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August 9th, 2007 by Spud Oregon
Sometimes it feels like every website on the internet is promoting Firefox in one way or another, and certainly among internet marketing bloggers, it seems everyone is a Firefox user. Crumbs, you’d be forgiven for thinking Firefox was popular!
I get my fair share of reminders to switch to Firefox when I comment on blogs that have this little plugin installed, you know, the one that singles out the Internet Explorer users for everyone else to laugh at…
Well, here’s a wake up call for anyone that believes Firefox is the king of browsers:
In the last month, 87% of visitors to one of my sites came via IE, compared to 9% with Firefox.
Of those 19,622 IE users, 7,480 visited with Internet Explorer 7, compared to only 2,120 visiting with Firefox.
Looking around in my daily life, I don’t know a single person who uses Firefox. Maybe that’s because I live in Japan, but still, not a single person I know offline uses it!
Considering my mum hasn’t even heard of it, I’d say Firefox is officially dead in the water.
Heck, Firefox only has one serious competitor. You’d think with all the Google referral ads smothering the net, a few normal people might download it.
Before you jump on me, I do have Firefox, I just don’t use it very often. I don’t need it very often. Except for webmasters, nobody really needs Firefox. For most people it’s just an orange version of the browser they already have on their PC.
Maybe I’m just completely isolated out here in Japan, but what you might take for granted is often quite foreign for most people.
I’ll wrap this post up with a reminder to Firefox-obsessed webmasters to check their sites in IE. I still see a few sites that look really messed up in IE7, and that’s really unforgivable when the stats above show so few people use Firefox.
Tags: Firefox, IE7, browsers
Rice: 
Posted on August 9th, 2007 in Random Observations.
Comments: 67
Voting has been disabled for all posts since this site's closure on 9/13/2007.
Hehe, don’t feel to bad
Same here for my site visitors, 71,7% uses IE and FF only has a 5,4% share …
Nice topic, made me want to check my stats right away
Feel bad? No chance. I wish 100% of my visitors used IE - then I’d uninstall Firefox!
I’m sure this is a silly question but I really must ask: Why would you wish to uninstall Firefox if this were the case? Why not just uninstall it now if it’s not your cup of tea?
[…] Contact the Webmaster Link to Article firefox We Don’t and Won’t Use Firefox! » Posted at Nice4Rice Free Backlinks […]
Dutch visitors create a higher share for FF. I count 65 against 35% Firefox users..
The Dutch also play great football, but they’ve never won the World Cup.
I have been a fan of IE browser but my professor in college told me that firefox is much safer to use than IE because of hidden viruses that IE brings so now I am a firefox user, guess I follow my professor’s advice.
Did your professor ask you to click his affiliate link?
Hi spud, no my professor didn’t ask me to click his affiliate link…Anyways, I have created a new blog and I put a link back to your blog because I really like your blog. Can you please take a look at my blog and tell me what you think about it? Please…
http://eashsyndicate.blogspot.com
More than 50% of my visitors use Firefox. It’s open source, and has great extensions.
I’m not a fan of the Google Toolbar, but I definetely love Firefox.
One Man. One Year. $100,000 online. How’s he doing it?
http://www.oneyeargoal.com
For non-techies, open source means “free”. Since IE is free anyway, there’s no reason for them to use Firefox.
Non-techies don’t need extensions, and if they did, they can get them for IE.
Google Toolbar is optional for any browser, isn’t it? I use it in IE7.
Hey, for tech-savvy people like me, I can’t live without firefox! Did you know how many firefox plugin that I have install that help me to be more productive … well, if you are doing intensive seo, programming, design, reading blog, and social around, then you will appreciate the power of firefox.
For me, firefox is like wordpress(many plugin) … and IE is like blogger.com, you are stuck and restricted in the dark.
I use firefox and wordpress just because it’s better, it’s not because it’s “free”. Well, just like you said, only my uncle use IE and my niece is using firefox:P
Ken, I’m not arguing that IE is better than Firefox, I’m just saying that Firefox isn’t necessary for the average user.
However, since I consider myself tech-savvy, I’d love to know what all these must-have plugins for Firefox are. I challenge you to either list 10 essential Firefox extensions here or on your own blog, and who knows, maybe you’ll convince me to use Firefox as my main browser!
