Comments on: Where is the Browser Market Headed?

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:52:18 +0000

Firefox out of the box in its default state is still hard to beat. I expect certain issues with speed and performance because I choose to install and use 60+ extensions at a time in just one of my profiles but I rarely come across a serious issue.

That is nuts! I have 5 extensions installed and don't want to install any more because of performance reasons. I used to have 10-15 extensions installed at one time, but it always seemed to slow down the browser. Now I watch more carefully at what I actually install.

By: Anon

Anon — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 19:18:53 +0000

Typical clueless IE fanboi drone. IE is slow because its Trident engine is OBSOLETE, non standards compliant(even IE8 still has tremendous amount of bugs in its standards support) and the JS engine even in IE8 is SLOOOOOOOOOW compared to Firefox 3, let alone Firefox 3.1 Beta or Minefield 3.2a1pre(which will be Firefox 3.2) that I’m using atm.

[gtalbot.org]

IE7pro isn’t gonna fix the fundamental problems with IE’s Trident engine, period. Just jacking up the connection to 14 isn’t gonna speed up the browser much, IE’s page rendering is SLOOOOOOOOOW.

[zimbrablog.com]

And I’m testing with IE8 Partner Build Pre-RC1 8.0.6001.18344, which is suppose to fix most of the Beta 2 bugs and be faster than IE7, from what I can see LOL, try again, Microsoft. Massive regressions noted even in build 18344 on the IE Blog, it’s embarassing to say the least that this is even tagged RC1, it’s more like Beta 1 quality of code, IE8 Beta 2 is more like Alpha 1 quality of code.

Just try it yourself, download the latest Minefield 3.2a1pre nightly build or Chromium nightly builds, compare to whatever IE8 build you have and you’ll notice the difference without even trying. Microsoft is outgunned and outengineered by the open source community when it comes to standards compliant web browsers.

Even MORE laughable, Microsoft releases Internet Explorer Mobile 6 with IE6’s engine in 2008/2009. I don’t even need to say how bad that one is when it comes to standards compliance or speed.

[brucelawson.co.uk]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:57:36 +0000

Really Firefox is faster, than Internet Explorer out of the box.

Well I’m going to have to give you that one, mister. Ah, if your willing too experiment a little go over here and download this Add-On for Internet Explorer known as “IE7 Pro” (It functions with Ver.7&8 of Internet Explorer)

Why IE is “so slow” is because of the default number of “server connections” it ships with at default settings. Load the Add-ON and you’ll see a little Blue “e” in the right hand corner of the bottom of the browser Click on that and open the “Preferences menu” when that opens Click on “IE Settings” on the left side of the open window on the right when that menu opens you’ll see a little box off to the right center of the page with a “number” in it.

Click that “number up” till it goes to “14″ and tell me how fast Firefox 3 is then over Internet Explorer after you restart the Browser and start to surf……Should earn your Respect afterwards.

Here’s that link chief; [ie7pro.com]

Why Microsoft doesn’t just snap this Add-on up is beyond understanding….It makes IE very user friendly.

By: Ken Saunders

Ken Saunders — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 07:36:57 +0000

“Once Chrome supports extensions like Firefox does, which is supposed to be soon, I’m sure Mozilla will be in for a rude awakening as they lose more of their users.”

But once those users migrate to Chrome and start loading it up with add-ons that aren’t widely supported or developed, they’ll soon learn that it is add-ons that weighs down their browser and system.
Pretty much anything that you add mass to gets heavier thus slowing down it’s momentum.

Firefox out of the box in its default state is still hard to beat. I expect certain issues with speed and performance because I choose to install and use 60+ extensions at a time in just one of my profiles but I rarely come across a serious issue. If a new problem comes up, I know that it’s because I just installed a new add-on. And I test add-ons before installing them too. People have to use common sense and spend some time learning how extensions interact with each other when they decide to install 6 toolbars. Firefox is still faster than IE anything, and Google has many years to get to where Firefox is now.

Plus, it’ll will take quite a bit of time before Google can ever come up with an add-ons developer base such as Mozilla has that develops, supports, updates, and markets their add-ons free of charge and most with great loyalty to Mozilla and the end users that use their add-ons.
The only way to compete with that is to hire add-on developers and while Google isn’t short on cash, they’re not going to put money into something just to make it popular or to gain market share, they’ll need to get a return on their investments and so I can only imagine that would mean more ads or fee based services.

I gave Chrome a very fair shot as I did Opera, Avast, and others when I went shopping for a new browser years ago and Firefox in its first release was a great, fully functional browser that I feel in love with.

Mozilla has been a part of my life every day for just about 4 years now, but it has been 10 or more years for others. I don’t know exactly what it is but I’m as passionate now if not more as when I first discovered Firefox and Mozilla in general and others are too.

Google can’t buy that and nobody can replicate it.
It’s just an awesome collection of communities of great people from around the World that share in common goals and work very well together.

Don’t get me wrong, my second favorite Internet company is Google. I use a lot of their services and love them all and Chrome will be successful, but it won’t be the death of Firefox.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 00:13:03 +0000

Well if European’s can be considered “an indicator” this is somewhat interesting on the surface anyway…. Loss then partially regained.

[computerworld.com]

What is curious is which browser loss share to which…Ha ha ha. Watch “your back” Firefox.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 23:09:12 +0000

lars wrote:

the only issue with FF for me is the speed, even though i limit the extensions for each install

The time it takes to start Firefox is sometimes appalling to me. Even on a really fast computer it can still take over 10 seconds before I see Firefox, whereas almost all other browser appear in under 2 seconds. I wish there was something they could do about that.

Change wrote:

I hope they don’t make the mistake of implementing too many features not related to the core, as that would be cannibalistic. Release those features as extensions and I think they have a great chance to perpetuate their success.

They should start focusing solely on performance enhancements, and move new features to extensions that they release themselves. I don't think Mozilla creates enough of their own extensions.

netster007x wrote:

I expect Chrome’s market share to grow, likely taking the number 3 spot after Firefox, but it’ll take time. I also expect to see Fx’s share shrink slightly as Chrome’s share slowly grows, but a shake up for #2 would be really far off.

I agree that Chrome should be able to take on the number 3 spot if they play their cards right, and it would take a lot of work to catch up to where Firefox is at. After all, it's taken Firefox over 4 years to get to this point, and they've had tremendous word-of-mouth support.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:12:28 +0000

Oh and there’s this “Impossible statement”

[tech.yahoo.com]

Chrome to the rescue???????? We’ll see….

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:05:04 +0000

This is saying a lot about Mozilla; [computerworld.com]

By: netster007x

netster007x — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 04:17:16 +0000

Chrome’s speed and intuitive interface make it the browser to beat in my opinion. Unfortunately, many figure that if there browser functions they shouldn’t bother changing. However, thanks to curious users (and we’ll c if that pre-install deal comes thru) I expect Chrome’s market share to grow, likely taking the number 3 spot after Firefox, but it’ll take time. I also expect to see Fx’s share shrink slightly as Chrome’s share slowly grows, but a shake up for #2 would be really far off.

By: natmaster

natmaster — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:33:28 +0000

I don’t think Mozilla has anything to worry about. In fact, more browser competition is exactly what Mozilla wants. Mozilla understands the way the web works and it listens to its users. In my opinion, there is still no browser that can compare to Firefox.
But don’t take my word for it, all the browser usage stats only point to Firefox continuing to grow, unphased by Chrome and the like. In fact, Chrome seems to really just be stealing share from IE.

Take early adopters as an indicator of things to come – they’re usually pretty accurate: [w3schools.com]