browser wars posts

Filed under: Hardware, Windows, Google, Browsers

Game on, Microsoft: Google Chrome shipping as default browser on some PCs

by Lee Mathews Nov 6th 2009

The EC might be content with Microsoft's browser ballot screen, but that's not stopping Google from getting OEMs to turn away from Internet Explorer on their own.

Google already has deals with several OEMs to include their software, of course. They've been shipping Google Desktop on OEM pcs for quite some time now, and their plans to drop Google Chrome on new users have come to fruition as well.

As you can see, I unboxed a new Sony Vaio laptop running Windows 7 yesterday. Nestled amongst the other desktop icons was the tri-color Chrome orb.
Not only was Chrome pre-pinned to the Windows 7 taskbar, but a quick look at the internet options on the laptop revealed sad news for Internet Explorer: it had been bumped from default web browsing duties.

If we weren't already in the middle of an all-out browser war, the introduction of Google Chrome as the preinstalled default on Windows PCs could well set things off.

Tags: browser wars, BrowserWars, google chrome, GoogleChrome, microsoft

Filed under: Internet, Browsers

Old Man IE6 shakes fist as Firefox surpasses him in browser share

by Jay Hathaway Nov 4th 2009

Web designers and standards advocates have tried everything to kill Internet Explorer 6, but it just refuses to die. In fact, Microsoft has extended support for the aging browser until at least mid-2010, and longer for some versions of Windows. However, there is strong evidence that people are coming around to browsers that support standards, don't make web designers cry, and have frickin' TABS, for crying out loud ...

Firefox is now more popular than IE6.

That's right: according to October browser usage stats reported by Ars Technica, the old, incontinent granddad of the browsing world has finally been overtaken by the cool kid with all the rad accessories. Although IE6 still has 23% of the market - sadly, more than any other version of IE - when you add up the usage on every version of Firefox, you get 24.07%, enough to top that single old edition of Internet Explorer.

I assume the shift is accounted for by home web users shifting to newer browsers with the release of Windows 7, because corporate IT departments are still the last bastion of widespread IE6 use. As Ars speculates, high Windows 7 adoption rates could be the stake through IE6's cold, tab-less heart.

Meanwhile, in the Webkit browser wars, Chrome and Safari both made gains this month. Chrome is still growing faster -- right now it's closing in rapidly with 3.58% to Safari's 4.42%.

Tags: browser wars, BrowserWars, firefox, ie6, internet explorer 6, InternetExplorer6

Filed under: Business, Developer, Internet, Features, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, Analysis

HTML 5 Wish List

by Ian Smith Nov 29th 2007

Application are moving online at a frighteningly speed. People are increasingly using their computers as little more than internet terminals and media players. All of this innovation has happened, in part, because HTML and the browser marketplace has been relatively stable (even FireFox's original goal was to work like IE - only better). All that said, we've started to push Javascript, CSS, and HTML about as far as they can go.

Let's face it, HTML 4 is old. Really old. No doubt older than your PC. Older than your iPod (older than the very first iPod). It was built and designed solely for document rendering in the days before NetFlix added ratings to their website and Google started mapping. Now we have spreadsheets, word processors, work flow engines, games, and outlook style email clients running within the web browser. All on HTML 4. All with multiple hacks to make the code run correctly in as many browsers as possible. All with inherent security vulnerabilities . Isn't it time for a new version of HTML?

Douglas Crockford thinks so. The man behind JSON, JSLINT, and Manic Mansion (of all things) has a lot to say on the subject and offers so very timely and useful suggestions on what the next version should look like.

Here is the a quick summary of his wish list and an explanation of why Google (of all people) may make fixing HTML impossible.:

Tags: browser wars, BrowserWars, firefox, html, html5, ie, opera, safari, wc3

Filed under: News, Windows, Apple

Not so fast Safari; at least according to Wired

by Grant Robertson Jun 13th 2007

Think Safari is faster than IE and Firefox, we'd heard the hype too. According to Wired however, there may be little truth to that widespread perception. In tests performed at the "wired labs" -- which we imagine as the cubicle of some geek with a nerf gun -- Safari is several seconds slower loading common AJAX based pages like Google Calendar and GMail.

The cult of Steve may drink the Kool-Aid but, we're not fully buying it yet. With security holes, quirky interface bugs and now some data that suggests we'll lose valuable seconds off our lives waiting for new email, we're wondering what all the hype is about.

Tags: browser wars, BrowserWars, safari, safari windows, SafariWindows

Filed under: Business, Internet, Web services, Microsoft, Mozilla, Browser Tips

New statistics show Firefox is moving steadily to the top

by Chris Gilmer Oct 12th 2006

Is there still really a browser war? Microsoft hasn't updated its browser in how many years? So obviously they might not seem to care about internet users. Nonetheless, new statistics are showing that Firefox and Safari are gaining more ground as the browser of choice for web users. Internet Explorer has been losing ground steadily since Firefox was initially released. This new batch of browser market share stats put together by Market Share by Net Applications, shows that IE is at its lowest point since 2005, sitting at 82%. While Firefox is gaining ground from 7.5% in September 2005, to 12.4% in September 2006. The new IE 7 is supposedly due out this month (beta release is out now) with a complete redesign and overhaul, but will consumers bite? Are internet users sick of the lack of updates and compliance issues with IE? Will Google continue to lead and grow the evolution and mass adoption of Firefox? We shall only see in next Septembers browser stats.

We want to hear what you have to say about this. What browser do you use? And what makes it better than all the rest?

Tags: beta, browser, browser statistics, browser wars, BrowserStatistics, BrowserWars, firefox, google, ie, internet explorer, InternetExplorer, microsoft, mozilla, stats

Filed under: Internet, Mozilla, Open Source

Firefox the browser of choice for 1 in 10

by Jordan Running Jan 5th 2006

It's getting difficult to keep track of all the different companies claiming to have the difinitive score in the browser wars. One called NetApplications is saying that after a full one-point gain in since November, Firefox is now the browser of choice for 9.6% of web surfers. NetApplications also says that it's "very close to hitting a critical mass of 10 percent, which could mean a more rapid adoption rate." I'm a little skeptical about 10% being that magic "critical mass" number, but it is a number that pointy-haired execs can't ignore when their engineers tell them they need to be developing with standards in mind.

Tags: browser wars, firefox, market share, mozilla, web browser

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