Monday, March 14, 2011

Firefox: Destined to fail!

The desktop and mobile web browser space has been filled with many competitors. Google Chrome, Opera & Opera Mini, Safari, and yes, Mozilla's Firefox. Google Chrome has been massively growing at the expense of Internet Explorer and Firefox. In fact, you could say that all development and innovation coming from Mozilla has practically stopped dead in the water. Let;'s think about this closely. Take a look at when Google's Chrome launched. December 11, 2008 (according to Wikipedia) Google launched the first stable release of Chrome. It was quite a big leap from what the industry was doing prior to Chrome. It took major leaps forward in security, feature set, user interface, and user experience. It rocked the world forever and no doubt made Mozilla think about Firefox and the other web browsers totally differently.
Since then, Google has launched 9 new versions! Now let's contrast this to Mozilla's Firefox, which is now currently on version 3! As a matter of fact, it's become a running joke to ask, 'When are they ever going to release version 4??' If you look at this Wikipedia article, you'll notice that version 4 was launched as a "project." And it was allegedly "coming soon." However, since then, there still hasn't been any public release of version 4. This is bad news for Mozilla and great news for Google. Google is on version 10 and Mozilla is not even on version 4 yet! (Although it is rumored to be "coming soon." But I would take that with a grain of salt.) This is the exact reason Firefox is losing market share to Chrome. Not to mention Chrome also launched the capability of running add-ons in the Chrome browser, making it functionally identical to Firefox.
If Mozilla doesn't step up to the plate, Google is going to steal the spotlight away from Mozilla. But to be honest, I don't think I will miss Firefox. That is, if it dies. But of course, with the evidence I've just given, I don't think Firefox will last much longer at the current rate of progress.
I personally use Chrome 95% of my web browsing time. Yes, I may have to use Firefox every once in a blue moon, however, I don't use it much. Plus, if there so happens to be a website incompatible with Chrome (although I can't name any off of the top of my head.), I can always use Microsoft's IE9 (which is actually decent.) Or I can use Safari or Opera.
Bottom line is, if Mozilla doesn't launch version 4 soon, they will fail. Arguably, they already are failing. Chrome is eating their lunch and right now, it seems that Mozilla is okay with that! Step it up Mozilla!

2 comments:

  1. Go Stephen!!!! Whooo! Check us out at styffestories.blogspot.com

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  2. Interesting. Looks like there will be many winners and losers in the browers wars!

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