

Browser Wars Revisited - felipebueno
http://royal.pingdom.com/2013/03/21/browser-wars-2013/

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kimagure
I switched from Chrome to Firefox... tab groups, the extensions available, and
actually being able to save and sync my search keywords across computers
(instead of being stuck with a 2 yr old settings) are some big features for
me.

Oh, also that Greasemonkey itself is very easy to use.

I might consider trying out Opera again in the future, since its mouse
gestures are very responsive and the interface looks nice (to me). However,
lots of web pages didn't render properly for me the last time I used it (3+
yrs ago)

~~~
felipebueno
Me too. I switched back to Firefox after 2+ years using Chrome. But it's more
because I like Mozilla's way of doing things, principles and filosofy. And I'm
trying to avoid stuff that companies like Google offers.

~~~
devcpp
I switched from IE to Firefox and, looking back, I don't regret it, for the
very same reason. Mozilla is the only non-profit and Mozilla is by far the
best FOSS browser. Besides, Mozilla keeps pushing for new and better schemes
and is one of the few companies that won't track your web usage.

I just wish more people knew about these. Most people just look at the speed
with one tab open and pick Chrome.

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azakai
The article really tries to be serious, with lots of charts and data. But they
are all from StatCounter. There is an endless debate about which source of
browser market share is best, and no clear answer, so why consider only one?

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tcgv
I find it very annoying when I try to open a site and it says something like:

"Why the hell are you using IE? Please switch to a modern browser and come
back later!".

It turns out I'm not using IE, I'm using Chrome configured to say it is IE
(user agent) because the company I work for has a proxy that only answers to
IE...

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dminor
The only thing that really matters is your site's audience. Our site has
Safari in the lead at 39% (IE 24%, Chrome 17%). So, StatCounter's data is
interesting, but Chrome is the least important to us.

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quaffapint
Please get rid of IE8 - ugh, hate to see that many still using it - doesn't
look like I can drop support for awhile

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lucb1e
Isn't Opera missing here? I heard lots of people in Russia used it, at least
about a year ago.

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iagomr
Any Opera user here? What are the key reasons for you to choose this browser
over the others?

~~~
progrock
Spatial browsing, fit to width, and being able to disable images easily.

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pixeltrack
I would be surprised if Chrome isn't the #1 browser in North America a year
from now.

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recoiledsnake
I feel a bit sorry for Firefox here. They're doing things right but they
cannot really compete with Chrome on a equal footing because Chrome gets
bundled with almost every Java and Flash update and those are installed on
99%+ of PCs. Not to mention being pushed on high traffic sites like Youtube
and Gmail and being bundled with some PCs by paying the OEMs.

I remember switching a lot of non-techie friends/family to Firefox but I see
them using Chrome now. When I ask about Firefox the answer almost invariably
is that they didn't know how Chrome got on their PC.

Site owners get as much as $1 per Chrome download that they're able to push
their visitors to. I don't think Firefox has these kinds of resources against
Google trying to minimize how much they pay Firefox by cutting down the middle
man and building a moat around their search engine and ad profits. The next
good search engine to come by will certainly not be the default on a large
percentage of browsers.

~~~
rtfeldman
It's not as straightforward as "they're doing things right." As a Web
developer I have all the major browsers installed, and even in that fair fight
I prefer Chrome.

There are certain things I like about FF better, but Chrome's minimalism
really appeals to me. There are only two total rows of UI elements and each
row contains only the bare essentials. I love that.

I won't speculate on others' reasons for switching, and certainly bundling has
served Chrome's market share well, but I can't really feel sorry Firefox is
lagging when I don't even personally prefer it on the merits.

~~~
TheEskimo
Chrome's UI is also completely and totally inflexible. As you can see in this
screenshot, <http://i.imgur.com/D8rMRBa.png> , my firefox's UI takes up less
space and is only two rows. Chrome has three rows (the close/max/min buttons,
tabs, and navigation). There is no way on windows to reduce that top height.
Firefox is flexible enough that you can trivially do what I have with only
some simple css. The defaults for firefox are roughly as minimalistic as
chrome too. Also, on my linux box my firefox is thinned down even more, while
chrome just looks horribly out of place since you can't alter its appearance
to closer match the native environment.

I prefer firefox for quite a few reasons, but since you bring up the UI,
that's the only one I'll mention here.

~~~
glitchdout
What windows is that? In windows 7 the tabs touch the top of the screen. You
can't get any more minimal than that.

~~~
DanBC
On my Windows 7 there's a big huge bar behind the tabs. (This was also there
on OS X, and that's worse because of the OS X menu bar which is unremovable)

I really really want an easy way to squidge that background bar down a bit.

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cooldeal
They should've stated that the data comes from StatCounter upfront. I thought
they had their own metrics.

Pasting from an earlier comment:

One big difference is that NetMarketShare tries to measure unique clients,
while StatCounter measures web page hits.

Since the power users browse (probably a magnitude of order) more web pages
than the normal users, Chrome and to a lesser extent Firefox is
overrepresented in power users who browse a ton.

Toothpaste marketshare analogy. It's possible that 70% of people use Colgate
and 30% use Crest, but Colgate sales by volume are only 40% vs. 60% for Crest,
since Crest users tend to brush more daily and use more of the toothpaste when
they do for some reason.

Or a car analogy: Toyota sells 40% of cars and Honda only 30%, but 60% of
miles driven on roads are by Honda cars since they use it more. Which has a
higher marketshare?

~~~
bengoodger
It depends what you're interested in.

"Market vs. Usage share" is a debate that rages every time these numbers come
out. It's really apples and oranges. For me, market share is an interesting
piece of trivia and usage share is a snapshot of the zeitgeist of more heavily
engaged users. Which one matters most to you as a developer?

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abdophoto
I can't tell you how many times I've told myself that I wish IE and FF would
just die. One day, I'd love to just focus on building for Webkit and not have
to worry about supporting all these other engines.

~~~
lucb1e
I can't tell you how many times I've told myself that I wish Chrome and Safari
would just die. One day, I'd love to just focus on building for Gecko and not
have to worry about supporting all these other engines.

Though I agree a single render engine would make things easier for most front-
end webdevelopers, I'm not sure whether a monopoly is such a good idea.

~~~
scholia
I can't tell you how many times I've told myself that I wish Webkit and Gecko
would just die. One day, I'd love to just focus on building for Trident and
not have to worry about supporting all these other engines. Though I agree a
single render engine would make things easier for most front-end
webdevelopers, I'm not sure whether a monopoly is such a good idea.

;-)

Actually writing for STANDARDS would be a better idea....

~~~
felipebueno
I can't tell you how many times I've told myself that I wish the INTERNET just
dies. One day, I'd love to just focus on having a good real life and not have
to worry about all these "virtual life" things.

Sorry for the joke but, sometimes, it is really what I think. =)

