StatCounter: Firefox 3.5 surpasses IE7 in market share

[Matthew DeCarlo]

According to new data from StatCounter, Mozilla's Firefox version 3.5 has successfully trounced Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 in the global browser market. As of last week, Firefox 3.5 claimed 21.93% of the market, edging past IE7's 21.2% share. That said, Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8 still collectively hold over 55% of the pie.

Meanwhile, Firefox 2.0 and 3.0 make up 1.01% and 9.01% of browser usage, Safari and Opera represent 3.03% and 0.42%. "Other" browsers account for 9.19% of the market -- much of which is presumably Google Chrome.

If you're wondering why these shares look pretty different from previously reported figures, it's because we usually cite Net Applications' research. StatCounter's accuracy is certainly open for interpretation, but it's still interesting to compare data between firms.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/37402-statcounter-firefox-35-surpasses-ie7-in-market-share.html

 

[BMfan]

Well done Mozilla,took long enough.

 

[Puiu]

Well firefox 3.5 is a very good browser. I wonder how 3.6 will be. (not the beta, the final release)

 

[JudaZ]

ok, so a new browser from mozilla supasses an old browser (that you can barely download anymore) from microsoft . ... and?

Firefox 2. about 1% + firefox 3.0 about 9% + Firefox 3.5 about 23%
That equals about 33% for Mozilla

IE 6.0 about 14% + IE 7.0 about 22% + IE 8.0 about 20%
That equals about 56% for Microsoft.

So really ... who cares. ?

 

[BMfan]

People that have realized that IE is rubbish.
The main reason that IE is still tops overall is because company's don't bother switching to a better browser,their staff must just be happy with what they get.

 

[9Nails]

JudaZ - we get the web browsers for free. Much like FM or AM radio. But on the back end, someone is paying money to develop these browsers. And in this popularity contest, they are trying to entice their own set of plug-in developers to a platform in order to make their product that much more of a success. The more users flock over to Firefox the more income they can generate on search ad's profits. The more money they have, the better their browser gets (theoretically).

Give this site a glance for understanding the back-end mechanics on how a free web browser makes money: http://www.johnchow.com/firefox-a-50-million-cash-cow/

Now - as an end user, why would I care? It's free, and works fine for my needs right? That's what we're thinking. But the reality is that we want updates, we want stability, we want a faster browser with all the features the other browser guys have. And to give us that, it takes money. If nobody was rising to the top our browser experience would be pretty lame. So it's a bit of a horse race. We want to put our computer's on the horse that's going to win. And from the looks of it, IE8 and Firefox 3.5 are breaking out well ahead of the pack. Those are the two to watch.

 

[JudaZ]

9Nails said:

Now - as an end user, why would I care? It's free, and works fine for my needs right? That's what we're thinking. But the reality is that we want updates, we want stability, we want a faster browser with all the features the other browser guys have. And to give us that, it takes money. If nobody was rising to the top our browser experience would be pretty lame. So it's a bit of a horse race. We want to put our computer's on the horse that's going to win. And from the looks of it, IE8 and Firefox 3.5 are breaking out well ahead of the pack. Those are the two to watch.

...Yeah and since Microsoft have a heavy lead,
who cares if mozilla have one free product in a slight lead?
That is my point

When counting money the total is interesting, not just some bits and pieces, even if then can matter to. ...
if you own the biggest share of the market, it does not matter so much if the competitor, that have had a major lead of experinece in the market, have one product that just slightly beats you for the moment.

Means even less if you know you newly launced product is catching up.

...and for us, the users, its just a matter of what you like personally.
..people still today claim that mozillas products are mre safe then IE, to day its not really true, almost the opposite.

Just choose what you feel confertable with, and remeber.

Safety is not only the software you use, most problems comes frow you own doing.