Do More People Use Firefox Than Edge and IE Combined? (computerworld.com) 152
A funny thing happened when Net Applications' statistics began excluding fake traffic from ad-defrauding bots. Computerworld reports:
Microsoft's Edge browser is less popular with Windows 10 users than earlier thought, if revised data from a U.S. analytics vendor can be believed. According to Net Applications of Aliso Viejo, Calif., Edge has been designated the primary browser by fewer than one in six Windows 10 users for more than a year and a half. That's a significant downgrading of Edge's user share statistics from the browser's portrayal before this month...
By comparing Edge's old and new shares, it was evident that as much as half of the earlier Edge traffic had been faked by bots. The portion of Edge's share credited to bots fluctuated month to month, but fell below 30% in only 4 of the 19 months for which Net Applications provided data... Microsoft's legacy browser, Internet Explorer (IE) also was revealed as a Potemkin village. Under the old data regime, which included bots, IE's user share was overblown, at times more than double the no-bots reality. Take May 2016 as an example. With bots, Net Applications pegged IE at 33.7%; without bots, IE's user share dwindled to just 14.9%. Together, IE and Edge - in other words, Microsoft's browsers - accounted for only 16.3% of the global user share last month using Net Applications' new calculations... In fact, the combined IE and Edge now face a once unthinkable fate: falling beneath Mozilla's Firefox.
StatCounter's stats on browser usage already show more people have already been using Firefox than both of Microsoft's browsers combined -- in 12 of the last 13 months.
By comparing Edge's old and new shares, it was evident that as much as half of the earlier Edge traffic had been faked by bots. The portion of Edge's share credited to bots fluctuated month to month, but fell below 30% in only 4 of the 19 months for which Net Applications provided data... Microsoft's legacy browser, Internet Explorer (IE) also was revealed as a Potemkin village. Under the old data regime, which included bots, IE's user share was overblown, at times more than double the no-bots reality. Take May 2016 as an example. With bots, Net Applications pegged IE at 33.7%; without bots, IE's user share dwindled to just 14.9%. Together, IE and Edge - in other words, Microsoft's browsers - accounted for only 16.3% of the global user share last month using Net Applications' new calculations... In fact, the combined IE and Edge now face a once unthinkable fate: falling beneath Mozilla's Firefox.
StatCounter's stats on browser usage already show more people have already been using Firefox than both of Microsoft's browsers combined -- in 12 of the last 13 months.
It's reverse for me, at work. (Score:4, Informative)
Required web-based systems running SAP and requiring 2FA just don't work well with FF, and Chrome refuses to connect to the server (something to do with TLS, no doubt).
Thus, I use IE11 most frequently.
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if you use websites/apps with heavy javascript, chrome is much faster, firefox is a close on second place behind chrome. If you use lots of canvas, firefox wins a little above chrome in speed, edge being far behind it. But this is only the observation I noticed when developing my apps...
But you are right microsoft browsers are again better with such stuff....
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Use a third party build of Firefox or Chromium... A few people produce such builds which have all the telemetry stuff either removed or disabled by default. If you're concerned about the binaries these projects provide, grab the source and build it yourself.
Can you recommend alternate browsers? (Score:2)
Can you recommend 3rd party builds? I need a browser that respects my choices of add-ons.
Pale Moon 64-bits [palemoon.org] seems more stable than Firefox 56.0.2, so I use Pale Moon.
Waterfox [waterfoxproject.org] sometimes brings up a message from anti-malware software I use, "Waterfox wants to act as a server." Scary.
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"Wants to act as a server" means it wants to open a port, have you checked as to *why* it might be doing this as there's probably a rational explanation (eg endpoint for a voip connection, p2p etc).
It's unlikely that malware would attempt to open a listening port as this action is easily detectable both by the software you're using and by external port scans.
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I've temporarily moved to Edge because it's not Chrome, and it's not FIrefox
For others in a similar situation, is Edge worth $119.99 for the required Windows license?
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If you're not using a laptop, there is nearly no reason to use Edge.
True. The exceptions are testing your site in Edge (for the benefit of laptop users) and hypothetically if some desktop PC maker bundles Windows 10 S.
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Latest speed tests put Firefox as fastest. Beginning with version 57.1 It is so good that Mozilla has taken out some adverts to toot-their-horn,
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IE is installed and managed by the IT team, as such, they should come up with standard configurations that are not leaky.
The first part of that sentence suggests that the second part's assertion is probably false.
Re: It's reverse for me, at work. (Score:1)
Dude, it's not 'stealing' when you fork an open source project and do a better job of developing it than the original developers did. In fact that is exactly how open source is supposed to work! Modification and redistribution is supposed to be possible!
