Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Sunday November 26 2017, @03:12AM   Printer-friendly
from the quantum-leap dept.

https://amosbbatto.wordpress.com/2017/11/21/mozilla-market-share/

When Firefox was introduced in 2004, it was designed to be a lean and optimized web browser, based on the bloated code from the Mozilla Suite. Between 2004 and 2009, many considered Firefox to be the best web browser, since it was faster, more secure, offered tabbed browsing and was more customizable through extensions than Microsoft's Internet Explorer. When Chrome was introduced in 2008, it took many of Firefox's best ideas and improved on them. Since 2010, Chrome has eaten away at Firefox's market share, relegating Firefox to a tiny niche of free software enthusiasts and tinkerers who like the customization of its XUL extensions.

According to StatCounter, Firefox's market share of web browsers has fallen from 31.8% in December 2009 to just 6.1% today. Firefox can take comfort in the fact that it is now virtually tied with its former arch-nemesis, Internet Explorer and its variants. All of Microsoft's browsers only account for 6.2% of current web browsing according to StatCounter. Microsoft has largely been replaced by Google, whose web browsers now controls 56.5% of the market. Even worse, is the fact that the WebKit engine used by Google now represents over 83% of web browsing, so web sites are increasingly focusing on compatibility with just one web engine. While Google and Apple are more supportive of W3C and open standards than Microsoft was in the late 90s, the web is increasingly being monopolized by one web engine and two companies, whose business models are not always based on the best interests of users or their rights.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @09:04AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 27 2017, @09:04AM (#601998)

    Short answer: No.

    Long answer: For a long time Firefox and Chrome has filled different niches. Chrome was the ugly, lean fast browser that worked well if all you wanted was the boring default. Firefox was the infinitely configurable browser preferred by anyone who wanted more than the boring default, but had a tendency to get slower over time (especially with any new release that had the word "faster" in the release notes).

    A few years ago Mozilla decided to change direction, to beat Chrome on their home turf. A new release scheme that only left room for breaking updates, not for fixing bugs. Removing features, telling people to use extensions instead. Breaking extensions. Removing more features to be replaced by extensions. Breaking extensions. And a couple of interface changes to make it even LOOK like Chrome. And each time, more people left for Chrome.

    Then came the update to break all extensions. A final "f*ck you, go away" to the remaining users. Along with yet another UI update, but this time they aren't copying Chrome. They are copying Internet Explorer.

    Finally, Firefox has no advantages over Chrome, and Mozilla is now ready for the final battle, the only option they have left to make a difference: Competing on advertising budget.

    Imagine that. Mozilla vs Google, competing on advertising budget.

    As for me, I've switched my main browsing to Palemoon, but Palemoon lacks to Video Downloadhelper addon, so for browsing video sites (you know what I mean), I tried Vivaldi. Unfortunately, I couldn't get h.264 video to work, so I ended up having to download Firefox 52 ESR for now.

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   +1  
       Informative=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   1