On Monday of this week, Firefox was officially five years old. How did this browser, in such a short space of time, steal 25% of the Internet market share , primarily at the expense of Internet Explorer? The short answer is that, when it launched in 2004, it delivered the things that users were actually asking for; speed and compatibility. While Internet Explorer was bloated with arguably unnecessary features, Firefox was a focussed, lightweight sprinter-application by comparison.
Applications development is cyclical in nature, though, and this has been readily apparent with Firefox. Whilst it gained market share through its operational speed, the developers encouraged take-up by adding further features and functionality. Effectively, it gained the size and weight that users found so off-putting with Internet Explorer. In short, its success against its competitor actually caused it to become that which it had originally sought to replace.
This brings us neatly to the present day, where the main participants are now Internet Explorer (still present due to its ubiquity through its ties to the Windows Operating System), Firefox and the fresh, fast, lightweight upstart that is Google Chrome. Our prediction is that if Firefox does not remember its roots then it could lose valuable ground to Google’s high speed minimalist browsing weapon. Time, as always, will tell.
At Nemark we use Firefox, but then again we are a bit geeky!
Applications development is cyclical in nature, though, and this has been readily apparent with Firefox. Whilst it gained market share through its operational speed, the developers encouraged take-up by adding further features and functionality. Effectively, it gained the size and weight that users found so off-putting with Internet Explorer. In short, its success against its competitor actually caused it to become that which it had originally sought to replace.
This brings us neatly to the present day, where the main participants are now Internet Explorer (still present due to its ubiquity through its ties to the Windows Operating System), Firefox and the fresh, fast, lightweight upstart that is Google Chrome. Our prediction is that if Firefox does not remember its roots then it could lose valuable ground to Google’s high speed minimalist browsing weapon. Time, as always, will tell.
At Nemark we use Firefox, but then again we are a bit geeky!
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