Firefox up, IE down
p2pnet.net News:- The Firefox 1.0 browser, slated for release on November 9, has been given yet another boost by news that it’s continuing to lay heavy pressure on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
An online study by market research firm WebSideStory says the percentage of Americans using Mozilla and Firefox, the open-source browsers funded by the Mozilla Foundation, grew to 6% in October from 5.2% in September and 3.5% in June, split evenly between them, says a ZDNet story.
And, "While Microsoft’s IE continued as the overwhelming market leader, it witnessed another marginal decline, this time a dip of 0.8 percent," it states, going on:
"IE claimed 95.5 percent of users in June, 93.7 percent in September, and 92.9 percent last month. The Opera browser and Apple Computer’s Safari combined reached just more than 1 percent of users."
In the big picture, says ZDNet, Mozilla and Firefox are but "specks of dust compared with the near-ubiquity of Internet Explorer". But given IE’s fifth consecutive month of decline and Mozilla/Firefox’s fifth consecutive month of growth, "analysts are beginning to wonder whether and when the shift will stop".
Mozilla recently announced that the Firefox campaign to garner $250,000 in donations for a full page New York Times ad closed with the cash in hand.
===================
See:-
grew – Study: Firefox still gaining on Internet Explorer, ZDNet News, November 2, 2004
$250,000 – Firefox NYT campaign closes, p2pnet, October 30, 2004
November 2nd, 2004 at 3:17 pm
Hello,
I use FireFox. It’s clean, functional, pretty fast loading and so on, but it STILL does not display or display correctly many of the pages that I must use – for work, especially – including my own, GeoCities website. Until FireFox has full functionality in this way and full acceptance, then, to me, I’m afraid it’s just another browser.
I find that the XPSP2 version of IE6 works great. The popup blocker has stopped nearly all of the usual junk that I used to see and I can tell it what to block, too. Coupled with decent Virus security including the WIndows Firewall, I simply do not have problems. If I utilize just a small portion of my gray matter and update regularly, I feel that I’m safer than ever. WHY would I need to switch to something else?
Nevertheless, I like Firefox and what it represents: Something new. Not superman or perfect, but a different view. Worth a try for anyone who needs a break from the everyday.
DH
November 2nd, 2004 at 3:30 pm
So what you’re saying is, you’ll continue to use IE until firefox is popular, and thus as firefox is not popular, you will not help it become popular?
Sad.
p.s. it’s Firefox, not FireFox.
November 2nd, 2004 at 4:01 pm
The reason those pages do not display correctly is because they were not designed correctly.
IE does not conform to standards and thus mangles pages which do.
FYI, there is an extension which will let a person open a page in IE if it does not appear “correct” in Firefox.
Firefox has many features lacking in IE. I use it exclusively at home (unless I come across an annoying IE only site).
With Microsoft not releasing a new version of IE till Longhorn, Firefox and other browsers have quite a bit of time to chomp away at IE’s artificial dominance.
November 2nd, 2004 at 4:40 pm
I can say, firefox still wins.
November 2nd, 2004 at 8:41 pm
No. I will continue to use IE6 until FireFox works as well – for me.
DH
November 2nd, 2004 at 8:46 pm
Fair comments, but let me say it again. I use a Ford Motor Company website at work. It does not – yet – accept a mozilla type browser. Maybe it will one day, but not yet. My Yahoo GeoCities site displays OK but with a time applet that is sqaushed into the wrong place.
I have not run across a site in IE6 that did not display correctly unless it was intended exclusively for a Mozilla – type browser.
Remember, I do like FireFox, just not enough to use it exclusively.
DH
November 2nd, 2004 at 8:55 pm
It’s like politics, isn’t it? Some people are left, some are right. I like IE6 because it does the most complete job FOR MY NEEDS and I’m glad that FireFox works the same way for everyone in this little discussion.
The security issues that have been published about IE, for some reason, don’t seem to apply to me the way I use the internet or my machine in general, so I”m happy.
As I said in one other forum around about FF9.3, I will switch in a heartbeat when the things I do with my browser online work as well with FireFox. Right now, that’s not the case, so there you go.
DH
November 2nd, 2004 at 9:49 pm
8 comments, and 5 of them from DH saying that IE is better for his needs and firefox doesnt work on a couple of sites he uses. thank you. we HEAR YOU. you can go back to IE, and quick posting and replying and posting and replying on a firefox story.
as was stated elsewhere, firefox works 100% correctly on WC3-passed websites. the vast majority of sites that dont work with firefox are due to firefox’s refusal to run active-X apps. ActiveX web apps are NOT WC3 approved, and IMO allow a huge security hole into your computer.
as for me, you could never pry Firefox outta my hands. Firefox’s pop-up blocker together with the Adblock extension to filter out javascripted ads, flash ads, and all types of banner ads, is light years ahead of IE6’s lame pop-up block add on. The customized search box where you can even add in Suprnova, FileDonkey, and IsoHunt as default search engines, are huge time savers. And I also couldnt live without the BugMeNot extension that bypasses those ever-present “Free registration needed to view this page” pages. And lets not even mention auto-load groups of tabs on startup, and bookmark RSS feed links. put it all together, you’d have to be a n00b or a M$ fanboy not to have Firefox installed on your computer this very moment.
November 2nd, 2004 at 11:05 pm
I’ve been using Opera since way back. So I’ve been experiencing a lot of the stuff the Firefox folks rave about for quite some time – especially the tabs.
FF and O are both good browsers.
Cheers!
November 3rd, 2004 at 3:06 pm
As I said, I like FireFox. I have it installed on my computer. If you had read my posts through clearer thought. I also use Thunderbird exclusively for my business and personal needs, so I’m far from being anti-mozilla.
What I have discovered of Mozilla “fanboy”s, though, is that they don’t take kindly to criticism – from any source. Novice, expert or whatever. You folks accuse MS of narrow-mindedness and bullying and that’s exactly what your post sounds like – the same mind set from a different angle. That’s OK. Hopefully that sort of enthusiasm will continue to push development of this software.
And, once again, when it gets to the point where it works the way I want it to work, then I probably will switch. Enjoy the day.
DH
November 3rd, 2004 at 8:38 pm
The reason Firefox doesn’t work as well as IE with certain pages is for a few reasons, the main being IE isn’t very W3C standards complient whereas Firefox is…since IE is more popular many websites are developed using bad coding that is more compatable with IE than any other browsers not just firefox
November 8th, 2004 at 11:04 pm
I think Opera is much better than firefox. Have tried them both, and opera has so many more features that firefox is lacking. A few are saving sessions (A big feature for people that go to the same 5-6 sites everytime), wand feature for saving usernames and passwords on sites (allows for more than one username and password) and the general layout. Firefox seems too generic, pretty much just IE with tabs. Granted, firefox is a million times better than IE, but I just don’t see how it can compete with opera.