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Google Chrome has 20% global market share

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Re: Google Chrome has 20% global market share

#41

Post by r00fus »

blumentopf wrote: post #15
joejohnson wrote: post #11

I don't understand Google's game here. I thought Mozilla was being showered with cash from Google? If Google is now betting on Chrome, are they going to continue supporting Mozilla? Mozilla is a pretty small-budgeted non-profit and I think they rely heavily on Google's support.

I know a lot of people in the Green Party here in Germany who deliberately use Firefox because they deem it to be the most politically correct browser. My impression is that a lot of them neither realize that Firefox is indeed primarily sponsored by Google (which they consider evil), nor that Chrome/Chromium is open source, just as Firefox. They prefer Firefox for touchy-feely, not technical reasons. So there's a mar…

Until and unless I see clear signs of Mozilla behaving at Google's behest, I'm not going to worry.

Google wants strong competition in spaces where they don't make money (in fact this is how all well-run corporations operate)... so throwing some pocket change at one of their "competitors" in the browser space is very good for their business (it keeps other competitors like Microsoft busy).

Google even mentioned (I remember this from 2003 or so) they want competition in their profitable areas (search) since being a monopoly is a) soul-damaging and b) invites government regulation.

Re: Google Chrome has 20% global market share

#42

Post by eftpotrm »

weavejester wrote: post #28
pnathan wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's fast. It's fast. It's fast. Oh, and it pop-up blocks, adblocks, and flashblocks.

The question was what Chrome does differently to Firefox. Firefox had adblocking before Chrome ever existed. IMO Chrome: - Feels faster - Looks a bit better Firefox, on the other hand: - Has better extensions - Has a better URL bar search function I actually use Chrome nowadays. It turns out that the speed and looks of the UI are important enough that I can put up with less polished extensions and a slightly inferior…

Can I add to this that I really don't like Chrome's tab handling in comparison? I'll regularly have 10+ tabs per window open. Firefox? No problem, they scroll and there's a pop-down menu to let me see what they all are at a glance. Chrome does neither of these, squashing my tab bar into unreadable oblivion.

I'd also rate Firefox's bookmark and history functions as in another league compared to Chrome's rather basic offering, but neither of them are dealbreakers for me. Large tab group handling is, and Chrome just doesn't do it.

Re: Google Chrome has 20% global market share

#43

Post by owenmarshall »

cletus wrote: post #22
profitbaron wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The IE team need to implement what Firefox & Chrome (to some effects) does. Firefox & Chrome constantly bug you when theres new update - if you keep ignoring Firefox's it starts asking you to update before it even opens. Why is this important? Well a lot of people still use IE6 & have finally upgraded to IE7 however, we're on IE9 now with IE10 in test drive mode. These users aren't tech savvy individuals etc who thin…

That's not quite correct. Firefox constantly bugs you to upgrade and it's annoying because it does it when it starts up. Why is it starting up? Because I want to use it. Not the right time to upgrade. Chrome just automatically updates itself, which is a MUCH better user experience (IMHO). As for IE6/7 users, I would say they're largely using it at work where they have no choice.

I believe starting with Fx5 the updater will now automatically apply updates as Chrome does.

Re: Google Chrome has 20% global market share

#45

Post by enjo »

weavejester wrote: post #28
pnathan wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's fast. It's fast. It's fast. Oh, and it pop-up blocks, adblocks, and flashblocks.

The question was what Chrome does differently to Firefox. Firefox had adblocking before Chrome ever existed. IMO Chrome: - Feels faster - Looks a bit better Firefox, on the other hand: - Has better extensions - Has a better URL bar search function I actually use Chrome nowadays. It turns out that the speed and looks of the UI are important enough that I can put up with less polished extensions and a slightly inferior…

* - Has a better URL bar search function *

For me, it's the opposite. Chrome's search bar does what I want predictably (run a Google search) where the awesome bar sends me all sorts of crazy places. It's that feature alone that keeps me on chrome.

