Firefox takes IE down another notch

[Kate]

Source: http://networks.silicon.com/webwatch/0,39024667,39167861,00.htm?r=1

Firefox takes IE down another notch

Share boosted by fans in Eastern Europe


By Tom Espiner

Published: Tuesday 17 July 2007

Mozilla's web browser, Firefox, is becoming increasingly popular, gaining on average an extra 3.1 per cent of the market in 32 European countries in the past four months, according to French web-monitoring company XiTi Monitor.

Since its launch Firefox has been steadily gaining market share from the dominant browser, Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE). In the first week of July 2006, Firefox had 21.1 per cent of the market. In the first week of July 2007, Firefox held 27.8 per cent of the European market, according to XiTi Monitor's report.

Tristan Nitot, president of Mozilla Europe, said: "It's a nice way to get started on a Monday morning. I hope we continue to gain market share, as our goal is to promote choice. Monopoly leads to lack of innovation."

Although Microsoft still has 66.5 per cent of the browser market across Europe, in certain countries Firefox has now become very popular - especially in Eastern Europe. In Slovenia, Firefox has 47.9 per cent of the market, while the browser now has over 39 per cent market share in Poland, Hungary and Croatia.

Nitot said that a major contributory factor for Firefox's success in countries like Slovenia and Poland was the support network that exists in them.

He said: "There's a very active community there - there's active forum support online. Also, if you have a problem, people from the community will come to your business and fix any potential issues."

Tom Espiner writes for ZDNet UK

PS: a map is available in the French version of the article: http://www.silicon.fr/fr/silicon/news/2007/07/16/europe-firefox-prendrait

 

[GreenGambler]

I used to have a roommate that used FireFox on her computer, when it was still kinda new.

I didn't like it much, and stuck with my IE.

I'm not sure how it looks now, I've heard great things but I think I'm gonna stick with IE7 at least untill I get a new computer, then I might change.

 

[JuggernautH]

Well if you look at the older versions of iexplore you could easily stay with it, but then again you dont have as many great features as you have in firefox. With the new iexplore you can just switch rigth away in my opinion because the new arangement and moving around of stuff in newer versions of internet explorer realy isn't good as everyone using it is used to one placement of the things they use and now they move it around like they want?

That's just what i think, firefox has become far greater as a free web browser than any other i have tried. Opera/internet explorer and some of those i have tried haven't kept the same quality. Not to mention there are loads of plugins for firefox

 

[jackdomain]

the most big difference is the speed that upload webpages ... Firefox is a lot more fast... and is the best for me webbrowser for forums, foto galleries etc etc

but some javascript or some pluguins with firefox doesnt go...

 

[JuggernautH]

Well jackdomain you can make it so the javascripts/plugins work for firefox, if you are knowledgeable enough you can resolve any problem in that area

 

[AussieDomainer]

I have been using FireFox for a couple of years now and cringe everytime I use IE. The latest IE has just caught up with where FireFox was a couple of years ago as far as I am concerned. I am definitely a loyal FF user now.

 

[NameCharger]

On my machine, IE7 corrupted Dreamweaver MX's core javascript files.

Rolled back to IE6, no more problems. (probably not an issue with latest version of DW, but I prefer MX)

I only use IE when I have to. My office uses MS Exchange & Transaction Servers and doesn't like to play with FF.

 

[sashas]

Firefox is the best browser out there (and even professional reviewers admit it..it has more features than IE). My Firefox has never crashed even once. And somehow, I find the entire interface just smooth and easy. IE feels bulky and slow.

and the best part? Its open source, so it makes you feel a bit good...

 

[labrocca]

Obligatory Opera plug [insert here]

http://www.opera.com <--- If you want the best browser on Earth.

 

[JuggernautH]

labrocca have you tried firefox even?

 

[Wesley]

Opera is nice too, but I prefer Firefox. Firefox does crash on me if I have a lot going on, but FF lets me "Restore Session" when I open Firefox the next time so I don't lose track of my pages =D

 

[Kate]

Opera is nice too, but I prefer Firefox. Firefox does crash on me if I have a lot going on, but FF lets me "Restore Session" when I open Firefox the next time so I don't lose track of my pages =D

Opear has a 'Restore Session' feature too

 

[softprog]

I have been using FireFox for a couple of years now and cringe everytime I use IE. The latest IE has just caught up with where FireFox was a couple of years ago as far as I am concerned. I am definitely a loyal FF user now.

Same thing for me.

 

[ChrisChris]

Been using Firefox for a few years now and have never had an issue with it :tu:

Congrats to them on the extra market share

 

[matt_bodis]

Opera has like 1.5% of the market.

I think I'll stick to Firefox...

 

[Rocus]

I like the restore session from FF as well. I heard it's also keylogger safe. I also like it even more than IE because it takes like a second while IE takes up so much longer.

 

[labrocca]

labrocca have you tried firefox even?

Actually I am forced to use all 3 major browsers on a regular basis for testing of compatibility. Firefox is featureless in comparison to Opera. Opera is also a faster browser. With Opera I don't need a single extension. And Opera has been innovative while Firefox has been a copier.

Does Firefox come with Mouse Gestures? NO...Does FF come with Voice control? No...Does FF come with a mail client, rss reader, bittorrent client, and irc client BUILT IN? NOPE.

Also..I do side by side testing and Opera is always faster and it uses LESS resources than FF.

Now JuggernautH..have you used Opera beyond a cursory glance? Or did you just install and see it wasn't firefox and uninstall? Try using it for a week...guarantee you like it better than Firefox...GUARANTEED. Most that don't like Opera...never use it beyond a couple hours and never bother to customize the interface or learn about it's very unique features.

 

[JuggernautH]

Also..I do side by side testing and Opera is always faster and it uses LESS resources than FF.

I've used opera for about 2 years before i switched to Firefox so i would say i am a bit more knowledgeable than alot of other people when comparing these two browsers.

Firefox is faster than opera so you are totaly wrong when you say opera is, but i can agree that firefox does take more resources in form of computer memory for example. But opera being faster is just a joke. Sorry but that's what i think, been using firefox for about 2 years now and i've never experienced any problems with it.

Also opera has a bad habit of crashing, does firefox have that habit? NO!
That's where i will stop discussing this matter, if you want to further discuss it yourself you'll have to find someone else to do that with

 

[Kate]

Anything but ie :blink:

 

[JuggernautH]

Yes indeed, sdsinc