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Browsers: Does minimalist win the race?

By | May 4, 2010, 3:53am PDT

Summary: Minimalists browsers just seem to work as Google Chrome gains share. We don’t need “lite” versions of existing browsers just ones without the fat in the first place.

There’s a good bit of hubbub over browser market share stats from Net Applications. The short version: Google Chrome is gaining at the expense of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and gains from Mozilla’s Firefox and Apple’s Safari are muted.

Here’s the screen shot:

As you can see, Chrome is on a tear. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes asks a simple question about Chrome’s market share gains: Why?

Kingsley-Hughes goes into a bevy of reasons for Chrome’s gain, but the best one is that it’s lightweight and simple. In other words, Chrome just kind of blends into the background. There’s something nice about a light, fast browser.

He writes:

Having spoken to a number of recent converts to Google Chrome, it seems that the minimalistic nature of the browser is certainly one attractive feature. Tech geeks aside, people are more interested in web content than they are the browser.

Following the thread forward, the big question is whether we need a Firefox Lite or IE Lite browser. My short answer: No. We don’t need Diet Coke for browsers. And the “lite” trick never quite works well. It’s far better to just cut the fat and let us get on with our browsing.

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Web Browser, Google Chrome, Web Browsers, Internet, Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

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Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan has nothing to disclose. He doesn’t hold investments in the technology companies he covers.

Biography

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic. He was most recently Executive Editor of News and Blogs at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He also served as the East Coast news editor and finance editor at CNET News.com. Larry has covered the technology and financial services industry since 1995, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine. He's a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and the University of Delaware.

For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.

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RE: Browsers: Does minimalist win the race?
yarinsiz Updated - 11th May 2011
Well done! Thank you very much for professional templates and community edition
seslisohbet seslichat
View in thread
0 Votes
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Minimalism, security, speed and cross-platform
RationalGuy 4th May 2010
I use Chrome on Mac and PC for those reasons.

- It's the only new generation that isn't bogged down and bloated.

- The hackers at Pwn2Own don't even bother with it. That's a good
sign from a security perspective.

- It's super fast.

- I get a really consistent experience from Mac to PC.

I would love to see an iPhone port of Chrome. Given the Google/Apple
politics, I'm not sure that would happen. It's a shame though. Since
they both use WebKit, we might be able to get a full local browser,
unlike the man-in-the-middle nonsense with Opera Mini.
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RE: Browsers: Does minimalist win the race?
Loverock Davidson 4th May 2010
Not for me it doesn't. I need features and Firefox allows me to have that. I won't use chrome because I refuse to use a browser where the owner clearly states anything you type or browse in it becomes there property as well as it just having general browsing issues.
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Firefox?
Economister 4th May 2010
I thought you would only use stuff from MS, like IE, with tabs.......
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RE: Firefox?
fatman65535 Updated - 4th May 2010
I have noticed that too.

In some circles, LD would be branded a heretic for his all over enthusiasm for all things Micro$oft.

I wonder if Ballmer would stop paying him now that he (LD) has admitted to using Firefox, instead of Internet Exploder!

------
(a fictitious conversation)
(telephone rings)

LD: (answering the phone) "FUD Department, Loverock Davidson speaking"

Steve B: "Loverock, this is Steve ballmer"

LD: "Yes, my LORD and MASTER, how can I be of assistance?"

Steve B: "LD, I read this blog post where you said that you use Firefox?? Is this TRUE?"

LD: (in a sheepish voice)"Yes"

Steve B: "How can you do that as a Microsoft employee? Don't you know that here at Microsoft, we eat our own dog food!" (now, parroting Donald Trump) "You know something, LD, you're fired"

LD: (Crying his eyes out) "Please don't, I promise to spread more Linux FUD I will tell everybody that Ubuntu 10.04 is the worst!! I promise! Please don't fire me"

Steve B: "Too late, security is on their way down to your basement office. Please surrender the office keys and your ID badge. You are no longer welcome here!"

EDIT(s) to make the "conversation" more amusing
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It's advertising that's driving Chrome adoption
eMJayy 4th May 2010
If you look at Chrome's market share on a country by country basis, you'll notice that it's gaining new users from virtually everywhere. In particular, it's gaining a lot of users in developing countries, especially in South America, where it's averaging between 11 - 12% in several countries. The uniform and widespread nature of Chrome's gains tells me that it's advertising that's actually driving adoption. Word of mouth alone would never have provided the level of consistency in gains that I'm seeing. This is probably the effect of putting Chrome ads on YouTube.
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RE: Browsers: Does minimalist win the race?
Olderdan 4th May 2010
I think we're seeing this as a general trend. Apple
releases iPad with a minimalist OS from the iPhone.
Google readies an OS based on a browser alone. HP
kicks Win7 aside for Palm WebOS, another minimalist
mobile phone OS.

