Chrome passes 20% share milestone, locks up 2nd place

[A Guy]

Google's Chrome browser in July broke the 20% user share bar for the first time, according to data published Friday by Web measurement vendor Net Applications.

But because the browser war is a zero-sum game, when Chrome won others had to lose. The biggest loser, as has been the case for the last year: Mozilla's Firefox, which came dangerously close to another milestone, but on the way down.

Firefox accounted for 15.1% of the desktop and laptop personal computer browsers used in July, a low point not seen by the open-source application since October 2007, a year before Chrome debuted and when Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) was only on version 7.

Source

A Guy

 

[lehnerus2000]

Sad days indeed.

 

[Iforgot]

Does this include where Firefox is identifying itself as IE also?

It helps on some sites

 

[Golden]

to Chrome + forks

 

[King Arthur]

As long as Firefox only strives to be another Chrome and Mozilla continues to be Google's lapdog I am sincerely grateful that Firefox is dying a justified and steady death.

I wonder if we're going into another era not unlike when IE6 dominated the market, only this time it'll be a duopoly between Trident (IE) and Webkit/Blink (Chrome).

 

[Jonguy30]

History repeats itself? (kind of..). I think that might just happen.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

Are any of us actually bothered --who cares -- if you go into a hotel and switch on your bedroom light do you even KNOW who supplies the power and I suspect you'd care even less -- you just want the light to come on.

Browsers are simply TOOLS -- who really cares whether X is better than Y or has feature A instead of feature B. So long as it works on your device in the way you want it to - choose whatever you want.

As far as IE is concerned it's always going to struggle a bit in these comparisons as there are a lot of new mobile devices that it won't run on.

I regard Chrome rather like Amazon and Google as the "TESCO/ASDA or WALL MART" of computing -- it might be ubiquitious like those Supermarkets - but you won't always get the best product.

Choose what YOU like and what works for you -- these browser war threads are SO OLD HAT don't let's bother with them again.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Golden]

Come, come Jimbo. Don't get so emotional about it. Its a news article, not a browser war

 

[ThrashZone]

Browser wars
If they were talking about mobile devices which they aren't android won already
Really wasn't much of a competition,
People are moving to Chrome don't know why don't care why
Cheers.

 

[Gary]

I will never use Chrome, I have used Firefox since it first came out as Phoenix. Who really knows what users are using what Browser? If IE was not bundled with Windows , it would not even be on the list!

 

[TVeblen]

Additionally, if Chrome was not a PUP in many free software downloads, how well would they be doing in the market?

I agree with Jimbo. It is interesting geek news, but after all the talk and it is time to surf the web- who cares?
We don't have debates about what the best PDF reader is, do we?
Oh wait, we do.

 

[andrew129260]

Yeah, chrome is usually installed with people who don't read when they install software. While I dislike the fact it is being done, at least it does not slow the pc down. But that is most likely the reason for the rise in marketshare.

In terms of security and updates though, chrome tackles any security flaw and has a very nice bug bounty program. There is constant encouragement to improve the security of the browser. And with a mission like that, I would rather have people use that vs firefox. (Note I am talking about the browser as a whole, not with extensions you can add to increase security/privacy.)

Either way though, I am tired of pups taking over the internet. Reading, and having unchecky is the best thing to do when installing software. (and using a VM)

 

[Wrend]

I will never use Chrome, I have used Firefox since it first came out as Phoenix. Who really knows what users are using what Browser? If IE was not bundled with Windows , it would not even be on the list!

I prefer Firefox (and even Iceweasel on my Debian/KDE install) as my primary browser of choice on my desktop/workstation PCs.

Firefox did come dangerously close to putting me off a little too much with their UI dumbing down/rebranding they did not all that long ago. Fortunately for them and me, I was able to get it back to where I like it with the Classic Theme Restorer add-on.

I can easily see their loss of relative position being at least somewhat attributed to this UI change.

What's with these bad UI trends? Are people really just trying to copy mobile device style interfaces onto traditional PCs? Kind of ironic, in a way, since I modify my mobile devices in the direction of having a closer feel and function as a real PC. Needless to say, the UI and functionality of the browsers on mobile devices isn't anything near what I would call appealing, but I can make due with it. But, there's no way I'm going to stand for it on my PC; that's for sure.