Re: It's reverse for me, at work. (Score:2)
We went the middle road. Our company is pretty big. About 3 years ago Central authority wanted to get out of IE7. So they standardized on Firefox. Then for some reason went to Chrome. We guess because a lot of our workforce is mobile and it was a battery hog.
They informed all the devs that the move from IE7 was coming and after 18 months, made Compatibly View off by default. Those apps that didnâ(TM)t adapt can now tell their specific users to configure their browser accordingly.
Oh, and the standard
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Required web-based systems running SAP and requiring 2FA just don't work well with FF, and Chrome refuses to connect to the server (something to do with TLS, no doubt).
Thus, I use IE11 most frequently.
I have the same problem. But, it's not because there is something wrong with Firefox or Chrome. It's because the web-based systems you need to access are horrendous, poorly written shit, specifically designed to work with Internet Explorer circa 2003, and not ever tested against other browsers.
Edge and IE are completely useless for anything other than the simplest and most basic web browsing, or business applications specifically written to work with them. Out in the real world, both of Microsoft's brows
Re:It's reverse for me, at work. (Score:5, Insightful)
Out in the real world, both of Microsoft's browsers are years behind FF and Chrome and lack most of the functionality that users have come to expect.
The Real World is where I get my paycheck. Thus, I use IE11.
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I use Firefox and Chrome at work, not IE (and I don't have Edge on this computer). They pay me. I figure this is the real world.
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And when the Intranet timecard web site you must use stops working with FF or Chrome, will you heroically stand on principal, not use IE and thus go hungry because you suddenly aren't getting paid, or will you start using IE?
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It works just fine in Chrome. It's not great, but at least it doesn't require IE.
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That didn't answer my question.
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There is certain software I am required to use. I use it. when I need to. However, this is the Real World, the one that gives me paychecks, and I don't use IE.
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We have the opposite problem. Our sites only work in Chrome and Firefox. We use Google maps extensively and IE11 doesn't work properly. In Edge the maps work but it's implementation of the HTML audio tag doesn't seem to work reliably.
Since none of our customers are without access to either Firefox or Chrome, it's not worth fixing.
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This was true for me too a few years ago, many applications used to insist on IE6 although often it was just an arbitrary check which if overridden (eg by changing user agent) they would work fine.
Now some insist on chrome, while others will work with anything other than IE. I used to keep a VM for IE6 and a copy installed through wine but i've not used it in years now.
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Which falls under the category "Company Intranet Use", and that's basically the only reason and use for the Microsoft browsers. For all other use another browser is better.
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But it's just easier to open another IE11 window than to fire up FF or Chrome.
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But it's just easier to open another IE11 window than to fire up FF or Chrome.
Not, if like me, you're a Linux user (also at work), and firing up IE means firing up a VM (newer IE versions won't even work in Wine). Even when IE is running in a VM, it's easier to use a native browser.
Firefox is now being banned on some networks (Score:2, Interesting)
I just got word that Firefox will be completely banned on our network after Mozilla's recent "Looking Glass" advertisement extension injection attack [slashdot.org]. Our network admins have deemed Firefox to effectively be a form of malware after that stunt. We've been told we'll be spending the next few days removing all traces of Firefox from our network's computers.
I don't know what this will mean for those of us who need to test our software using Firefox. Maybe we'll be able to talk the network admins into allowing u
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I have a four or five year old Trendnet switch whose web interface doesn't render properly in Chrome, Firefox or Edge, so I have to use IE unless I want to go telnet or ssh. So there is definitely embedded legacy applications where IE is still needed, but that's about the only thing left that still forces me into IE.
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I have a four or five year old Trendnet switch whose web interface doesn't render properly in Chrome, Firefox or Edge, so I have to use IE unless I want to go telnet or ssh. So there is definitely embedded legacy applications where IE is still needed, but that's about the only thing left that still forces me into IE.
So ssh in.
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Some of our internal sites are designed for Chrome, and require Chrome to function. Others require IE to function. With Win10, we also have Edge.
If only our SharePoint sites would work with Edge, then I would ditch IE all together.
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I'm sure Mozilla will continue its efforts to drive away Firefox users.
Sadly, yes.
As long as there is someone out there willing to give them hundreds of millions of dollars in free money every year, no matter how much they fuck up Firefox, then things are only going to get worse.
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My wife kept hitting this, especially when viewing Amazon or Etsy.
I couldn't figure out the problem and the only fix is to kill FF.
Google searches like "Firefox memory" turn up nothing recent or relevant.
