Mozilla's Firefox narrowly edges out Microsoft in global desktop browser share for the first time

[Shawn Knight]

Mozilla’s Firefox web browser has outpaced Microsoft’s combined browser efforts – Internet Explorer and Edge – on a global scale for the first time ever, at least according to statistics from one web analytics firm.

For the month of April, Microsoft registered a desktop market share of 15.5 percent compared to the 15.6 percent owned by Mozilla’s Firefox, StatCounter found. Both browser makers saw their market share fall during the three-month period of February, March and April. What put Firefox in the lead was the simple fact that its share didn’t slip as quickly as Microsoft’s.

As you might have guessed, the only browser to gain market share during the three-month period was Chrome. Google’s web browser enjoyed 59 percent of the global market in February, a figure that climbed to 60.5 percent by the end of April.

Opera and all other desktop web browsers combined have held steady at 8.4 percent market share during the same period.

StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen said Microsoft might have expected a boost to its overall browser share as the result of the launch of the Windows 10 with Edge but it hasn’t happened to date.

Interestingly enough, it’s a completely different story in the US as Microsoft stakes a claim to more than a quarter of the desktop browser market compared to Firefox’s 13.44 percent. Google’s Chrome still reigns supreme, however, with a 51.59 percent share as of April 2016.

Chrome’s lead is reflected elsewhere as well. W3School’s data shows a 70.4 percent share for Chrome in April 2016 while NetMarketShare reveals a commanding 44.1 percent share for Chrome compared to just 28.73 percent for Internet Explorer.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/64862-mozilla-firefox-narrowly-edges-out-microsoft-global-desktop.html

 

[cliffordcooley]

I'll never use Chrome. Google has annoyed me too much over the years getting to where they are now.

 

[bmw95]

I'll never use Chrome. Google has annoyed me too much over the years getting to where they are now.

How so? Well it is quite a bit slower than it used to be, and the UI could use an update. Is it just the privacy issues stuff or..?

 

[cliffordcooley]

How so?

Being bundled with software I do use. Finding the need to uninstall Chrome from machines, where it wasn't specifically invited. I've treated them the same way I've treated malware in the past and will continue to do so.

 

[treetops]

I like FireFox, Reload all abs with a right click or a command. Right click to show tool bar, chrome has to have some kind of bar to add the bar you can't click on the top. Has a button for favorites by default. Chrome looks like it only has bookmarks with the bar option, not a tool bar and a separate favorites section. Most of my work tools work on FF when they won't work on IE. Some of the tools only work in Chrome but it's not as many. Chome has no bookmarks button? Maybe it does when your bar fills up idk. There are some little things like that I don't like in chrome.

Mostly though my familiarity with firefox. I also trust firefox, it's the only reason we have great browsers. Without it chrome would be a ie clone. I don't know anything within Chrome that is better then FF. The major reason it's so popular is that it is advertised when you go to google. All the people who used IE that had no idea FF existed were probably blown away by chrome.

Also loyalty, they showed us what a great web browser could be. They led us out of the dark days of IE. (IE is even better because FF set the bar). I fear the way Chrome and IE might go without FF around. Blocking sites? Requiring your cell phone number to use their browser? Installing BS tool bars. Pop ups?

 

[MoeJoe]

It's about time.

Been a FF diehard going on 4 years now.

 

[amstech]

Being bundled with software I do use. Finding the need to uninstall Chrome from machines, where it wasn't specifically invited. I've treated them the same way I've treated malware in the past and will continue to do so.

I'll tell you I know where your coming from, I HATE tacked on installs. Seriously, I hate it more then rust on a car.
Seeing Chrome bundled with everything under the sun gets annoying.

But beyond that, its a solid browser that can be a RAM hog.
I use it on my Galaxy S Tablet because that has 3GB RAM, but on my old Slate Plus, 1GB RAM is a real issue so I use the built in browser, goes much faster.

 

[loading]

The biggest issues with FireFox is lack of updates and security. There was a reason they were a "no show" at Pwn2Own this year. To be fair all web browsers present were broken, Chrome just lasted the longest at 11 minutes.

Probably the scariest statement was this "While Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome and Apple Safari are targets, Firefox isn't because it's apparently too easy and not keeping up with modern security: "'We wanted to focus on the browsers that have made serious security improvements in the last year,' Brian Gorenc, manager of Vulnerability Research at HPE" http://www.eweek.com/security/pwn2own-hacking-contest-returns-as-joint-hpe-trend-micro-effort.html

Been a dedicated FF guy since update 7. But I've moved on to Chrome and it's been a pretty good experience thus far. Sort of rubbed wrong on the whole Matchstick thing as well.

 

[mcborge]

I've been a user since 2008. Firefox isn't perfect but for me it's the browser that suites me best with ad-ons like strict popup blocker and ad block plus. And without nosquint I would be typing this with my nose pressed to the screen.

 

[p51d007]

How so?

Being bundled with software I do use. Finding the need to uninstall Chrome from machines, where it wasn't specifically invited. I've treated them the same way I've treated malware in the past and will continue to do so.

