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Former Mozilla CTO: "Chrome won."

K

kingocfs

Member
Some interesting insight on the browser wars from Andreas Gal via his blog.

https://andreasgal.com/2017/05/25/chrome-won/

alldevices-e1495689941520.png


If the 6 year trend holds, IE should be pretty much dead in 2 or 3 years. Firefox is not faring much better, unfortunately, and is headed towards a 2-3% market share. For both IE and Firefox these low market share numbers further accelerate the decline because Web authors don’t test for browsers with a small market share. Broken content makes users switch browsers, which causes more users to depart. A vicious cycle.

...

The overall desktop PC market is growing slightly (most sales are replacement PCs, but new users are added as well). Despite an expanding market both IE and Firefox are declining unsustainably.

...

I started Firefox OS in 2011 because already back then I was convinced that desktops and browsers were dead. Not immediately–here we are 6 years later and both are still around–but both are legacy technologies that are not particularly influential going forward. I don’t think there will be a new browser war where Firefox or some other competitor re-captures market share from Chrome.
Click to expand...


- written in my Chrome browser
 
T

TatteredHat

Member
Doesn't help that Firefox has had the tendency over the years to fuck up useful features with new versions.

Still using it though, but I do already use Chrome as well.
 
B

Breads

Banned
Firefox had too many memory issues. It is ridiculous that it only lasts a certain amount of time before it inevitably crashes. I used it for a very long time and indeed there are some plugins/ add ons that keep me using it irregularly but Chrome has become my main browser.

And I welcome my google overlords.
 
L

Linkark07

Banned
The day Firefox dies will be quite sad. First browser I used after Internet Explorer (well, second. First one was Netscape).
 
C

Caderfix

Member
I don't like Chrome at all, so I'm still using Firefox. I don't think that's going to change as long as they keep updating it.
 
M

Maintenance

Member
For both IE and Firefox these low market share numbers further accelerate the decline because Web authors don’t test for browsers with a small market share. Broken content makes users switch browsers, which causes more users to depart. A vicious cycle.
Click to expand...

Kinda what happened to me earlier. Tried using for work but the company's web program would get absolutely fucked up on Firefox.
 
C

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Was a big FF nut even when the performance kept getting worse....but Chrome is just too good between mobile and desktop. Still have FF installed though.
 
ebullientprism

ebullientprism

Member
The chart above shows the percentage market share of the 4 major browsers over the last 6 years, across all devices. The data is from StatCounter and you can argue that the data is biased in a bunch of different ways, but at the macro level it’s safe to say that Chrome is eating the browser market, and everyone else except Safari is getting obliterated.
Click to expand...

Well if they are counting all devices then yeah the data will be HEAVILY biased towards browsers that come default on mobile devices.

I didnt even know Firefox had a mobile presence and since Win phones are dead, I would imagine so is IE.

Those numbers probably influence that graph a little too much.
 
N

Nekofrog

Banned
Firefox did too many things wrong back to back to back for me to not switch to chrome years ago

Good browser, still use it for business banking at work.
 
A

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
Jarate said:
This includes mobile users correct?
Click to expand...

That would account for the huge chrome spike and potentially the Firefox downturn if more users are exclusively using their mobile devices (of which chrome would be the most common default browser).
 
R

royalan

Member
A shame, because I'd say in the last year Firefox has returned to being the better browser of the two.

Chrome has gotten so bloated.
 
Bumblebeetuna

Bumblebeetuna

Member
I prefer Firefox on my desktop to anything else.

I got an iPhone for the first time this year, first iOS product, Safari is great too.
 
C

CountAntonius

Member
I went from Firefox to Opera to Chrome. Google has my by the balls. Something really needs to go wrong for me to switch. I even use chrome on ios.
 
T

theepicoftyler

Member
I'd guess about 75% of the web tools we use at work don't run on Firefox. About 15% of them don't even run on Chrome and we're forced to use IE for them.
 
A

Atolm

Member
On mobile I use Firefox because I can use uBlock Origin without Root.

For adblockers in Chrome you need to root your device.
 
Rktk

Rktk

Member
I use Firefox on Desktop and Android. On Desktop I don't have performance issues vs Chrome, in fact fewer. On Android it's another matter - FF is noticeably slower however I like to sync my history and Android FF has add-ons.

I don't think Google should be dominant in everything.

What does this mean for the future of Firefox?
 
old

old

Member
Breads said:
Firefox had too many memory issues. It is ridiculous that it only lasts a certain amount of time before it inevitably crashes. I used it for a very long time and indeed there are some plugins/ add ons that keep me using it irregularly but Chrome has indeed become my main browser.

And I welcome my google overlords.
Click to expand...

I remember those days. Had to close it down every hour or so because it would continually eat up more and more memory until it crashed the system.

Firefox was great for a while. It let me enjoy tabbed browsing and speed dial many years before others tasted such with Chrome. But Chrome came out and had all the best ideas of Firefox but was faster, lighter, and more stable.
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
There's like a tiny amount of things I'll use Edge for but 99% it's Chrome just based on familiarity.
 
N

NewDust

Member
I was an avid fan of FF up until a few years ago. I already used Chrome on the side for certain sites and programs, but when Mozilla started a shorter update cycle for FF, my plugins kept breaking. Couple that with the fact I use my phone more than ever, where I also use chrome, it was hard to justify sticking with FF.
 
K

kingocfs

Member
Another interesting comment from him below the post:

The world if optimizing for the common case: mobile. I am out of ideas how to win mobile at this point, but there is clearly stuff coming after mobile. VR, IoT, AI, and others. My advice is to focus on those instead of worrying about what happens to the desktop. We can influence a lot of people’s online lives in the future without ever worrying about the desktop again.

Fun story by the way. Talk to kids about smartphones and homework. I have seen first hand kids doing homework on a phone, resting their elbows on a brand new MBP. Kids grow up with touch. Laptops are unfamiliar to them. Maybe tablets will fill this gap, but keyboards are definitely not something that is intuitive to you if you had a smartphone by age 3 or 4.
Click to expand...
 
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