Point taken:) I just think that to argue all the average user to use IE is just a crazy idea! Just like argue all the family should drive toyota.
By the way, I don’t think firefox is for all the average user and tech-savvy people either. There is no one shoe fit all size. Get what is working best for you!
I don’t have a MUST HAVE firefox list, but this firefox plugin in is my favorite.
Browsing For Fast Access
-Session Manager
-Tab Mix Plus
-IE Tab
-Stumble Upon, Del.icio.us and AdaptiveBlue
-Chrome Tabs
-Sage RSS Reader
-All-in-One Gestures
Blogger Research Get Organized
-Google Notebook
-Zotero
SEO With A Lot Of Browser Search Testing
-SearchStatus
-SEOQuake
-SEOpen
Web Development In Real World
- Venkman’s JavaScript Debugger
- Firebug
- Web Developer
- Selenium IDE
This is something I can think of now, the list can go on and on, google it … if you are using google service alot, firefox have great plugin to work seamlessly with gmail, adsense and more.
I use Mr. Tech Local, to enable and disable some of the plugin on the fly, because the plugin might eat up a lot of memory if you run more then 30 plugin like me.
Well, again, use what is best for you.
But I think microsoft did it again, it’s really make firefox that ugly in vista huh? Well, i use different browser to do different kind of work in window, apple and linux/unix station. For my startup and rails/java development, my team use applie, linux and window. For my personal and money making site, i use window.
Ken, I couldn’t agree more with your analogy to family cars. I’m just lashing out at all the people pushing Firefox upon us with their referral banners.
Hmm… I wonder what would happen if Microsoft launched a referral program for IE7 with a really good payout. Clearly, it would be easy to convert IE6 users to IE7, so webmasters would have a huge financial incentive to recommend it. What would happen to the “Spread Firefox” movement then?
That list of plugins will help a lot of Firefox users. I have no idea what most of them do, so I’ll have to do some research to see if they are worth me trying out or not. I must admit, I’m surprised there aren’t more people developing add-ons for IE7 considering its rapidly growing share of the browser market.
Not that I’m saying you should and definitely not saying you have to use Firefox, but I do want to point out that, yes, you are isolated there in Japan. Worldwide, Firefox usage is nearly 20% and in Europe it’s about 30% and in central and northern Europe there are a half dozen countries where Firefox is approaching 50%.
I’ll also respond to your dead in the water note. Just two years ago, Firefox was at 1 to 2% in Japan and now it’s approaching 10%. While that growth isn’t quite as strong as it has been globally or in Europe, it is certainly not dead in the water. I bet that if you asked any serious web business out there if they’d be happy adding 1 full percentage point to their market share every quarter, they’d tell you that they weren’t “dead in the water”.
I wouldn’t write off supporting IE _and_ the trio of standards compliant browsers (Firefox, Safari, and Opera) too quickly.
- A
Asa, there’s no way I’m going to believe 10% of Japanese surfers use Firefox unless you back that up with a reliable source. I also find it hard to believe your other stats because 58% of the 22,514 visitors to my site came from the U.S, and only 16% came from Asia.
My “dead in the water” remark was tongue in cheek (my mum is hardly an authority on browsers), and I agree that businesses will take that one percent, but I’m sure they’d much rather everyone use the same browser then having to faff about, fixing things in Firefox and co.
you don’t have to believe me. see what XiTi Monitor has to say.
[…] I Don’t and Won’t Use Internet Explorer! This is response to my fellow blogger Spud Oregon. […]
Classic! Steve has responded to this post, listing some statistics from his own sites, and he declares his own mum is a Firefox fanatic!
Great post. I’ve been using Opera for the last little while and, aside from the huge memory strain when running java-intensive sites, it’s been a great browser. I did try FireFox when it first came out, then again for 1.5, then again for 2.0, each time giving the application at least a week before going back to my previous browser. It’s just not that “wow”, and the interface leaves a little to be desired. Sure, it can all be enhanced with plugins, extensions or other enhancements, but that’s not what I’m looking for in a browser.
