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Yes but!...
| quote: | Firefox market share rockets
IE5 users might be moving to Firefox not IE6, says web analytics firm
Steve Ranger, vnunet.com 01 Mar 2005
Mozilla's Firefox web browser has boosted its total global usage share to 8.45 per cent, according to figures by web analytics company Onestat.com.
Firefox's total usage share has increased by more than one per cent since November 2004, the web analytics company said. Mozilla announced last month that downloads of Firefox had hit 25 million since it was launched.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) still dominates the global browser market with a usage share of 87.28 per cent, 1.62 per cent less than at the end of November 2004, according to Onestat.com.
"It seems that global usage of Firefox is increasing and global usage of IE is decreasing. It looks like users of IE 5 are switching to Firefox instead of upgrading to IE 6.0," said Niels Brinkman, co-founder of OneStat.com.
The global usage share of Apple's Safari has increased from 0.91 per cent to 1.21 per cent since November 2004. Netscape (1.11 per cent) and Opera (1.09 per cent) are the fourth and fifth most used browsers. |
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| quote: |
Firefox gains foothold
01 March 2005
By MICHAEL HERMAN
The award-winning open-source browser Firefox has been downloaded more than 25 million times since launching less than 100 days ago.
Distributed by the Mozilla Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to preserving choice and promoting innovation on the internet, Firefox is on the ascendancy and becoming the browser of choice among technoliterate users.
User-friendly features - such as tabbed browsing, built-in pop-up blocking and live bookmarks – have made it easy for Mozilla Foundation's volunteer advocacy group, Spread Firefox (www.spreadfirefox.com), to promote the browser around the world.
Developed on the same model as the open-source software itself, Spread Firefox has already enlisted more than 70,000 members, "each of whom bring unique and diverse experience to the project," said the president of the Mozilla Foundation, Mitchell Baker.
"Twenty-five million Firefox downloads is a significant achievement, and we see that number continuing to grow.
"Firefox is being rapidly adopted by the mainstream, with this audience embracing Firefox as a more user-friendly web-browsing solution."
Firefox achieved more than 10 million downloads in its first month, shattering all records for earlier versions and increasing the pressure on software giant Microsoft to update its Internet Explorer browser.
Microsoft's chairman, Bill Gates, announced two weeks ago a new version of the world's most widely used web-browsing software, saying IE 7 would be released for preliminary testing around June this year, with stronger, built-in security features.
Meanwhile, Mozilla Foundation volunteers have translated Firefox into 28 languages, ensuring consumers around the world have equal access to the Firefox browser, and putting Microsoft under orders to improve its game or risk losing hearts, minds and desktops. |
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| quote: | Slower Firefox Growth Still Hurts IE
By Matt Hicks
February 28, 2005
While Mozilla Firefox has slowed its growth pace, the open-source browser still is making enough inroads to knock Microsoft's Internet Explorer below 90 percent user share for the first time in three years. ADVERTISEMENT
Web browser user-share data released Monday show that Firefox's rate of growth has dropped slightly since its Version 1.0 release. The browser had been increasing about one percentage point a month since November, but the pace has fallen this month, reports Web analytics provider WebSideStory Inc.
For the five weeks that ended Feb. 18, Firefox usage had jumped 0.74 percentage points to 5.7 percent.
That growth was enough to hurt Microsoft Corp.'s IE, which dropped 0.43 percentage points to 89.9 percent, WebSideStory reported. The last time IE dropped below 90 percent in WebSideStory's surveys was in early 2002.
"Maybe the biggest story of it all is that Firefox isn't going away," said Geoff Johnston, a WebSideStory analyst.
Since WebSideStory began tracking Firefox usage separately in November, the browser has risen 2.7 percentage points while IE has fallen 3 percentage points. IE had commanded a 95.5 percent share in June before it began to drop.
WebSideStory, of San Diego, Calif., tracks U.S. browser usage based on the percentage of unique browsers hitting its network of sites. The network consists of between 20 million to 30 million Internet users each day. eWEEK.com Special Report: Browser Security
PointerRead more here about Mozilla preparing to tackle security issues.
Johnston attributed Firefox's tempered growth to the typical slowdown in interest in a new software release as time passes.
Firefox also has battled recent security issues, including an Internationalized Domain Name spoofing flaw affecting non-IE browsers.
Mozilla last week issued a Firefox update to fix the problem.
Meanwhile, Microsoft appears to be getting ready to more directly battle Firefox. The company shifted it strategy this month by announcing plans to release IE 7.0, an update focused on security and to be launched outside of a general Windows release.
"There are a lot of ifs with Microsoft's new browser, and it may affect Firefox," Johnston said. "But I would not at all be surprised if we see sometime in the fall that 10 percent of all browsers in the U.S. are using Firefox rather than IE."
Mozilla Foundation leaders have set a goal of reaching a 10 percent share in 2005.
At its earlier pace of growth, Firefox appeared on track to reach that milestone by midyear.
If it continues to grow between a half and three-quarters of a percentage point every month, it would reach 10 percent usage by late fall, Johnston said. |
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| quote: | Firefox keeps seizing IE browser market share
Firefox slowly increases its share of the Web browser market where Microsoft Internet Explorer keeps its leading positions, San Diego-based WebSideStory reported Monday.
WebSideStory registered Microsoft's Internet Explorer’s share drop under the 90% level for the first time, while Firefox has enticed additional 0.74% to its 5.7% browser market share in the last five weeks since the research in January.
Although the speed of Firefox spreading decreased, WebSideStory analyst Geoff Johnston doesn’t see it is "stopping or flattening," but showing "steady half-a-percent-point increase each month." He thinks that Firefox’s "new features" are "what got them where they are today."
Amsterdam-based OneStat awarded Firefox with 8.5% share of the browser market. According to its Web research, the share of IE has fallen to 87.3 percent. Niels Brinkman, the founder of OneStat.com, admitted that the "global usage share of Mozilla's Firefox is still increasing," mostly because 'browser users of Internet Explorer 5 are switching to Mozilla Firefox instead of upgrading to Internet Explorer 6.0."
According to WebSideStory, the Mozilla Foundation could possibly reach its desirable 10% browser market share by the end of the year. But even with such results the Mozilla Foundation will not be able to force Microsoft Internet Explorer out of the market because Mozilla doesn't have such "benefits" like its own operating system.
"The only way I see Firefox really cracking the big time is if Mozilla partnered with the likes of Google. It's amazing how long it's taken everyone to realize that search is the killer app of the Internet, that search is where the money is for browsers," Johnston added. |
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 Go go Firefox
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Whatever it may take I keep on trying.
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Firefox barricade storming peters out...
