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This reads like the Firefox team desperately trying to sound relevant, as the realization sets in that they're probably going to fade away from most people's co

This reads like the Firefox team desperately trying to sound relevant, as the realization sets in that they're probably going to fade away from most people's consciousness pretty soon. Internet Explorer is, and always has been the browser that comes with your computer. It works fine, and most regular people will never bother to change it. Google Chrome is the better browser that your tech-savvy children or friend might install on your machine, and that you'll immediately notice is better in several ways and start using. Firefox used to hold that 2nd place, but now it's been relegated to "the browser that people who were really passionate about Firefox five years ago still use". It was a great alternative to IE6 back in the day, but its time has come and gone.

DeusExMachina 16y ago
> the realization set is that they're probably going to fade away from most people's consciousness pretty soon. How do you support this statement? It looks to me that Firefox still has a significant market share and I don't see it declining. On the contrary, it recently overtook IE in Europe: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2066540 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2066540 > Internet Explorer is, and always has been the browser that comes with your computer. It works fine, and most regular people will never bother to change it. Here in Europe Microsoft is compelled by antitrust to let people select a different browser the first time (I don't know if they are already enforcing it though). "It works fine" is of course subjective, but it's true that when people start with it they usually do not bother changing (also because they don't know they can). > Firefox used to hold that 2nd place, but now it's been relegated to "the browser that people who were really passionate about Firefox five years ago still use". I don't think so. I see a lot of people still using it on it's merits and not on "passion". Where do you take this statement?
sid0 16y ago
Plenty of tech-savvy people I know in real life think that Chrome has a terrible UX. There's no way they're going to be installing it on anyone else's computer. (How do you move the refresh button to the right of the address bar?) edit: to elaborate, the principle Chrome seems to work on is responsiveness above all else. I'm not sure responsiveness is the most important barometer for good UX in non-Western cultures. For instance, there's no way I can sacrifice the ability to customize my UI for slightly improved responsiveness.
rmc 16y ago
Internet Explorer is, and always has been the browser that comes with your computer. It works fine, and most regular people will never bother to change it. Mozilla Firefox has been in this situtation before, and things changed.
dstein 16y ago
Firefox 4 beta is very noticeably faster than Chrome on my Mac in heavy JavaScript/Canvas experiments. Chrome is especially a dog when in fullscreen (2-3 times slower) for some reason.
- jasonkester 16y ago
  Unfortunately, this seems like another example of FireFox optimizing for the wrong thing. To the casual user, FireFox seems "slow" because it takes 30 seconds to start up when you click its icon. Chrome takes under 5 seconds, and is thus "fast". Nobody but you and me care about how fast our javascript runs. The FF team is trying to please us, while ignoring the 99% of users who'd prefer to just be able to check their Facebook in the morning without waiting forever.

DeusExMachina 16y ago

> the realization set is that they're probably going to fade away from most people's consciousness pretty soon. How do you support this statement? It looks to me that Firefox still has a significant market share and I don't see it declining. On the contrary, it recently overtook IE in Europe: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2066540 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2066540 > Internet Explorer is, and always has been the browser that comes with your computer. It works fine, and most regular people will never bother to change it. Here in Europe Microsoft is compelled by antitrust to let people select a different browser the first time (I don't know if they are already enforcing it though). "It works fine" is of course subjective, but it's true that when people start with it they usually do not bother changing (also because they don't know they can). > Firefox used to hold that 2nd place, but now it's been relegated to "the browser that people who were really passionate about Firefox five years ago still use". I don't think so. I see a lot of people still using it on it's merits and not on "passion". Where do you take this statement?

sid0 16y ago

Plenty of tech-savvy people I know in real life think that Chrome has a terrible UX. There's no way they're going to be installing it on anyone else's computer. (How do you move the refresh button to the right of the address bar?) edit: to elaborate, the principle Chrome seems to work on is responsiveness above all else. I'm not sure responsiveness is the most important barometer for good UX in non-Western cultures. For instance, there's no way I can sacrifice the ability to customize my UI for slightly improved responsiveness.

rmc 16y ago

Internet Explorer is, and always has been the browser that comes with your computer. It works fine, and most regular people will never bother to change it. Mozilla Firefox has been in this situtation before, and things changed.

dstein 16y ago

Firefox 4 beta is very noticeably faster than Chrome on my Mac in heavy JavaScript/Canvas experiments. Chrome is especially a dog when in fullscreen (2-3 times slower) for some reason.

jasonkester 16y ago
Unfortunately, this seems like another example of FireFox optimizing for the wrong thing. To the casual user, FireFox seems "slow" because it takes 30 seconds to start up when you click its icon. Chrome takes under 5 seconds, and is thus "fast". Nobody but you and me care about how fast our javascript runs. The FF team is trying to please us, while ignoring the 99% of users who'd prefer to just be able to check their Facebook in the morning without waiting forever.