

Only 8% of users know what a browser is. Do we have to rethink the browser game? - bbhacker
http://www.customer-experience-labs.com/2009/06/19/only-8-of-internet-user-know-what-a-browser-is-do-we-have-to-rethink-how-we-market-browser/

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arrrg
This is an article about marketing browsers, i.e. what can browsers offer so
that people start caring which browser they are using.

I just don’t really see the big problem there. We have got a lot of healthy
competition in the browser market. The dark ages of IE6 are (nearly) over and
the future of browsers is looking pretty good.

I don’t think you will be able to change much about the way people think about
the web and browsers. Browsers are just one of those transparent things that
remain in the background. And I’m pretty sure that throwing features at the
problem is not the right way to go. Turning browsers into glorified <Insert-
Your-Favorite-Web-Thing-Here> clients just seems to be a pretty stupid move.

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stcredzero
At and old company, we were dealing with the acquisition of a new product, and
with it a new, more vocal user base that often expressed itself on USENET. The
CTO went on our website, followed some links to a 3rd party website, hit a
nntp:// link that opened Outlook Express on a newsgroup, then was all up in
arms the next day: "What are all these negative comments doing _on our
website_!?"

Yes, it was something like 2001, and we had a software company CTO that didn't
know the difference between http and nntp and Internet Explorer and Outlook
Express.

To quote Zed Shaw: Steak and Strippers, Baby!

~~~
tjogin
It seems your CTO also didn't know the difference between _your_ website and
_other_ websites. He must have had one hell of a personality.

~~~
stcredzero
He once saved the CEO/founder 2 million dollars. Afterward, he was considered
a saint, and we've had to deal with his technical incompetence ever since.

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jballanc
Browsers are not the issue here. When Woz designed the Apple II, he imagined
that everyone who owned one would write programs for it. Instead, they used it
for VisiCalc or Number Munchers. Programmers look at a computer and see
possibilities, competing technologies, and a vast environment to explore.
Everyone else looks at a computer and sees a tool, something to let them catch
up with Grandma without having to call or pay a visit.

The real question to ask is what makes programmers (and their ilk) different
from everyone else. I'm convinced the answer is education, but it seems like
no one is interested in discussing the sad state of such in the US.

Bottom line: Most people don't care what computer, let alone what browser,
they use. All they care is what it can do for them, and faster load times
don't seem to make that big a difference.

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pmorici
I don't think education has much to do with it. It's more of an intellectual
curiosity and a capacity for independent thought two things which most people
lack. How else do you explain children who take to computers at a young age.

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BigCanOfTuna
Only 2% of users know what a CVT Transmission is, do we need to rethink the
'powertrain' game?

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die_sekte
Only 2% of users know what polyethylene is, do we need to rethink the
'bagging' game?

~~~
Skeuomorph
The CV transmission and polyethylene are internal components.

I'm overthinking here, but the browser is essentially a JIT typesetter and job
press inside a box of menus and buttons to control it.

For the "browser as publisher" question, what percentage of people know what
an offset press versus letterpress is, or if talking about rendering, a
Linotype versus Scitex? Even though you can touch the difference on a page,
most people don't care. (Btw, does anyone have a working daisywheel printer I
could buy?)

For the box of menus and buttons, thinking "browser as UI", what percentage of
users know who makes their car radio?

The car radio is somewhat similar since some models have knobs, some have
buttons, they generally tune in stations mostly as well as each other (except
for one or two that pull in almost nothing). The car radio comes with the car,
and can be replaced, but few people actually bother.

And if the radio's too specific, you could stop quite a few people on the
street and ask them what kind of car (operating system) they have, and some
will tell you, "A red one."

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ScottWhigham
Okay - so given this data along with the recent announcement that Windows 7
will ship without a browser built-in in Europe, does that mean that up to 92%
of Europe will go offline when they upgrade?

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godDLL
So, you're saying that all of Internet's intelligible discussion is generated
by less then that, right?

Makes me wonder whether Internet in it's current state will hold up were we to
dislodge with the general ignorance.

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diN0bot
maybe you mean "intelligible web tech discussion". there are plenty of
intelligent discussions occurring on the internet by intelligent people who
don't know what a browser is.

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jrnkntl
In other words.. we still need to make sites IE6 compatible the coming 10
years.

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quizbiz
Firefox changed the way people perceive browsers. I don't know how much I
trust the recorded sampling.

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socratees
Might be the sampling is skewed, but still it means that people are still
susceptible to the false claims that Internet Explorer makes.

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known
I think all browsers (including IE) must provide native support for cross-
platform.

