February 28, 2005 at 4:19 pm
The percentage of market share for IE, that is. At least according to the latest web metrics, the share has dipped to 89.3% in February, down below 90 for the first time, I believe, since Netscape threw in the towel.
The growth of Firefox is slowing as I'd guess most of the tech saavy people worried about browsing switch over. Until someone starts making it a default somewhere on new computers, I'm not sure we'll see any more huge growth numbers, but I do expect more and more people to switch until Microsoft updates IE.
And depending on when that is, I wouldn't be surprised to start seeing more Windows 2000 users (and older versions) move to Firefox, especially in corporate environments where a mass rollout is easier. Not that there's a cost to using one or the other, but as Firefox continues to get updates, and as most people are satisfied with their OS, I'd expect that many corporations will look more favorably upon the switch.
That's assuming that there aren't more and more attacks on Firefox. I know that updates are occurring quickly, but quick patches also leave open the chance that the fix will break something. Or that the fix opens some other hole. Firefox's has the advantage now, but they need to keep it by performing well and not making mistakes. Otherwise it's too easy to just stick with IE.
On an unrelated note, condolences to the Raskin family. Jeff Raskin passed away Saturday after a battle with cancer. If the name doesn't ring a bell, he led the team that invented the Macintosh computer back in 1979-82 and left a couple years before the famous 1984 introduction.
Steve Jones
March 2, 2005 at 3:35 am
I don't know much about security issues with firefox, but from a user point of view I find it a lot better to use than IE. Searching on the page is made easier. As soon as you type text it takes you to the first ocurrence and the next occurrence as you continue typing. It's also got it's own google search window in the top corner.
At home, I find I get a lot less pop ups than with IE. However, if like me you prefer firefox and want to delete IE - DON'T!
I did and found that it was part of the operating system. I had to recover XP on my pc. Took ages and I ended up rebuilding the pc.
March 4, 2005 at 10:13 am
Firefox just released version 1.0.1.
I have used it for about a year. There are some sites that require IE (everything shows up "off" in Firefox) but I would say 95% of the sites work fine with either.
Quand on parle du loup, on en voit la queue
March 4, 2005 at 10:37 am
I agree with that. Outside of my banking sites and the place that prints business cards with an ActiveX designer, I think pretty much everything works with 1.0.
March 4, 2005 at 12:55 pm
Hehe. Even MS's sites work fine with FireFox. Tabbed browsing. That's what sold me. And extensions.
K. Brian Kelley
@kbriankelley
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