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I also recommend people I know to use Firefox, but a lot of people either don't understand the problem or just don't care. A lot of people even conflate Google

I also recommend people I know to use Firefox, but a lot of people either don't understand the problem or just don't care. A lot of people even conflate Google Chrome, Google Search and other Google services (understandable, as Chrome's home page is a big Google logo with a search box), so they think that they cannot use Google anymore if they install Firefox. The stats [1] speak for themselves: only 3.3% of users use Firefox. Even Edge has more users. [1] https://gs.statcounter.com/ https://gs.statcounter.com/

novax81 4y ago
It's harder to get people to switch browsers nowadays. When Chrome first came out as a breath of fresh air (IE was IE, Firefox was better but a bit "heavy", Opera was... Opera), normal users would just nod and agree if you recommended a switch, and even as a power user, I only had to migrate a handful of extensions and behaviors over. At this point, browsers (particularly Chrome and Safari on their respective platforms) have ingrained themselves into their users daily routine. Things like bookmarks and some habits transfer pretty quickly, but casual users won't care enough about this (until they're impacted more).
cycomanic 4y ago
I think the stats are showing that we really need debundling of the browser from the OS. I'd wadger that those stats pretty closely align with the percentage of android and IOS users, or in other words the stats are completely dominated by mobile browsers, where hardly anyone changes browsers. I can't understand why we have not seen strong regulatory/antitrust action on this front considering the precedent with MS.
- HWR_14 4y ago
  I dread the debundling. The day Google can tell iOS users to "just download Chrome" is the same day all non-Chrome browsers will stop working on Google properties. Well, they'll let Chromium browsers (which also support their ad-blcoking-blocking) work too, for antitrust reasons.
- happymellon 4y ago
  That's funny because my phone is weaker than my laptop, and has a smaller screen to show useful information Firefox and uBlock get installed faster to remove the slowdowns and popups.
mdaniel 4y ago
One thing to be cautious of when trying to count browser stats is that the recent releases of Firefox are pretty aggressive about blocking tracking scripts, such as those used by a site like statcounter.com uses to count up browser usage <https://gs.statcounter.com/faq#methodology https://gs.statcounter.com/faq#methodology> I don't know how to solve that problem, since those two outcomes are at odds with one another, but wanted to raise awareness

novax81 4y ago

It's harder to get people to switch browsers nowadays. When Chrome first came out as a breath of fresh air (IE was IE, Firefox was better but a bit "heavy", Opera was... Opera), normal users would just nod and agree if you recommended a switch, and even as a power user, I only had to migrate a handful of extensions and behaviors over. At this point, browsers (particularly Chrome and Safari on their respective platforms) have ingrained themselves into their users daily routine. Things like bookmarks and some habits transfer pretty quickly, but casual users won't care enough about this (until they're impacted more).

cycomanic 4y ago

I think the stats are showing that we really need debundling of the browser from the OS. I'd wadger that those stats pretty closely align with the percentage of android and IOS users, or in other words the stats are completely dominated by mobile browsers, where hardly anyone changes browsers. I can't understand why we have not seen strong regulatory/antitrust action on this front considering the precedent with MS.

HWR_14 4y ago
I dread the debundling. The day Google can tell iOS users to "just download Chrome" is the same day all non-Chrome browsers will stop working on Google properties. Well, they'll let Chromium browsers (which also support their ad-blcoking-blocking) work too, for antitrust reasons.
happymellon 4y ago
That's funny because my phone is weaker than my laptop, and has a smaller screen to show useful information Firefox and uBlock get installed faster to remove the slowdowns and popups.

mdaniel 4y ago

One thing to be cautious of when trying to count browser stats is that the recent releases of Firefox are pretty aggressive about blocking tracking scripts, such as those used by a site like statcounter.com uses to count up browser usage <https://gs.statcounter.com/faq#methodology https://gs.statcounter.com/faq#methodology> I don't know how to solve that problem, since those two outcomes are at odds with one another, but wanted to raise awareness