LOL, sounds like the arguments I heard back in the win98 days when it was always bundled with IE, to the point the government took them to court over it.

I use to use Chrome, but it got slow! Resources after closing Chrome looked like my HDD was working overtime

 

[Bl00dyMinded]

I've been a chrome user for years since it came out. But the past month I've been using Opera and love it! have it on my Android device... Ad block automatically is a plus for Opera and free VPN coming soon is a double ++... Browsers like Chrome should learn for them.

 

[Ascaris]

It's about time.

Been a FF diehard going on 4 years now.

I've been in the FF camp since before there was FF, so to speak. When I started using graphical (not Lynx) browsers in the mid 90s, it was all about Netscape Navigator (I think 2.0 at that point). The early releases of IE didn't excite me, and I went with Netscape instead. Come to think of it... none of the IEs have ever excited me!

I stuck with Netscape through 3.0 (which was quite nice), then through 4.x Communicator (which crashed a LOT). At some point, Netscape released the code for the unfinished Netscape 5, their next-generation browser/suite, and made it open-source. Netscape 5 was never released, but soon Netscape 6 preview builds started floating around, but they were too buggy still to prompt me to switch (which was saying something, given the state of 4.x). Netscape 6 was the branded version of the open-source Mozilla Suite that was under development.

Eventually, Mozilla Suite 1.0 was released. It was everything those early builds of NS6 should have been, and I migrated immediately. For a while, the suite was the main Mozilla project, but then we started hearing about a pared-down version that was being developed by a small group of Moz devs... it was called Phoenix, chosen because it was rising from the ashes of the suite. I'm not really sure that was an apt metaphor, as the suite was hardly what I would consider to be in ashes.

So Phoenix advanced from 0.1 to 0.2 to 0.3, and eventually Phoenix BIOS took notice of someone using the name and started rattling their cage. So Phoenix became Firebird... there would also be Thunderbird for email and Camino for a native UI Mac version, to continue the car-name motif.

Firebird was already in use by some database project, so it was renamed to Firefox at some point. Soon after, FF was released as 1.0, and I migrated at about that time.

I never used IE6 through the XP years. After seeing what MS did to Netscape, there was just no way I'd think about switching... and I was happy with FF anyway, so why would I?

That's where I stand now. Firefox has done a lot I don't agree with lately, and their obsession with mimicking Google drives me nuts. We don't need another Chrome; there already IS a product that is the Chromiest available. Even though I've needed more and more addons to fix Mozilla's various questionable design decisions, the bottom line for me is that it is still the only choice. The others don't come close to the breadth of addons that FF has; only FF allows me to bend the web, as I see it, to my own will, rather than that of some harebrained "developer" who doesn't have my interests and preferences in mind when he sets up the site.

There's been talk of Moz neutering the addons (in the name of security) to the point that they won't be able to do a lot of what they do now (more in line with what they can do on... you guessed it... Chrome), and I really hope that's not true. Moz is the power user's browser, for people who want to customize everything, and as it is now, that's very possible, even if it does introduce a level of risk that would not be there in a more locked-down product (kind of like a microcosm of the Apple walled garden vs. everything else debate).

 

[seeprime]

Microsoft shot themselves in the foot by making Edge the default browser in Windows 10. Our shop has many customers that were perfectly happy using IE on Windows 7 or 8.1. Edge simply annoyed them. When asked which browser we use I told them that both Chrome and Firefox are faster than IE, far more stable then Edge, and allow uBlock Origin to be installed so that it can effectively block ads. Based on the numbers in the article, it seems that Microsoft's short sightedness has cost them browser market share. They did it to themselves. They haven't hit bottom yet either.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Microsoft shot themselves in the foot by making Edge the default browser in Windows 10. <snip> Based on the numbers in the article, it seems that Microsoft's shortsightedness has cost them browser market share. They did it to themselves.

Yes they did. I agree with everything you said. That is precisely the way I see it myself.

 

[Teko03]

How so?

Being bundled with software I do use. Finding the need to uninstall Chrome from machines, where it wasn't specifically invited. I've treated them the same way I've treated malware in the past and will continue to do so.

LOL, sounds like the arguments I heard back in the win98 days when it was always bundled with IE, to the point the government took them to court over it.

I use to use Chrome, but it got slow! Resources after closing Chrome looked like my HDD was working overtime

Bundled with an Operating System made by the same company is far different that it being set to install by default with installers from Adobe Reader, Java, Kid games and dozens of other installers found across the web.

 

[learninmypc]

Currently my fav browser is Google Chrome. FF has been "Not Responding" TOO many times despite totally uninstalling/reinstalling/refreshing & such.

 

[treetops]

Currently my fav browser is Google Chrome. FF has been "Not Responding" TOO many times despite totally uninstalling/reinstalling/refreshing & such.

I had that problem with FF a few years ago.

@
Ascaris
Chrome has adblock plus at least


Really though FF is pretty impressive numbers wise. Chrome is advertised on the biggest search engine in the world and IE comes with the most popular OS.