be modded down for this...
Try Opera.
It does just about everything FF does and more while taking up much less RAM and uses lots less CPU.
Lord High Crapflooder The Right Honourable Vlad Craig Esther McDavenpherson III
Destroyer of Mercatur.Net
I've had Firefox installed on my wife's computer since before the 1.0 release. I deleted all the shortcuts to IE, and after that just assumed she was using it. Until looking over her shoulder one day, asking her about a movie, I see that she gets to the internet by opening up the start menu, and clicking on windows update . . . shudder. Some people do like Internet Explorer, and will go through extra means to get to it. My wife doesn't know how to recreate desktop shortcuts, but did remember that windows update runs on IE. Hence, she was able to fill up her windows machine with spyware despite my precautions. I haven't figured out what the appeal for IE is yet, maybe she enjoys clicking on the giant stacks of IE windows in the taskbar, and painfully locating the site she was just on.
only one everything
At 11.5 percent, it's still got a long way to go to reach Internet Explorer's 85.5 percent
No it doesn't. (85.5-11.5)/2 = 37.7% Firefox only need another 37.7% to surpass Internet Explorer's illegal market share.
Seriously, while FF reaching 10% is good news, we do need to avoid pushing for another monoculture. The world would be better off with a flock of browsers designed to work well (which included efficiently) for different people and different environments.
A flock of different browsers, all standards-compliant of course, would really help to avoid a situation where a single piece of malware can bring down zillions of machines.
And there are good technical reasons for wanting browsers designed differently. There are all sorts of special situations where one might want an unusual browser. Thus, lynx does pretty well for the visually impaired, and it's also a browser that can be run from scripts (since it doesn't do full graphics). A browser running on a handheld with a tiny screen is going to render things differently that something on a huge screen, and code that does both kinds of renderings is going to be inherently slower than code that's more specialized.
Lots of readers can probably give situations where they'd really like a browser that's unusual in some way. I know I can think of lots of things I'd like done differently from how FF does them.
So, good as firefox may be, we should treat its success as grounds for pushing for still more good browsers. Some may be based on FF. But we'd probably be even better off if they are independent code. Monocultures are dangerous, and should be consciously avoided.
Of course, right now we might start the anti-FF action by pushing for opera. OK; it's not open-source, which is a mark against it. But it's good, and the company is a bunch of nice guys (so far). They just made it ad-free. So everyone should grab a copy and start running up the server stats for it.
And use konqueror some more. Can it run on Windows yet? That'd be fun to foist on the MS crowd.
The ideal would be no browser over 10% of the stats.
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.