It's becoming clear that the only people who think
they read the legalese don't know how to spell
"there/their/they're" and those who want to spend more
time tinkering with the platform than creating the
content.
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chrome fast yea but that about it
dresky - take out ya nerd sticks and lets nerd fap 4th May 2010
i don't like chrome i alway been trying to use it but the damn this is just odd looking and had all those weird colors. FF is the best for me i got a fast internet(granted comcast sucks ass) so the speed of chrome is negligible.
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Content and usability have always been important.
mr1972 4th May 2010
Most people just want something that works, isn't buggy and let's them get their tasks done.

Personally I would love to see this paradigm in the operating system world.
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Default Firefox...
Mitch 74 4th May 2010
...is also rather light. A 'light' Firefox would actually merely need a different default for the tool bars. The 3.7/4.0 mockups look nice that way.

As for speed, Fx may not run JS as fast as Chrome, but adding AdBlock to both, Fx trounces Chrome: that's because AdBlock on Fx doesn't even send a request for ads, while it can merely hide adverts in Chrome.
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There could be a reason for that
ubiquitous one 4th May 2010
that's because AdBlock on Fx doesn't even send a request for ads, while it can merely hide adverts in Chrome.

Google's revenue comes from data mining and online ads. It's trying to have it both ways by hiding the ads instead of blocking them. Do people really think Google Analytics will be blocked by Chrome? Do people really believe Google will bite the hand that feeds them?
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If...
thx-1138_@... 4th May 2010
that means by following Google's minimalist, browser design ethic that the public at large effectively gets:

* An "EULA to end all EULA's". (As frightening as MS's OS EULA - and about as sign-your-life-away ).

* A virtual key-logging utility in the guise of a browser.

* An incredibly huge browser caching due to the behavior of Chrome - without *any* intuitive, quick way of clearing same (i.e. 1GB+ of temp files during a browsing session!?!)

* No ability to include addons to enhance browser functionality and/or security.

..then yeah, by all means, they're winning a race no browser vendor besides wants to win: the race to frustrate, isolate and ultimately lose end-users.
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Plugins...
support@... 4th May 2010
(or the lack of them) are the only reason why Chrome isn't my #1. Firefox, with NoScript, gives me more control over what I see, and by blocking flash and ads in general, the response is about the same. Give me Chrome with NoScript, and there's be no competition.
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Same
midenginedrift 4th May 2010
I like both FF and Chrome, for different reasons. Firefox does more, first of all. When Chrome first came out it had 1 feature FF didn't, which FF then proceeded to add (pulling/pushing tabs/windows).

I thought I read somewhere Chrome would have plugins but I just checked and I can't find anything about it in the options or settings (which are also bare bones, like the browser).

Car analogy:

Firefox is a Toyota Supra twin-turbo beast. With a bevy of bolt-on modifications, HP can go from 320 stock to 700+ without even opening up the engine.

Chrome is a Lotus Elise (also powered by a Toyota engine). Small light frame, low power, but high power to weight ratio. Fast and nimble.

They each have their place to me.
0 Votes
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Chrome Plug-ins
jomali3945 4th May 2010
What are you talking about? I use Chrome and I have access to a large
number of plug-ins (called Extensions). The one I rely most on is
Flashblock, which prevents me from being overwhelmed by Flash ads.
I control what flash content I see.
0 Votes
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I'd be very surprised...
ubiquitous one 4th May 2010
...if Chrome ever came out with something like NoScript.

Remember, Google wants you to see those ads. That's money in their pockets.
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What I'd really like
p.bristow@... 5th May 2010
What I'd really like is a minimalist HTML viewer, never mind a web browser. I have lots of help files and technical documents all over my harddrive that are in HTML, and I frequently want something that will just open and display them - SNAP! - like that, instead of all the waiting around I have to do while my browser opens up - especially if my last bit of actual browsing left it with 98 open tabs that I saved to keep working with later!

If there's a market for "IE lite", I'd say that's it: A basic viewer for ocal HTML files, with no javascript, no networking capability even, just the ability to render HTML and graphics using the classic IE engine. I used to use IE6 as my "default browser" (i.e. had it associated with the .htm and .html extensions) for this purpose, while always opening FF directly when I actually wanted to go on the web. Since being forced to "upgrade" to IE8, however, the extra fluff and "security features" make it no snappier than FF for opening a local html document.
0 Votes
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RE: Browsers: Does minimalist win the race?
pr.arun@... 12th May 2010
Hilarious... Wanting Firefox to be as minimalist as Chrome... For anyone who does not know about the change of privacy settings or enabling Firebug... every browser is all about finding the address-bar, typing and pressing "Enter"... Chrome just blurs a few sidebars... Bah !
0 Votes
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RE: Browsers: Does minimalist win the race?
yarinsiz Updated - 11th May 2011
Well done! Thank you very much for professional templates and community edition
seslisohbet seslichat

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