Finally she gave up and switched to IE.
Sigh...
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I agree - Quantum is a massive step forward. It may have broken a lot of plug-ins, but at least it is still a functional and complete browser.
For Microsoft, Edge was also a big step forward, but unfortunately it felt unfinished for quite a while, and it is only now approaching something you could call a proper browser.
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If so I can't imagine why
We've all got time enough to cry
Firefox is abusing its market share (Score:2, Insightful)
It decided to take its trust and waste it on a gimmick for a TV show causing malware alerts and even disrupting people’s exams [reddit.com]. Thats on top of the XULocolypse and Pocket. Projects like Pale Moon and Waterfox are minor patches to the Mozilla problem we need a big fork that gets rid of the gimmick developers just like Xfree86 to X.org and EGCS to GCC.
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It's common for malware or other http tools (eg vulnerability scanners) to pick a user agent that looks like a normal browser, and traditionally most of those used IE...
You might also get an IE useragent string by default if using some of the built in microsoft functions for making http requests (which it would make sense for bots to do, reuse functionality already present on the host).
Edge pitches so funny it hurts (Score:5, Interesting)
There is a God. There is karma. All they did to Netscape! It is justice delayed, no doubt, and all the jerks who did that have cashed out and gone. But I do feel some schadenfreude looking at its problems.
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So nobody uses FTP anymore?
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FTP? I still use gopher, you insensitive clod!
(I actually do - some of the documentation I sometimes access is in a local gopherspace, and hasn't been ported to web yet. One day....)
FTP pretty much died as mainstream when NAT routers became ubiquitous. Switching from active (PORT) to passive (PASV) ftp on the client side only worked until the FTP servers themselves were also behind a NAT. NAT on both sides means "forget it", unless the server side has an admin who actually knows what he's doing, and co
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FTP pretty much died as mainstream when NAT routers became ubiquitous. Switching from active (PORT) to passive (PASV) ftp on the client side only worked until the FTP servers themselves were also behind a NAT.
If both sides are behind a NAT, HTTP wouldn't work either (without the serious reconfiguration they you mentioned), no?
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If both sides are behind a NAT, HTTP wouldn't work either (without the serious reconfiguration they you mentioned), no?
HTTP uses a single connection (usually to remote port 80), and you only have to allow return traffic for the same socket.
With FTP, you have two connections, with the second not being determined until after the connection.
With active ftp: ,," ... (,port X / 256>,port X % 256)"
client port ANY -> server port 21
client sends "PORT
client port X server port 21
client sends PASV
server replies "227
client port ANY -> server port X
Here, the remote server's firewall has to accept the second request. Unless th
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Argh. Let me try this again, because < and > ate half of my other post.
If both sides are behind a NAT, HTTP wouldn't work either (without the serious reconfiguration they you mentioned), no?
HTTP uses a single connection (usually to remote port 80), and you only have to allow return traffic for the same socket.
With FTP, you have two connections, with the second not being determined until after the connection.
With active ftp:
client port ANY -> server port 21
client sends "PORT <ipaddr>,<port X / 256>,<port X % 256>"
client port X <- server port 20
Note the direction of the arrow - the server con
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Kermit? So fancy. I'm posting this via Xmodem.
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You're not going to believe me ... (Score:4, Interesting)
I use FF heavily at home. Chrome at work. On the phone, however, I use opera most, very light and fast to navigate within a page.
and You'll also not going to believe me (Score:2)
Aww shucks Microsoft (Score:1)
Asshole webmasters playing games with user agent (Score:2)
> PaleMoon fork had a promise, but half of the sites
> I visit refuse to work in it (same with SeaMonkey suite),
I often find in those cases that tweaking the user agent to match a "supported browser" like Firefox 57 makes it work for Pale Moon. In Pale Moon, you can do that directly in "about.config" by creating or modifying a key of type "string". E.g.
general.useragent.override.yahoo.com of type "string" set to
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:57.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/57.0
This reminds
IEeeee and Edge (of Death) are good for 1 thing: (Score:2)
That's the only time I ever use them, the only other time is by accident when an app bypasses the default browser setting and renders Help or Status under IE.
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>They're not even especially good that one thing.
They are specially bad at that single purpose on a server with the protected mode on...
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Pale Moon's not a bad choice, either.
Thanks for "Cyberfox". I'll give it a try.
Edge can't even do basic tasks! (Score:5, Interesting)
Save page, undo close tab, view page info, view page source, inspect element, and everything I have add-ons to get. Right-click on an image and you can't view image, copy image, or copy image location, only save it or open the link under it. No bookmark link, save link, or open in private window.
