14 replies to this topic

[mobilenvidia]

Not had a look at this for quite some time, did a poll a few years back.
Here are the Browser Market share figures taken from NetMarketShare for January 2012:

Browser  -  Total Market Share   
Microsoft Internet Explorer 52.96%
Firefox   20.88%
Chrome 18.94%   
Safari 4.90%
Opera 1.67%
Proprietary or Undetectable    0.50%
Mozilla 0.03%   
Flock   0.02%
ACCESS NetFront   0.01%
Android Browser 0.01%
Obigo 0.00%
Konqueror   0.00%

I've been using Chrome for a number of years now, where it took over from Firefox which took over from Netscape Navigator
I can't say I've ever used Internet explorer other than when first installing an OS and I needed something before installing latest version of another browser.
IE does have one advantage, I have to use it to check on the MSUpdate driver catalogue no other browsers allowed

I'm trialling Comodo Dragon (Chrome based), useful net features if you like that kind of security

What gives with all these new versions that really don't add or change anything ?
Chrome a late comer to the scene is up to v18, each full version ads very little, Firefox is similar.
This reminds me so of the Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator wars of yesteryear
Looks like Mozilla and Google are fighting it out for 2nd place behind Microsoft who can just sit back and enjoy the slugging match

So whats your main browser ?

[LSudlow]

IE9 with ChromeFrame - Best of both worlds and fully HTML5 compatible.

[FadeToBlack]

Waterfox 10 FTW!

[zipper]

IE 9 and when it  fails, Firefox. Opera and Chrome are idling.

[tribaljet]

Google decided that in order to draw more attention from the masses, it would start an absurd version cycle, which would soon be followed by Mozilla, and the people who benefit the least from it are the users. A good example of that is the Firefox addon compatibility being skewed, with many devs being forced to repeatedly raise the version ceiling from 4.x to 5.x to 6.x, and so on, while previously things lasted far longer since significant version number changes took quite a while to happen and were more often than not justified, unlike the ridiculous trend set by Google.

About market share values, Internet Explorer will continue to have a lower and lower market share, along with the fact that it will never drop to minimal values due to being integrated in every Windows version as well as there being many users who use it due to not knowing better. And yes, I know that Internet Explorer isn't the mess it was on version 8 and earlier.

[mobilenvidia]

Interesting stuff early on, looks like FF is by far the more preferred browser for the tech savvy folk

[reiyu]

Chrome is only used by hipsters. I use Firefox myself, but really want to switch to IE9 because of its performance, but can't due to the fact that IE8 and below is like an ex-girlfriend that you would never want to forgive.

[coolguy16]

I use Firefox, but FF seems to get sluggish with every newer release.

I use IE 9 for downloading MS software and sometimes Chrome to see how it is.

Edited by coolguy16, 05 February 2012 - 02:21 PM.

[StefanG3D]

coolguy16, on 05 February 2012 - 02:19 PM, said:

I use Firefox, but FF seems to get sluggish with every newer release.

For me it helps to create a new downloads folder from time to time.

---

Firefox for general usage
IE only if ActiveX is required
Chrome is the best for WebGL atm

[bobo1704]

I always use Firefox and I haven't got any problem since version 3.0. I am very delighted...

[Squall_Rinoa89]

Firefox 10 FTW

[mobilenvidia]

So I'm the only Chrome user, so ahead of my time

[tribaljet]

It's a shame those figures don't distinguish x86 from x64 browsers.

[d3v]

Been using Firefox since its early incarnations as Mozilla Suite.
It has the best add-ons and configurability for me.
Google Chrome share is rising partly because it has such an aggressive promotion and gets bundled with the majority of free software. So much so that people who don't pay attention while installing other software end up with it on their system. A very Microsoft tactic. Also, I guess Android phone users are buying into Google, wholesale - in a cult-of-Apple [simpleton] adoptive way.
Google are a very suspicious creation. Another data collection and monitoring project paid for, and on behalf of, the powers that be - as is Facebook.
As much as the Android OS is great, I now even don't use an Android phone because of the Google affiliation.
I use Copernic as my search engine: from Firefox address bar, Firefox search bar, as homepage and via the standalone app.
Firefox allows me to block so much, including all the Google trackers and stat gatherers.
On my phones I use Opera Mobile and Opera Mini. My Linux installs use various Mozilla incarnations.
The one big loser for Firefox compared to others is that each tab isn't handled as a separate process. This would ensure that bad utilisation of scripts and plugins by websites would only interfere with the affected tab and not potentially hang the whole browser.

[tribaljet]

I agree with most of what you said d3v, and the whole browser hanging can be partially solved by manually terminating plugin container.

About add-ons, Mozilla has by far the biggest and most diversified library in the world, most ports of certain popular add-ons made to work on competing browsers are either buggy or underperforming in some way.