Is Firefox toast?
Summary: Firefox's market-share is fading; the browser itself isn't that good anymore; and its money supply may be drying up. Is Firefox coming to the end of the road?
Is Firefox burning out?
I remember just how great it was when Firefox first came out. In 2004, when Firefox first appeared, Firefox was a breath of fresh air. Firefox 1.0 was far better and more secure than the already awful Internet Explorer 6. I loved Firefox then. We all did. But, that was then. This is now.
Today, Firefox is getting pummeled from all sides. Its performance is mediocre. Sure, Firefox 8.01 beats the stuffings out of "classic" Firefox 3.6, but that's not saying much. Compared to Chrome and Internet Explorer 9 Firefox isn't keeping up.
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As features and security go, Firefox no longer really offers anything that the other browsers don't. At the same time, Google is turning Chrome into not just a Web browser, but an integral part of its software as a service (SaaS) and cloud application stack. Yes, you can run Google Docs and Gmail on Firefox or IE, but the combination of Chrome's innate speed with Google's applications makes it the most attractive package.
In addition, Chrome is beating Firefox to second place in the Web browser derby. According to StatCounter, Chrome is already already number two. The other popular Web browser popularity NetMarketShare, Firefox still has a narrow lead, but no one expects it to keep its lead for much longer. Indeed, Mozilla's hyper-accelerated release schedule is losing Firefox's business customers.
Last, but never least, Firefox's parent organization, Mozilla hasn't been able to close a deal with its chief income source: Google. True, Mozilla tells us that, "Our search relationship with Google remains positive for both of us. We are in active negotiations and have nothing further to announce at this time. We have every confidence that search partnerships will continue to be a strong and growing generator of revenue for the foreseeable future."
If it wasn't for the fact that that's almost word for word what Mozilla said in its annual report for 2010, I've find that much more reassuring. Besides, as my comrade in writing arms, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes asks, "Does Google need Mozilla?" We both think the answer is no.
That's bad news for Firefox. Mozilla relies on search deals for 98% of its annual income, and it's a safe bet that most of that revenue comes from Google. Sure, Mozilla also recently inked a deal with its arch-enemy Microsoft to bring the Bing search engine to Firefox. That strikes me more as an act of desperation than a real source of substantial income.
Put it all together and what do you get? Well, Mozilla's brass had better work hard on landing some kind of continued support from Google. With that deal, Firefox can continue to struggle on. Without it? I think Firefox is toast. What do you think?
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Burning Firefox image by Teamstickergiant, , CC 2.0.
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Talkback
RE: Is Firefox toast?
RE: Is Firefox toast?
Then you don't understand the post
This is a simple web browser, not an OS. There are lots of open source Windows programs out there too, so that isn't the issue.
I don't think LD ever claimed that Linux would disappear completelly, he states that it will never even come close to displacing Windows or OSX, as some of you Linux zealots claim it will.
It takes one to know one
;)
RE: Is Firefox toast?
RE: Is Firefox toast?
Firefox is loaded with features Chrome's nowhere near to implementing and it's performance easily beats Chrome. Certainly since Firefox 7.
The fact you're advocating IE over the fox says it all. IE9 is decent but it's no Firefox, Chrome or Opera replacement.
RE: Is Firefox toast?
RE: Is Firefox toast?
RE: Is Firefox toast?
I completely agree with you! most features chrome users are proud off, exist in a much better version as an add-on for firefox, sure you can get many off those extensions for those other browsers to, but that means it's implemented twice! what a waste! and as for performance: chrome isn't that fast any more compared to other browsers. it has a very little javascript performance advantage, but other browsers make up for that in fields like hardware accelerated graphics. If you combine all performances, you find that firefox has the best combination
RE: Is Firefox toast?
RE: Is Firefox toast?
RE: Is Firefox toast?
Granted, it's been taking licks from Chrome, and even I don't refuse to tell the average end-user that Chrome is a nice browser, but I personally use Firefox and foresee myself doing so in the future. Numbers won't change that, and numbers won't sway the Firefox community.
Chrome is OSS, but it's nowhere near as open code as Mozilla Firefox has been. The power in Firefox lies not within it's speed or set of features, it lies within it's sheer extensibility. Chrome does offer addons, but there are still many limitations in Chrome placed for many reasons, some good, that prevents certain addons found commonly on Firefox from migrating.
Additionally, people will always be slightly concerned about Google and how well it follows it's own privacy policies. I personally don't use Chrome because I don't particularly want Google to have any control over my browser. The fact that the browser is [b]Google[/b] Chrome stops me from considering it a browser that I would like to trust with my day-to-day browsing.
RE: Is Firefox toast?
A few versions not so good till a patch but overall great.
I like the ease of use and the many addons if I want one.
RE: Is Firefox toast?
RE: Is Firefox toast?
with many tabs open, you really don't want to start using other browsers! firefox, albeit more memory consuming after a long time than at the begining of a session, uses way less memory with many tabs than browsers like chrome and IE
RE: Is Firefox toast?
But with Chrome, 20 plus tabs open and the browser fails to switch between them for a few seconds and fails to render the content of tabs that have not been active for a while.
Furthermore, totalling up the memory use of both Firefox and Chrome they both come out at about the same.
Chrome is fast but overrated in comparisons. The only thing it has over Firefox is a faster startup time but even that lead is now vastly reduced over the latest Firefox with no extensions (which is how people are usually using Chrome when they compare the two)
RE: Is Firefox toast?
Pure old FUD.
RE: Is Firefox toast?
Microsoft makes absolutely no money from Internet Explorer....none whatever, it's market share could shrink to single digits and they wouldn't care, nor should they....on the other hand, if they decided to fund Mozilla by paying them to make Bing the default search, they could make millions....if not billions....
RE: Is Firefox toast?
RE: Is Firefox toast?