Re: Google Chrome has 20% global market share

#46

Post by allenp »

smackfu wrote: post #32
kalleboo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I'm luckily in that at my work, WebKit (Safari+Chrome) represents 60% of the visitors, with the rest being split among Firefox (20%) and IE (10%, which we don't even bother testing for)

Very odd, what sector has a majority of Safari/Chrome users? Even general public (non-enterprise) wouldn't skew like that.

Anything tablet-centric?

Re: Google Chrome has 20% global market share

#47

Post by weavejester »

enjo wrote: post #45
weavejester wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question was what Chrome does differently to Firefox. Firefox had adblocking before Chrome ever existed. IMO Chrome: - Feels faster - Looks a bit better Firefox, on the other hand: - Has better extensions - Has a better URL bar search function I actually use Chrome nowadays. It turns out that the speed and looks of the UI are important enough that I can put up with less polished extensions and a slightly inferior…

* - Has a better URL bar search function * For me, it's the opposite. Chrome's search bar does what I want predictably (run a Google search) where the awesome bar sends me all sorts of crazy places. It's that feature alone that keeps me on chrome.

I guess it depends on what you want to do. The Firefox awesome bar does a better job at guessing what bookmarked or historical site you want.

For instance, if I type in "y" or "yc" in Firefox, then it correctly guesses that I probably want "news.ycombinator.com", because it's a site I often visit and one of the very few with "y" or "yc" in the domain name.

Chrome, on the other hand, seems to only match from the start of bookmarked URLs. So "y" doesn't match, and nor does "yc". Instead it advises me to do a Google search. On the other hand, if I type "n", then it does guess that I want "news.ycombinator.com" (or "news.bbc.co.uk").

Re: Google Chrome has 20% global market share

#48

Post by mbrubeck »

wccrawford wrote: post #3

So the real question is: What did Chrome do differently than Firefox to gain market share that fast?

Google has spent a ton to increase Chrome's market share - both on adertising, and on bundling it with other products. The Skype installer downloads Chrome and installs its as the default browser—but only if the current default browser is IE. There's a choice to opt out, but the installer's standard action for IE users is to install Chrome as the new default browser.

I imagine the Skype installer deal will change once Microsoft takes over, but Chrome is also bundled in the installers for other popular software like Avast Antivirus and (I think) some of Adobe's products. That sort of deal means a lot of people will get Chrome without actively seeking it out.

Google's annual revenue is 300 times more than Mozilla's annual revenue. Even Google's net profit is 100 times more than Mozilla's entire revenue. And while Google does have many more products than just a browser, their huge cash flow gives them the flexibility to spend for browser marketshare in ways that are just not an option for Mozilla.

----

Sources (I also have first-hand reports from friends who've had Chrome installed by Skype):

http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=67785482-1A64-67EA-E4A686A8....

https://blog.avast.com/2009/12/03/avast-and-google-chrome/

[Disclosure: I work for Mozilla, but I speak for myself.]

Re: Google Chrome has 20% global market share

#49

Post by dspace »

pilif wrote: post #18
mindstab wrote: post #14

Isn't the bigger news here that IE has dropped below 50% market share (dramatically) for the first time in over a decade? It's dominance is kind of over.

sigh - the end users of the application I'm working on use 70%-90% IE depending on the platform. I wish this would change, but I doubt it as IE still is a major player in the enterprise market.

"The Enterprise" operates at a glacial pace and has been holding back innovation on the web. "The Enterprise" is the reason why 10% of Internet users are still using IE6. I'm glad Mozilla is ignoring the Enterprise.

Re: Google Chrome has 20% global market share

#50

Post by zheng »

marknutter wrote: post #5
dannylipsitz wrote: post #2

I'm sold on Google Chrome, but it's frustrating that some sites aren't available on Chrome and I'm forced to used Firefox and Safari from time to time. Does that qualify me as a user of all three, thereby inflating the statistics?

What sites aren't available on Google Chrome?

FAFSA, which every college student who wants financial aid must fill out.

(FWIW, they support Chrome through something like version 9, but nothing newer...)

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