Just tried a page with auto-play video and there was no way to mute the tab like in Firefox. One major feature I love in Firefox is highlighting a non-linked URL or domain name and being able to right-click it and follow it as a link anyway, and being able to highlight and search any phrase on a page is another good one. None of that is in Edge. Edge is NOT a browser for getting things done; it's a browser for crappy tablets and people that have no idea how to internet on them. Even then, that's a bit of a stretch; way too many basic functions are missing to take it seriously. Saving web pages locally was in Netscape and IE in the mid-1990s, for god's sake!
Re:Edge can't even do basic tasks! (Score:5, Funny)
...Edge is NOT a browser for getting things done; ...
Correction:
Edge is for getting Chrome or Firefox. [imgur.com]
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Microsoft screwed the pooch. People sometimes used IE for compatibility. Edge came along and was neither compatible with IE nor had many features. Since people saw that IE is being phased out for Edge, they had no reason to keep using IE and no reason to use Edge because its feature-poor. Edge could someday catch up, but people won't wait around.
MS forgot the main reason people use MS is compatibility and familiarity. They keep losing when they try to compete on raw merit. Edge is yet another example.
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Windows is dying as a home OS. If an Edge turn-around happens, it will be in the office, and Google has deep pockets, unlike Netscape.
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Honestly, I just don't get it (Score:2)
In the end they're all just web browsers, and all pretty much get the job done. I'll use whatever happens to be available. I'll typically install iron but won't cry myself to sleep if it isn't available. The only thing I really care about is an adblocker.
Of course I come from the days of Mosaic and waiting for images to download on a 9600 baud modem and we were happy for it. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate all the advances, but in the ends its a web browser.
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...but in the ends its a web browser.
With the Web being the gateway to information in the modern age, a Web browser is an essential utility. Saying that a Web browser is, "just a browser" is like saying that a consistent water source is, "just a source of water."
Both of them are essential for participation in society, and controlling one or the other conveys to the owner an enormous amount of power. That is why Microsoft tried so hard to own the Web in the 90's.
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I support GP. Your answer did not explain what advantages a browser developer has over his competitors.
I thought back then who controlled the browser controlled the definition of HTML/JS and hence had advantage in of providing tools and server software, which is where the money was. Is it still true provided better open standards exist nowadays?
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You obviously put more value in surfing the internet, which is what 90% of it is, than I do. Not having tabs to me isn't exactly the same as suffering from dehydration.
Trust, once lost, is not easy to win back (Score:2)
Microsoft lost a lot of trust with a lot of users over the the years with how MS handled issues with Internet Explorer. People don't trust Edge because of what happened previously, and rightly or wrongly, this has led to a lot fewer people using Edge.
And of course, if people aren't willing to give them a chance with a new product, it's that much harder for them to win back any trust.
I'm not necessarily saying Microsoft deserves to be given a second chance, but it seems pretty obvious to me why Edge is
This may change quickly (Score:2)
if Mozilla pulls another Mr. Robot stunt.
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Edge is really good at one thing (Score:2)
Downloading Chrome or Firefox!
No script (Score:2)
Microsoft opens your computer to getting ads.
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I 'cut the cord' almost a decade ago. I honestly don't remember any longer what it's like to watch a television show interrupted by ads.
I feel like I'm being reminded of that old experience when I have to use IE at work, because right now I wouldn't choose to browse the web without several ad and tracking suppressors installed. I really don't understand how anyone tolerates it.
Of course. (Score:2)
Do More People Use Firefox Than Edge and IE Combined?
Of course.
No one uses Edge and IE combined; they use Edge, or they use IE; in fact, they are impossible to combine into a single browser experience.
Note: FireFox is doing well at all because there are two popular WebGL game development platforms, whose favorite pig trick is to decide that WebGL isn't supported on anything but Firefox. If you hack the games, however, to remove the browser check, they run fine on Safari and Chrome.
So any popularity of Firefox, such as it is, can like be blamed on sites like
It's plausible (Score:2)
I don't know, of course, but I do know this: I don't know a single person, either socially or professionally, who uses Edge.
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I don't know, of course, but I do know this: I don't know a single person, either socially or professionally, who uses Edge.
Of course not, the professional world is still on Win7 so if they use a MS browser, it will be IE. However, new hardware isn't accepting win7 and older hardware is getting too long in the tooth. Win10 is looming and dreading the retraining of the workplace proletariat in an abortion of a UI we don't want to use ourselves.
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Of course not, the professional world is still on Win7 so if they use a MS browser, it will be IE.
Not in my office. Everyone has to use Win 10, except for a couple of machines used for testing.