"Dear IE," writes Vamosi, "I'm leaving you for good". And a few of us have switched over, converted from IE forever. About 65% Spider.tm blog visitors access us via Internet Explorer while the number of Netscape based browser users has shot up from 10 to 20% since August 2004. There's all of 2 Opera users amongst us who have been visiting this blog [do say hi/salaam, I'd like to know who you are] for a while. To all Internet Explorer users, Firefox is worth the switch! Read Vamosi's column, if you've missed Spider reviews of the other browsers. Reinvigorate, the site tracker this blog uses, has stats on platforms/browser usage.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
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9 comments:
Good to see you all discussing this. From the moment I saw the Vamosi article yesterday, I have wanted to write to all of you to discuss this. Here's why:
I am a (technical) writer in Silicon Valley and have had a preference/bias for Netscape (and then Mozilla)for the same reasons everyone else on forums like this does. But the reason for not shutting out use of IE by myself or family members completely was because something that I learnt on a visit to Karachi back in 1998. The patrons and admins of a cyber cafe in Karachi (the one in Clifton center across from Motta's for people that know that neighbourhood) expressed the opinion that "IE works faster". I later got a technical explanation for this from a techie who has interned at the Microsoft mothership up in Redmond, WA: the graphics rendering engine in IE is definitely faster than the one in Netscape. And a difference like that can help one's sanity when surfing over a very slow connection and paying by the minute. It is things like this that reinforce my respect for the online and techie community in Pakistan--they know their tools and know how to get the best out of them. (And my opinion for the technie and NetSurfer community of Karachi has only gone up recently, as I have seen the sheer number of Orkut members from our fair city.)
Which is why, since I saw that article, I have wanted to get feedback from the streets of Karachi on how Firefox is playing out in the cybercafes and desktops out there. Does it really compete with IE in the "real world", outside our cosy work areas with fast connections and OpenSource shrines?
Thanks for the comments, Shoaib.
On Karachi: call it the sentimentality—or guilt, if you will—of a native that doesn't live there anymore. :D
On Reinvigorate: I think it can't tell the difference between Firefox and Netscape...or was it Mozilla?
On Market Share: I am sure Firefox will exceed expectations as usual. At least until MS "fights" back by including the new features people want into IE.
Firefox rocks! The only problem is configuring it to become the default browser whereby I can check my hotmail email through it, when I click the "12 new messages" link on messenger. Any thoughts?
Nice note on why not to pay attention to the competition.
It does sweep off reasons making millions downloading Firefox 1.0 who are not catering to customers in NA. Remember the end user? Firefox fits my online requirements just fine.
Explorer is default in cybercafes I've been to. Pity. Also, the Net Tips questions sent to Spider by Cybercafe admins [and there are lots of them] to date have all been about IE.
*waves arms enthusiastically* I'm the Opera user!
The IE v. firefox battle can be analyzed from various perspectives with each yielding a different conclusion. For example, if we look at Microsoft from a historical perspective, it would not be a naive conclusion that IE would definitely win. An end-user perspective paints a somewhat dismal picture for Microsoft; all may not be lost as Microsoft has plenty of resources to refine IE and beat firefox. From a developer's perspective, IE is a natural choice since it integrates so well with the OS.
The corporate executives, on the other hand, hardly give a damn about what's in and what's hot and as long as IE gets the job done for local intranets, they would be happy. Plus, implementing a uniform policy throughout an organization requires some real hard investment so to speak and MIS managers would think twice before switching over.
Another scenario leads to Microsoft buying out firefox just like it did with Hotmail.
A major stakeholder is the government. With Microsoft always at odds with the US Federal Government and recently in Europe, it is quite likely that the political pressure would cause some inconvience to IE.
However, as Mr. Diamond Ali has pointed out in this month's SPIDER, in the end the market would belong to whoever delivers.
I just browsed a site http://www.flexbeta.net/main/articles.php?action=show&id=32
that has 13 points in favor of firefox. All of them seem to be from an end-uer's perspective.
BTW, does firefox have a specific target market?
Is it time to ditch IE
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117550,00.asp
SHA
Comparison between different browsers
http://www.useyourbrain.co.uk/internet-browser-comparison-chart.htm
http://webmonkey.wired.com/webmonkey/reference/browser_chart/
A reason why people are converting from IE maybe due to the number of viruses,spyware and adware targeted towards it.Because their thinking is "why effect a thousand when u can effect millions".But if masses convert towards other browsers,won't the hackers convert too ???
SHA
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