Certifiable

Blog archive

Firefox Gains on IE

Firefox will reach a milestone soon, if trends are any indication. Right now, the browser sits at a bit over 24 percent share of the browser market, according to Net Application, (by way of this ars technica blog). The share is significant, as that exceeds IE6 users. Six wasn't known for its quality, so it should be no surprise that its rank has slipped. It might even be good news to Microsoft that fewer people are using that version.

I haven't used Firefox in quite some time, after having switched to Chrome (market share: 3.58 percent) for its overall performance (Firefox was just as sluggish as IE at times and Chrome seemed like it had been on a bit diet, installing and loading up superfast). But being a Chrome user means I'm a de facto IE 7 user -- there are some Web sites that won't cooperate with Chrome and Flash inexplicably crashes in it. (So, I sound like a broken record.) And when I and 50 other people upgraded to Vista, it made no sense to go back.

If you go back to the ars Technica post, you'll notice the site publishes its own survey. Firefox dominates. Which one seems more realistic, based on your educated guess?

Posted by Michael Domingo on 11/05/2009 at 1:16 PM


Reader Comments:

Fri, Nov 6, 2009 Michael Irvine, CA

To anonymous, I say 'de facto' because I've had just one invite to upgrade to IE8 and it failed, so I haven't tried since, and MS hasn't compelled me to do so since, for reasons unknown. Thus, still on IE7 for OWA, intranet stuff and visiting the MS site on occasion.

Fri, Nov 6, 2009 mnjrupp

"Firefox was just as sluggish as IE at times and Chrome seemed like it had been on a bit diet" Wait until after several updates. Firefox was a lot faster until after 4 months of updates and now it has become sluggish. Gice it time; Chrome will probably experience the same after a few updates. Why can't software developers get it right the first time? Impossible you say? Well, at least they could build it so as not to have to update every month!

Thu, Nov 5, 2009

by saying you are a 'de facto' IE 7 user, you are automatically implying that IE 8, released on March 19, has not lived up to its premise or promise....and surely you are correct in this assessment. I think Microsoft is as off-target as they've ever been in regards to browser usability and addressing customer wants. Not to mention conforming to W3C standards. So, well done in the implication/insinuation department(s)!

Add Your Comment Now:

Your Name:(optional)
Your Email:(optional)
Your Location:(optional)
Comment:
Please type the letters/numbers you see above