Here are the top 5 browsers for the past 6 months used to view my site:
* IE 6.0 (47.2%)
* IE 7.0 (11.7%)
* FF 2.0.0.3 (9.5%)
* FF 2.0.0.4 (4.5%)
* Safari 419.3 (3.8%)
When querying browsers used by Japanese visitors, I see that 97.3% use IE 6 or 7, while less than two percent use Safari. Only one visitor from Japan has viewed my site with Firefox.
It’ll be interesting to see if your post becomes another IE vs FF debate
Firefox is a bit ugly, isn’t it? Particularly in Vista.
Now you’re in Japan Jason, I’d love to know when you meet your first Japanese Firefox user ;). I’m not sure, but I think there are other browsers developed by Japanese for Japanese which would rival Firefox here. So if someone is going to switch from the default browser in Windows, they might choose something other than Firefox.
Google is another one. I believe they are only 50-50 with Yahoo for search engine usage, and eBay doesn’t even exist in Japan. Yahoo Auctions dominates that market.
It’s hard to take Firefox seriously when it’s being promoted in Japan by a couple of idiots. Check out this Firefox video on YouTube.
I checked my stats… and a huge majority of my visitors are using Internet Explorer.
I like to use both… but that’s probably because I’m a software tester by trade… and I got used to using all kinds of browsers to test web apps.
I think Firefox and Netscape are much better than IE, however, I also noticed the same stats with all my websites - IE is by far the number one browser people use to get to my sites. I still can’t figure out why….
Mike
Because thay all have IE already, and it’s the only browser they need. Simple.
you are crazy man, if u were a javascript developer or even a html,css designer u would wish to kill ie6
every line of code u write will work in firefox and in ie6 will just show u an error; and for your info it’s not dev fault that their sites look badly on ie7; it’s ie7 fault, belive me that every dev wishes for only one web browser, but it wouldn’t be ie;
You’ve got it all backwards! If you develop for IE first (which you should because it’s the market leader), then you’ll be pulling your hair out when your code doesn’t work in Firefox… you’ll start to curse FF and the few people that use it!
Uh… you missed the part about “standards compliant”. Programmers learn by reading books, reading standards documents, and studying official documentation. Then we go and use that knowledge to build web sites, only to find that IE has many bugs that break industry standards. But this works in Microsoft’s favour because people like you think that programmers should program for IE first (which doesn’t have any documents explaining its many quirks and bugs), and then worry about standards-compliant browsers last. That’s backwards, and plays into Microsoft’s hand. Microsoft is playing you like a fiddle.
Since you’re a user, not a programmer, I can see why this is all irrelevant nonsense. But this is why programmers hate Internet Explorer and are working to promote high quality standards-compliant browsers.
Oh Neil, just because I use IE you assume I’m not a programmer? I’ve got a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science that suggests otherwise.
Programmers don’t hate IE. In fact, programmers built IE. Actually, some of the world’s best, most highly paid programmers built IE.
Firefox fanboys like yourself hate IE. Period.
In germany we have rate about 25% of Firefox-Users. I personally use ist too beacause it’s much more stable then IE imho.
So many Firefox users say IE is unstable, but that’s not true anymore with IE7 (imho).
I was a solid IE6 user for close to four years and never had that browser crash or otherwise act “unstable”. Most of the people I’ve met that complain about Microsoft products being unstable are either running the stuff on very poor hardware, or are visiting sites that are clearly targeting IE.
That said, I don’t think there is a single browser on the market worthy of 90% of the market share. Most of the apps that are available are either hogs for hardware, use their own version of internet standards, or simply lack the intuitive interfaces required by non-geek users.
Two years ago there was a small company out of Chicago that was developing a great light-weight browser that was both intuitive and followed the industry standards, but it seems they’ve vanished from the internets….
I am also a web developer that uses firefox. It interesting that developers say that they wish there was only one browser and that it wouldn’t be ie because its a beast to develop for. Well if we only had IE would it still be a beast to develop for? I tried to switch my parents to firefox but they aren’t interested they like their blue e. Thats fine but for the things I need I use firefox. Never mind the fact that IE won’t work on linux which is my main development platform. I am fine with a browser for the geeks and a browser for the masses. As long as the masses continue to use IE firefox will have fewer malicious sites targeting it.
