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Firefox Browser Use Drops As Mozilla's Worst Microsoft Edge Fears Come True
Back in April, we reported that the Edge browser is quickly gaining market share now that Microsoft has transitioned from the EdgeHTML engine to the more widely used Chromium engine (which also underpins Google's Chrome browser). At the time, Edge slipped into the second-place slot for desktop web browsers, with a 7.59 percent share of the market. This dropped Mozilla's Firefox – which has long been the second-place browser behind Chrome – into third place.
Now, at the start of August, we're getting some fresh numbers in for the desktop browser market, and things aren't looking good for Mozilla. Microsoft increased its share of the browser market from 8.07 percent in June to 8.46 percent in July. Likewise, Firefox fell from 7.58 percent to 7.27 percent according to NetMarketShare.
[...] As for Mozilla, the company wasn't too happy when Microsoft first announced that it was going to use Chromium for Edge way back in December 2018. Mozilla's Chris Beard at the time accused Microsoft of "giving up" by abandoning EdgeHTML in favor of Chromium. "Microsoft's decision gives Google more ability to single-handedly decide what possibilities are available to each one of us," said Beard at the time. "We compete with Google because the health of the internet and online life depend on competition and choice."
[...] Microsoft developer Kenneth Auchenberg fought back the following January, writing, "Thought: It's time for Mozilla to get down from their philosophical ivory tower. The web is dominated by Chromium, if they really *cared* about the web they would be contributing instead of building a parallel universe that's used by less than 5 percent."
Is the browser monoculture inevitable or will Firefox hang in there?
Previously:
Mozilla Teases Chromium-Based Firefox, Then Pulls Back
Firefox Tops Microsoft Browser Market Share for First Time
Netmarketshare Claims Mozilla Firefox Usage Drops Below Ten Percent
Microsoft Intercepting Firefox, Chrome Installation on Windows 10 Insider Build
Microsoft Reportedly Building a Chromium-Based Web Browser to Replace Edge, and "Windows Lite" OS
Mozilla CEO Warns Microsoft's Switch to Chromium Will Give More Control of the Web to Google
Microsoft Employee Sparks Outrage by Suggesting Firefox Switch Browser Engine to Chromium
Mozilla Was "Outfoxed" by Google
Microsoft Edge Shares Privacy-Busting Telemetry, Research Alleges
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 04 2020, @08:34PM (4 children)
Functionally it is quite different.
Funy thing is, shortly after I made the post saying I used Opera, MS "compatability telemetry engine" spun up. Maybe coincidence, maybe they are keywording forum posts, and using that as a basis for snooping.
I know that you can install a FIFO in place of a file in Linux. I was thinking about MITM'ing my browser files that way, so I can log when they are getting hit. Is there a way to do this and correlate file access to a PID on win10? Or a wrapper I can stick around their daemons to see what inodes they are hitting? I just want to know what they are polling. They are in my house without my consent. I think I should get to know what they are moving around and which underwear drawers they are going through.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @10:10AM (3 children)
You might be able to find a sysinternals tool that does something close to that.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/ [microsoft.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @01:48AM (2 children)
If I understood the original post correctly, this one would probably work the best https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procmon [microsoft.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @01:42PM (1 child)
If it comes from MS, it is going to rely on libs that are excepted by their own snoopware. It would need to be third party.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @05:11PM
Of all the people you can pick from Microsoft to trust I'd say Mark Russinovich is a good choice.