Posted on 08/26/2005 6:31:03 PM PDT by Bush2000
Firefox's 'retreat' ensures Microsoft excels
Open source web browser Firefox has lost the momentum it has steadily gained since it was unleashed last year, according to Web analysts at Net Applications.
The online portals unique Hit List service reveals a slump in the Mozilla browsers market share, falling from 8.7% to 8.1 % in July.
Coinciding with its demise, was the advance of Microsoft's IE that has gained some of the ground surrendered in June, climbing back from 86.6 % to 87.2% last month.
The revival for the dominant browser comes on the back of average monthly losses of between .5 to 1% for Redmond, as Firefox started to gain acceptance among a wider audience than just tech-savvy users.
When asked by Contractor UK whether Microsofts sudden gains were from the unveiling of a new IE, Net Applications said a re-launch tends revive industry interest, and could have bolstered Microsofts market share of the browser market.
When a company launches a new product, there is always renewed interest in what the company has produced and it would also be fair to say that this may have had an effect, said a member of the Hit List team.
Although, there have been browser issues with Windows 2000 in the news, so it is possible that again you may see a dip [in Microsofts market share]. Right now, people are looking for security and whenever there are issues with the security of one's system, they will use what they feel will be the most secure.
Besides Net Applications, web developer site W3 Schools, confirms that adoption of Firefox is falling, just as IE is reaching its highest share of the market in 2005.
According to W3's data on specialist users, Microsoft IE (6) enjoyed a 67.9% share in July, improving to 68.1% in August matched against Firefoxs top share of 21% in May, which has now dropped to 19.8% for the last two months.
Observers noted that both sets of analysis concur that Microsofts loss, up until now, has been Firefoxs gain, but over the last month roles have reversed.
Security fears concerning Mozilla and its browser product have recently emerged, coinciding with Microsofts high-profile trumpeting of its new safer browser product (IE 7), complete with glossy logo.
Experts at Net Applications said they were surprised at Firefoxs sudden retreat, saying they expected a slow down before any decline.
Yet they told CUK: Whenever there may be problems with security, there always is a decline with users changing browsers.
Data from the Web analytics company is based on 40,000 users, gleaned from their global internet operations, prompting some commentators to question the so-called global decline in the Firefox market share.
The Counter.com reportedly finds that between June and July, Firefox actually increased its share by two points, and overtook IE5 for the first time ever.
The Web Standard Project suggests webmasters should treat data from web analysis providers with caution, before rushing to make service changes.
So what can we conclude? asks the WSP, a grass roots project fighting for open access to web technologies.
Not much: Mozilla-based browsers are probably used by just under 10% of the web audience and their share is growing slowly. IE5.x is probably used by somewhat less than that and its share is declining slowly. IE6 is roughly holding steady.
Meanwhile, Spread Firefox, which measures actual download rates of the browser, reports that it took just one month for the Mozilla Foundations showpiece to reach 80 million downloads in August from its July total of 70 million.
At the time of writing, Firefox had been downloaded 80701444 times, meaning adoption rates of over 10m occurred one month after Net Applications says Firefox bolted in light of the dominant IE.
Not true. Vulnerabilties for both browsers have been pretty bad. The unpatched bugs in IE are almost exclusively very low impact issues that pose little threat.
Now, why would they do that? They already have (and have tested) their clone of the US W-88 design, stolen during the Clinton Administration. Once again, your knowledge of security issues appears to be paper thin.
Still seems overwrought and hyperbolic to me.
To each his own.
Let me fix that for you...
"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs!" - Karl Marx
Ha. Ha.
|"His post had nothing to do with Operating systems, it was about web servers, if you're too thick to see the difference you have to be a phb at best, and a teenage kid at worst.."
At one point I had to describe to him the difference between POP and SMTP protocols.
He also didn't know the difference between a "proof of concept" and an actual exploit just a few months ago, so take your best guess...
True, but did you actually see that chart? IE has far more critical and unpatched vulnerabilities.
"Global" Linux community? I thought Linux was all about the rest of the world stealing American IP.
The suits choose Apache because Microsoft leveraged its monopoly desktop OS into servers. They mainly buy out of habit (or an insane panic deal with Microsoft because they mentioned using Linux), not because of any cost-benefit analysis.
Using chips manufactured with the help of the Bush family. Sorry, couldn't resist.
It is nice to see Microsoft finally catching up to a 35 year-old OS.
Whoops, chose IIS. Hey, it came with the servers they bought because the Windows clients they have only worked best with Windows servers.
I'm just amazed that all the big suits in the world are really stupid pawns of Microsoft. Wow, M$ must really be evil as you all said if they are smart enough to fool all the smart business leaders in the world. But the IT guys working in their basement on a Linux--they really know what's best for all corporations in America and the world (even though they don't work there).
Yeah, that's the ticket!
Is that sarcasm or are you agreeing that IIS provides more value to the businesses that choose it?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.