Thank you. IE is not a “beast” to develop for if you focus on IE first and make changes for Firefox and co after. You’re also right about IE being targeted because of its popularity. If Firefox was anywhere near as popular, it would be targeted by just as many malicious hackers, viruses or whatever.
I couldn’t be without my Firefox - it just plain rules! I only ever use IE to debug my sites nowadays.
Steve
Sorry, your comment got posted unfinished:
It just plain rules…what?
Start using Safari yesterday, look like good, fast, better than FireFox ( I guess )
Smile
About 65% of my site’s visitors use some incarnation of Firefox compared to 30% for some sort of Internet Explorer.
Blimey Ed, 30%? That’s no good at all! Perhaps you should put up some IE referral banners or something!
Hey Spud,
Long time no talk, eh? For my traffic, the majority of people are also using IE. But the difference is not as extreme. Out of 6,543 visitors in the past month 3,504 are using IE and 2,747 are using Firefox. This is 53.55% to 41.98%. Not quite the difference as your nearly 1:10 ratio.
I use Firefox and my site is targeting tech savvy people. I guess you can see the connection.
Oh… and I’d like to add. My mom uses Firefox and says after using it, she hates IE. Hmm…
It’s funny… all of my friends love FF.. but at work we have IE7. I have both. I honestly went back to IE when I got my new PC. However it was a pain in the neck to find all the “allow scripted windows” and “allow content” blah blah blah.. and it wouldn’t let me use certain sites with popups, no matter how many times I turned off the pop up blocker.
Who knows.. maybe I could have fussed with if for a few more hours.. but for me, it was easier to go back to FF. Plus I can get my iGoogle page on my sidebar.
To each their own.
Thanks for the comment on my site, by the way!
There it is again… all of my friends love Firefox. When you fall in love, there’s a good chance you’ll get your heart broken
Hey Spud,
I agree with your assessment that IE is good enough for the non-techy crowd. I installed Firefox on her computer and she still wouldn’t use it.
You have to remember something about your stats. It depends on which kind of visitors you get. My stats are somewhat reversed with about 80 percent using Firefox, 15 percent using IE and about 5 percent using something else.
I happen to use both. I use IE primarily for banking and related sites and Firefox for just browsing in general. A friend of mine uses “Slim Browser” which sits on top of IE’s engine and has been for years. It had tabs and such before IE7 ever did.
Well Spud,
You certainly got a strong reply from this post. There are a few good points made ere. I personally use FireFox but at work it is all IE. I would prefer FF as I find it much easier to use than IE. I know that it is mainly browsing that I do with it so it wouldn’t make much of a difference which I use, but I just prefer FF for some reason.
Mike
Thank you Mike. Yeah, it takes a bit of getting used to after switching from one application to another and there are always teething problems. IE7 has its refresh button in a rather strange place which feels really awkward for the first couple of weeks.
We are mostly Firefox users here in the Philippines. At least 90% of the people I know use Firefox.
Why though, why??? Was Firefox pre-installed on all the machines in the shops? I’m still at a loss to understand what makes people switch over.
I use firefox when explorer does not work properly… wich happens pretty often…
When I work on a site I want it to be 100% compatible with explorer, but I also preview it with firefox and Opera, just to be sure it’s ok.
I used to be a loyal Netscape Fan.But it just got to slow!!I must admit I love Firefox!!!
Netscape used to kick so much ass … then IE4 came out. To this day, Netscape’s best version was 3.01 Gold.
most my viewers use Firefox, as i invest in autosurf and HYIP and its recommended to use firefox for security reasons, personally not sure its true but i got used to firefox now
In my experience, IE crashes down like hell. I was happy when I switched to Firefox. I keep IE so I can check my sites in both browsers for compatibility.
Saw this the other day and thought you might be interested: http://whyfirefoxisblocked.com/
Thanks Jason! That’s brilliant, as is this post: Firefox - A New Religion?.
I’m tempted to install the redirect!
What do you think of my new IE7 banner? If only I got paid to refer people
The article it links to (Firefox - A New Religion?) is over two years old, but is probably more accurate today than it was when it was written.
It’s not. It’s always IE that’s pre-installed.
I don’t know about them…
I’m using FLOCK, my blog looks great in FLOCK!