Posted on 02/28/2005 5:17:34 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
Mozilla's Firefox keeps chipping away at Microsoft's massive lead in browser usage, two Web metrics firms reported Monday.
San Diego, Calif.-based WebSideStory, which last released usage numbers in January, said that in the last five weeks, Firefox has gained an additional 0.74 percent to account for 5.7 percent of all browsers used in the U.S. Microsoft's Internet Explorer, meanwhile, now stands at 89.9 percent, a drop from January's 90.3 percent, and the first time WebSideStory pegged IE as falling under the 90-percent mark.
"That 7/10s of a point compares well with previous increases," said Geoff Johnston, an analyst for WebSideStory. "From June to November [2004], Firefox saw a pretty steady half-a-percent-point increase each month."
While there are indications that Firefox's growth rate is slowing -- the latest numbers show a growth of about 15 percent over the previous period, while that period had grown by 22 percent over the one before that -- Johnston saw it differently. "I don't see [the growth] stopping or flattening," he said.
"The buzz around Firefox keeps growing, and it's buzz that drives people to change," Johnston added. "Mozilla's marketing has been very guerrilla. You're not seeing it spend millions of dollars on TV. Instead, it's a powerful ground swell."
"Firefox keeps plugging away with new features," said Johnston, of Firefox. "That's what got them where they are today. Microsoft's lack of development on IE left open a window of opportunity, and Firefox took advantage of it. Microsoft didn't think that window was there, but with the announcement that it's working on IE 7.0, they've realized that they had left the window open."
(Excerpt) Read more at informationweek.com ...
Examples?
I completely agree. I'm a Firefox user because IE currently lacks built-in tabbed browsing, but I have no illusions about Firefox being perfect. I always have Java/Javascript turned off and disallow Firefox to permit sites from installing software. Firefox has had it's share of security vulnerabilities too.
I never understood why people moved away from Netscape.
i get a page saying something to the effect that "a non-compatible browser has been detected".
so, i back out, hit i.e., and come back in.
I work for an arm of the DoD in IT, and you can just imagine my reaction when, last week, a mandate came down from "on high," informing us that all non-I.E. browers were to be uninstalled at once.
http://mozillanews.org/?article_date=2004-12-08+06-48-46
http://secunia.com/search/?search=firefox
http://security.itworld.com/4345/050208browserflaw/page_1.html
....if you are lurking....make Firefox an offer they can't refuse heh heh heh....you know...money talks and bullsh!t walks kind of thing....or i'm gona break your knees...or cut off the head of your horse....then you'll get back up into the '90+ percent again.
Firefox is popular on Macs alright, but the biggie there is probably Safari. Firefox started out as a branch of the Linux Mozilla project I believe.
And those bugs where fixed very quickly, much faster then the better funded IE.
Ah. That may just be bad coding on their part. Is this on the Capitol one site or the fafsa site?
Proud to be surfing w/ Firefox 1.0.1
I'm sure that a consolation to the people that were affected by them. My only point is that Firefox is not perfect, and I've proven that.
i got it on both.
i can't remember now whether bank one did that to me or not. bank one is now owned and controlled by chase. they won't change their signs until sept.
I'm using 1.0, been using it since .6
It's probably as far as I'll go, it seems anytime software starts to get popular it ends up getting bloated with adware, spy options, and frivolous user features that don't do anything for me.
Perfection - like Beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
Has anyone on this thread said FF was perfect?
I use Apache and IIS at my sites and have never had a problem with either. I will leave it to you to compare the exploits for each. I think the issue comes down to the vigilance of the IT staff. I am a stickler for patch management, updates etc. My point was simply that many people use IE on a daily basis and don't experience the 'extreme horror and doom' because they use a M-soft product. I'm glad Bill Gates shaped the current technology industry; he made great advances which cannot be ignored. I am tired of people who constantly bash M-soft for the sole reason that they are dominant. He (and others, not M-soft related) were innovators who pushed technology further...to the benefit of all.
I would disagree about the "same vulnerabilities" part. Firefox doesn't have the hooks into the Win32 API that IE does. For example the exploits using the "Local Zone" vulnerability.
However, I do agree, that as Firefox acheives a greater market share, exploits will definitely be found.
But there's an argument to be made that the overall quantity of malware may be reduced if the blackhats have to double their coding effort to cover both browsers.
Sadly, many people who bash M-soft want a completely perfect, always safe, browser which will never fail, never expose them to anything, and always work as they want. They fault M-soft for not being able to create one. The reality is that when technology is concerned, developers will always be at odds with hackers, no matter the platform. The situation comes down to smart management. Many browsers are safe, if managed properly.
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