Have you checked the state of affairs for web browsers lately? According to Browser Market Share for March 2007, Internet Explorer still leads but Mozilla Firefox is gaining ground steadily.
According to the stats, here are some of the most popularly used web browsers and their market share:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer – 78.57%
- Firefox – 15.10%
- Safari – 4.51%
- Opera – 0.80%
- Netscape – 0.70%
- Mozilla – 0.18%
- Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer – 0.03%
- PSP (PlayStation Portable) Internet Browser – 0.02%
- Danger Web Browser – 0.02%
According to their Browser Share Trend, while usage of Internet Explorer has dropped about 5% in the past year, Firefox has increased about the same. Other web browsers such as Safari, Opera, and Netscape have flatlined with very little change over the past year.
I would have thought that with the ease and flexibility of Firefox, more people would convert and give Microsoft a run for their browser money.
Think back to when you made the switch. And if you haven’t, why not?
I remember thinking that I could only have one web browser. That I had to give up Internet Explorer in order to use Firefox. It’s not true. Just like you have have multiple versions of other programs, you can have more than one web browser.
I also thought that nothing could beat Internet Explorer, so why bother. Besides, I put so much blood, sweat, and tears into learning how to design in Internet Explorer, all the hacks, tweaks, and battling the dumb margin and padding business – so why put more energy into learning to design for another browser?
All excuses. Switching to Firefox was the smartest online decision I ever made. I now have more control over my browsing experience. I can browse smarter and faster than ever before. It helps me blog by allowing me to open multiple tabs for my article research. I can use a variety of Firefox extensions (now called “add-ons”) which improve my web design efforts and blog writing and publishing. How did I ever get along without it before?
So what about you? What stopped you from switching to Firefox? Why did you? And if you haven’t, why not? What stops you now?
And if you aren’t using Firefox or Internet Explorer, what are you using and why?
Lorelle VanFossen blogs about blogging and WordPress, and exclusively uses Firefox, on Lorelle on WordPress.