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Firefox Gains Share As Usenet User’s Browser Of Choice
March 26th, 2009
It’s been around only since the end of 2004, but in that short period, Mozilla’s open-source, multiplatform Web browser Firefox has managed to dominate 43.13% percent of all visitors to NewsDemon.com. Used by many as a more secure, dependable and standards-abiding alternative to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (which is still the most used browser by a considerable margin), Firefox seems to be on a continuing upward trend.
Despite Microsoft’s global domination, Firefox is a vastly more dominant browser. Between 2008 and 2009, Firefox was responsible for share gains of 5.47%, at the expense of other browsers, especially IE.
Firefox’s advances in the market against IE have been extremely impressive and at this point it’s impossible to tell whether 2009 results are the beginning of an upward trend for the open source market or a one-time anomaly, considering the new release of IE8 (although it has initially gained lack luster reviews), and forthcoming Windows 7.
Since Google’s entry into the web browser market last September, Chrome’s share has increased from to being non-existent to beating out Opera and closely bridging the gap with Safari with a 3.29% share.
For sure Google has got the word out big time, but real success and results will come when people actually stick to the browser rather than trying it out for a little while and going back to their usual browser of choice.
With the latest release of Safari, which proclaims itself as the fastest browser, as Google once held the title for, many reports have actually demonstrated a dip in usage than an increase. Many speculate this too is because of the Firefox dominance.
Below are the 2008 and 2009 comparisons of all the most popular browsers our site visitors use:
|
Browser
|
2008
|
2009
|
| Internet Explorer | 56.32% | 46.16% |
| Firefox | 37.66% | 43.13% |
| Safari | 3.23% | 4.55% |
| Chrome | 0.00% | 3.29% |
| Opera | 1.91% | 2.00% |
| Mozilla | 0.42% | 0.45% |
| SeaMonkey | 0.00% | 0.11% |
| Netscape | 0.21% | 0.08% |
| Mozilla Compatible Agent | 0.02% | 0.06% |
| Camino | 0.10% | 0.05% |
More information about these browsers and other browser related info, including open source browsers, can be found on newsgroups, such as:
alive.internet.www.browsers.ariadne
alive.internet.www.browsers.lynx
alive.internet.www.browsers.msie
alive.internet.www.browsers.netscape
alt.no-advertising.files.warez.win-95.browsers
comp.infosystems.www.browsers.mac
comp.infosystems.www.browsers.misc
comp.infosystems.www.browsers.ms-windows
comp.infosystems.www.browsers.x
de.comm.infosystems.www.browsers
de.comm.software.browser.internet-explorer
de.comm.software.browser.mozilla
de.comm.software.mozilla.browser
dk.edb.internet.software.browser
freeserve.help.windows.browser
microsoft.public.activex.controls.webbrowser
microsoft.public.inetsdk.programming.webbrowser_ctl
microsoft.public.win98.internet.browser
netscape.public.beta.feedback.browser
netscape.public.mozilla.browser
netscape.public.mozilla.qa.browser
microsoft.public.ar.inetexplorer.ie6beta
microsoft.public.cn.inetexplorer.ie5
microsoft.public.cn.inetexplorer.ie55beta
microsoft.public.cn.inetexplorer.ie5beta
microsoft.public.cn.inetexplorer.ie6beta
microsoft.public.de.german.inetexplorer.ie5
microsoft.public.de.german.inetexplorer.ie5.outlookexpress
microsoft.public.de.german.inetexplorer.ie6
microsoft.public.de.german.inetexplorer.ie6.outlookexpress
microsoft.public.de.german.inetexplorer.ie6beta
microsoft.public.de.inetexplorer.ie4
microsoft.public.de.inetexplorer.ie55beta
microsoft.public.de.inetexplorer.ie5beta
microsoft.public.de.inetexplorer.ie7
microsoft.public.es.inetexplorer.ie5
microsoft.public.es.inetexplorer.ie5beta
microsoft.public.es.inetexplorer.ieak5beta
microsoft.public.fr.inetexplorer.ie5
microsoft.public.fr.inetexplorer.ie55beta
microsoft.public.fr.inetexplorer.ie5beta
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.40.outlookexpress
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie3
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.OutlookExpress
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.active_desktop
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.activex_contrl
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.announcements
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.app_compat
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.channels
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.connect_wizard
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.connectionmgr
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.docs_help
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.favorites
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.feedback
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.frontpad
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.java_applets
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.mschat
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.multimedia_con
microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.netmeeting
More after the jump
Mozilla Ubiquity Commands Attention
August 27th, 2008
The web is a reflection of human beings in that it’s always changing and adapting to fit the needs of those around it an interacting with it. A human invention with human qualities. But as more applications find their homes on the web, pulling information from each of them becomes a disparate sequence of copying and pasting snippets of content into a new form. Mozilla is ready to change that with the launch of its new Ubiquity plug-in for Firefox.
Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.
Interestingly, a similar pattern has emerged with the Windows operating system, with applications throwing icons all over the start menu and burying shortcuts in multiple folders. Command line is making progress there too in the form of applications like Launchy, which launches applications based on text entered into a command prompt.
In similar fashion, Ubiquity runs commands based on bits of text entered into a command prompt. For example to define a word in a web page, you would activate Ubiquity (I’m using CTRL+Space) then type “def this”. Ubiquity would then display a definition pulled from a dictionary on the web.
This has staggering implications for empowering the common web user to remix content more easily by controlling the flow of information around them.
For someone who reads a lot on the web, built in live page editing capability and highlighting are included. Imagine finding an article and adding a paragraph underneath one by the original author with notes about what you were thinking at the time. Then, highlighting a couple of words for emphasis. The only thing that would make it even better would be to share those edits with other people, right? And that’s when the “email this” command steps in.
Ubiquity has the potential to usher in a whole new way of interacting on the web, and I’m glad an open source organization like Mozilla is pioneering it