Firefox sinking?

[Kevin McFarlane]

An incredibly shrinking Firefox faces endangered species status

Not good as far as I'm concerned. Despite some "issues" it's still the best browser imo.

Having said that, Opera has never risen above about 2% and has been around for 20 years, so I won't panic yet.

[earther]

I like the typo in the subject. Firefox has indeed been 'sinking' for a long time. Firefox 3.x was the best ever and it's been downhill ever since.

[Kevin McFarlane]

Firefox 3.x was the best ever and it's been downhill ever since.

The opposite for me.

[jefboyardee]

I have the current Firefox running and syncing on two Win7HP PCs, three Linux distros, a tablet and an Android phone... guess that means I like it, and Thunderbird too.

[Frank Lion]

On a thread in a tech forum that is supposed to be specifically looking at the changing browsing habits of millions of people then how about we raise the intellectual level of it above that of a personal preference TV phone-in poll?

What's next? 'World Peace - Good thing/Bad thing? You Decide.'

[James]

People have been coming here for over eleven years claiming the browser we know as Firefox was doomed... nothing new.

[DanRaisch]

Firefox 3.x was the best ever and it's been downhill ever since.

Well, yeah. Except for the newer versions being faster, having more functionality in several areas, being more secure, etc. Certainly version 3.x was much, much better.

[Omega X]

How about this for analyst predictions:

People are leaving for Chrome due to its mobile ties with Android. Since its installed by default with Google Play Services, its having an "IE effect" which is ripe for eventual anti-trust regulation due to owning 87% marketshare in some countries (51% in the U.S.). Apple will never get ahead anywhere other than mobile due to a lack of meaningful Windows release to marry it to. Opera has never had much of any traction anywhere but closed solutions for Nintendo. Microsoft is still riding coattails off of Windows enterprise installs and default status on 90% of all PCs everywhere but has near zero mobile presence due to dumb restrictions on Windows Phone that cripples its app store ports.

As much as I hate to admit, they're going to have to start pushing hard for a MUCH better mobile presence on Android to keep people interested.

[jefboyardee]

I have no intention of abandoning Firefox for one silly reason: it offers bookmarks on the sidebar, just like IE does, just like Netscape did... can't browse without it.

[browser_wowser]

How about this for analyst predictions:

People are leaving for Chrome due to its mobile ties with Android.

That is the most reasonable explanation I've read. My pet theory is that Firefox users utilize privacy extensions/settings at a higher rate than users of other browsers, particularly IE.* This contributes to under count and the declining numbers post Snowden.

If that is true, NetMarketShare and Statcounter woefully misrepresent Firefox users.

Wikimedia stats show Firefox hits at nearly the same level as IE. Chrome and Android command huge numbers on that site. It is possible Chrome is over represented on individual site stats from the network prediction service.

*Edit: e.g. EasyPrivacy blocking NetMarketShare and Statcounter scripts out-of-the-box

[patrickjdempsey]

Yawn. I really wish someone would make a website that takes all of these various usage metrics from various sources and collects them together and shows the mean as well as the variance. The variance is ridiculously high. So what you end up with if you were able to view the variance is that you can see *general trends* but specific numbers are impossible (or at least impossible from the data collected by public-facing stats collectors... I bet Google has a pretty darn accurate idea of what people are using).

As far as people changing their UA to mask their browser use goes... despite those people being surprising vocal about their behavior, I honestly doubt they make up more than a fraction of a percent of all Firefox users. They are also IMO completely wasting their time because websites can easily discover your rendering engine (and even what version) even if you lie about your UA through a variety of techniques.

[Frank Lion]

My pet theory is that Firefox users utilize privacy extensions/settings at a higher rate than users of other browsers, particularly IE.* This contributes to under count and the declining numbers post Snowden.

Your pet theory is about as convincing as Hitler's Mum saying to her son, 'Don't listen to them, they're just jealous'.

Take mobile out of the equation and look at just desktop use - http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser ... pcustomb=0 (which is the same link as I used here, when Firefox had 25%)

As much as I hate to admit, they're going to have to start pushing hard for a MUCH better mobile presence on Android to keep people interested.

That boat has long since sailed, I reckon.

When Firefox cleaved into Microsoft's 98% marketshare back in 2004, they did it by producing a far better browser than IE and also by exploiting their Open Source credentials.

On Android, a browser is just one of many apps that connect to the Net, there are around 100 browsers to choose from and no one gives a damn about Open Source. Firefox is never going to cleave into that with the slow, clunky port of desktop that it is offering on Android.

[patrickjdempsey]

Heck, people don't even care about *free* anymore, let alone Open.

[KilliK]

or privacy.

[Frenzie]

Firefox is never going to cleave into that with the slow, clunky port of desktop that it is offering on Android.

Last I checked it didn't even do bookmark folders. >_>