Some iPhone fondling middle-aged metro hipster yuppie wearing thin rectangular glass in a boardroom somewhere: "It's a tradeoff. To get it sleek and sexy [simple] enough to where we want it, we'll have to take away some of these menu thingies. But I don't know how they work anyway... so who cares? We can just hide them somewhere where we can't see them so they won't bother us. Hey, lets make a menu with buttons in it instead of boring words while we're at it."

 

[lehnerus2000]

I can easily see their loss of relative position being at least somewhat attributed to this UI change.

The annoying "constant" updates didn't help.

I'd also throw in the fact that they refuse to fix minor issues that have existed for many years now (e.g. the unreliable Spellchecker, the once excellent, but now horrible Bookmarks manager).

What's with these bad UI trends? Are people really just trying to copy mobile device style interfaces onto traditional PCs? Kind of ironic, in a way, since I modify my mobile devices in the direction of having a closer feel and function as a real PC. Needless to say, the UI and functionality of the browsers on mobile devices isn't anything near what I would call appealing, but I can make due with it. But, there's no way I'm going to stand for it on my PC; that's for sure.

An explanation I've seen is modern software is functionally complete (apart from bug fixes), so the only thing Management can think of to force people to buy/download the latest version is to make stupid irrational GUI changes.

Idiotic GUI changes are easier to implement than bug fixes.

However the trend toward stupidity is mainly due to corporate greed.
Anyone who knows how to do something properly can demand higher wages, so those people are replaced by "know-nothing" university graduates.

They just did this at my TAFE.
A lot of senior lecturers were pushed out (to save money) then it was discovered that a lot of the certified lecturers (e.g. Adobe) had been eliminated.
Some of the remaining lecturers then had to be sent to expensive training courses, so that TAFE wouldn't lose its industry certification/support.

 

[A Guy]

I use Opera 99.9% of the time. I always kept FF in case I needed it. I dumped it after the change. I have Pale Moon as an alternate now, it's more familiar. A Guy

 

[Wrend]

I use Opera 99.9% of the time. I always kept FF in case I needed it. I dumped it after the change. I have Pale Moon as an alternate now, it's more familiar. A Guy

I was taking a close look at Pale Moon around this time too. Ended up keeping Firefox since I was able to set it up how I like it eventually with the Classic Theme Restorer add-on. Though I can assure you that I'm not a fan of having to modify a program just to get it back to the form and function that was one of the main reasons I chose it in first place. Ultimately, I also had some security concerns based on some of the comments from the Pale Moon team that weren't very reassuring.

Took a look at Opera. Didn't really do much for me. My main thing is having just a straightforward and capable setup as my internet interface. For the most part, I don't want a tailored/customized experience, which seemed to be more of what Opera is about.

 

[A Guy]

I use an older (still secure and supported for now) version 12.17. The only change I made was adding a theme. It does what I need out of the box. But then, I'm a simple Guy

A Guy

 

[Ranger4]

I am using the current version of Opera as I like the Speed Dial feature & there is a separate Stash area for storing less used websites.
Also you can adjust the Zoom for each website individually & the setting holds, so you can have different zoom size for each site.
May not be as fast as Chrome, but as my internet speed is not brilliant there is very little difference.

 

[andrew129260]

Also you can adjust the Zoom for each website individually & the setting holds, so you can have different zoom size for each site.

I have to admit, that is very cool and useful. One of the (very few) things I like about opera.

 

[Wrend]

Also you can adjust the Zoom for each website individually & the setting holds, so you can have different zoom size for each site.

I have to admit, that is very cool and useful. One of the (very few) things I like about opera.

Yeah, that is nice. Firefox does that as well. I'll usually zoom a site to screen width since I'm using a 16:9 widescreen display. I just assumed all modern browsers did this. :sarc: I'm pretty sure Internet Explorer does this as well, since I often use it at work. (Ctrl and + or -) I would imagine Chrome does too, but I haven't tried it, since I only use the mobile version.

Or do you mean each individual page on a site? I think Firefox just holds the setting for each site. (www.sevenforums.com is set to 120%)