IE's slow death.

[stomachmonkey]

Just checked some analytics on one of our dedicated product sites.

Our user base skews younger and generally more tech savvy so IE has always had a lower share for us compared to others.

Still it was generally in the mid to high 60% range.

Recent stats,

Firefox 32%
IE 32%
and Chrome coming on real strong at 26%

Our main site still has IE in the lead but shrinking as well

IE 45%
Firefox 26%
Chrome 16%

[azasadny]

I haven't used IE for about 4 years. I use Mozilla...

[red-beard]

What are the advantages of Chrome and Firefox?

[masraum]

I've been using Mozilla (Netscape, then firefox) since 1996. I think I used IE once for about a 3-4 month period because the then current version of Netscape was crap. I have IETab installed in Firefox, and occasionally use that, but the sites that don't work correctly with FF are dwindling to almost nothing. I also use FF at work as much as possible including using it for Sharepoint sites (usually using IETab).

IE will never go away because there are too many home users that are clueless and will use it because it's already installed.

I've considered going to Chrome, because I like the idea of having my bookmarks whether I'm on my home PC or not, but I've got FF customized so that I really like it. I can't imagine being able to duplicate the functionality in Chrome.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by red-beard

What are the advantages of Chrome and Firefox?

You forget the green?

[Neilk]

Originally Posted by red-beard

What are the advantages of Chrome and Firefox?

Ad-block for one.

If you are on a Windows PC, knowing that some malware is going to have a much harder time infecting your PC than in IE amongst many other reasons.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by red-beard

What are the advantages of Chrome and Firefox?

They are not as widely targetted by malicious software as IE. I think that's the big one, security. As mentioned, Ad Block (an extension) or Ad Block Plus along with No Script, and you're pretty golden.

They are both, I believe, open source. You can customize the snot out of Firefox using extensions and plugins. In my experience, they are usually faster than IE.

For instance, one of my pet peeves is that most browsers seem to take a lot of the vertical space up with various tool bars and menu bars and crap at the top and bottom of the browser. Why do they insist upon making our usable browser window shorter vertically when monitors are getting wider and web pages are oriented in portrait mode.

There are several extensions available for firefox to fix the issue several different ways.

I resized both windows horizontally to make things smaller for the posts. On my 1920x1200 res monitor there's tons of room horizontally.
Here's the top of IE


Here's the top of my FF


I've been able to put the location bar, menu bar and search field all on one line. I've also got my tab bar located on the side of the browser which means it's easier to have/see a large list of tabs, and they don't take up valuable webpage space.

[id10t]

Unfortunately due to corporate entrenchment (IE 6 still has a a small percentage of the userbase) IE will only go away as the result of legal action or the end of MS. Personally I think MS needs to be forced to split into separate companies for OS and applications...

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by id10t

Unfortunately due to corporate entrenchment (IE 6 still has a a small percentage of the userbase) IE will only go away as the result of legal action or the end of MS. Personally I think MS needs to be forced to split into separate companies for OS and applications...

Before Apple's come back, I think that was a viable option from an antitrust standpoint. For it to happen now, it would need to be a decision by Microsquish. I think they would be better off as a group of smaller companies.

[island911]

+1 FireFox .

Originally Posted by id10t

Unfortunately due to corporate entrenchment (IE 6 still has a a small percentage of the userbase) IE will only go away as the result of legal action or the end of MS. Personally I think MS needs to be forced to split into separate companies for OS and applications...

so... all of these other WebOS companies are okay, but MSFT shouldn't be allowed to have a web OS?

Seriously, I don't get it. ....unless it's just knee-jerk hating on MSFT. /then I get it.

With the current landscape of WebOS devices, from giants like Google, I laugh at that old judgment against MSFT via Netscape.

Why not say that Apple should be split into hardware and software companies? ...or phone and cmptr companies?

[imcarthur]

I have used Chrome for a while now. It is tabbed of course & I really like the one box. Type it a url or a partial or any search parameters & go. You don't need a separate box for Google. It has has numerous add ons for blocking or page analysis.



Ian

[holtjv]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

I have used Chrome for a while now. It is tabbed of course & I really like the one box. Type it a url or a partial or any search parameters & go. You don't need a separate box for Google. It has has numerous add ons for blocking or page analysis.



Ian

+1. From a real, day-to-day benefit, this is my favorite part of Chrome. To enter a URL, just start the first letter in the address bar. If it's a site you frequent, it fills out the rest of the bar and you don't even have to press Enter. Very, very fast.

If you look at your system usage, Chrome uses far less memory than FF. Don't know about IE. Regardless, the fast URL entry would take my business.

Here's a screenshot of right when I entered "f" into the address bar. See how the address after the 'f' is selected/highlighted? That's the auto-fill. Good stuff. And, if you want a baby on 11-11-11, start this weekend!

[red-beard]

Has Google changed the terms and conditions on Chrome? My early turn off was Google would own anything you typed on Chrome.

[imcarthur]

I think of everything on the net - in any browser, on any page, with any app - as semi-public. Privacy does not exist in cyberspace. If you have ever viewed website stats, you would accept this as fact. It is the nature of the beast. And smart phones are the same.

Ian

[MysticLlama]

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

I think of everything on the net - in any browser, on any page, with any app - as semi-public. Privacy does not exist in cyberspace. If you have ever viewed website stats, you would accept this as fact. It is the nature of the beast. And smart phones are the same.

Ian

It wasn't a public/privacy issue. It was a matter of intellectual property. Google was claiming that if you posted something with Chrome, it would own the content. I read the specific entries in the terms of use. I have not reviewed it for changes since. But for those using Chrome now, do you know if this has changed?

[campbellcj]

The IE9 beta addresses some of the issues (i.e., speed) and may be a contender; however, it doesn't yet fully support all the latest standards or proposed standards that the others do support nicely. That gap may close as it reaches prod status.

That being said, I've been using Chrome exclusively for quite some time now (PC & Mac). Prior to that I used Firefox but when it started getting bloated, and Chrome became rock-solid, I jumped.

[campbellcj]

Well, I partially take that back - I use a few sites at work that only work on IE... So I use IE only for those.

[Paul_Heery]

I have Firefox, Chrome & Opera installed on my main laptop. I also have IE4Linux installed as well, but I can't think of the last time I even fired it up. Of those, Chrome has become my most used browser.

There are a lot of reasons why I have leaned towards Chrome. It is stable, faster, uses less resources, each tab runs as a different process, etc. But, the main reason that it has become my primary browser is the ability to very easily customize my personal experience with how I interact with my favorite, often-visited sites. As an example, PPOT.

When I come here, I am interested in reading the threads. I don't particularly care about the ads, the other areas of the site, and I don't really want to be bothered by PARF. So, with just a few clicks, I can customize my browsing experience and free up some valuable screen real estate. I prefer the minimalist approach and can always get to the other areas of the sites easily when I choose to do so. Plus, I absolutely hate needing to scroll down through half of a page just to get to the actual content.

[Aurel]

IE is a nice platform to get viruses, spyware, popups and all the like. I have been happy with Opera for years. Having mail client integrated to it is one less app to run.