Some memes die hard. Along with the persistent claim that the popular Firefox browser platform is only for Windows-haters, we often see the comment that simply downloading something… even 100 million-plus of something… doesn’t mean people are using it. In fact, Firefox’s Mary Colvig says they believe 40 to 60 million people are actually using it.
Nevertheless, something appears to be happening.
![[Browser & Operating System Usage at Email Battles: 2004 - 2006]](http://www.trimmail.com/news/images/gif_browser_os_usage)
As we’ve noted before, the growth of Firefox usage among Email Battles readers has been more dramatic, swelling from 8% in 2004 to 58% in 2006 (January vs January).
Lest you conclude the growth in Firefox was strictly due to Linux-BSD users…
During the same period, the number of visitors to Email Battles who were not using Windows grew from 4% to 26%, leaving Windows with 74% of our traffic.
Whichever way you look at it, 26% of our visitors use not-Windows, and 33% browse with Internet Explorer… or 74% use Windows, while 58% use Firefox… the verdict at Email Battles is clear. More and more Windows users are deserting IE for Firefox. (Boing Boing has reported a similar exodus, pegging IE visitors at 32%.)
Will Microsoft be able to stop the bleeding with Internet Explorer 7? Hard to say.
Some folks will never go back. Once you settle-in with just the right mix of extensions to make Firefox your own, it’s pretty tough to imagine reverting to common browsing… even if it has been prettified and brought up-to-date with tabs.
This time around, cosmetics may not be enough.
Email Battles Backgrounder:
- Evil websites can take over Windows via Internet Explorer; NewsByte; Email Battles; 24 March 2006
- Critical weakness strikes fully patched Internet Explorer 7 on XPSP2; NewsByte; Email Battles; 22 March 2006
- Gates On The Browser Wars: Netscape Knocked Itself Out; Email Battles; 21 March 2006
- Post-MIX06 Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Preview Released; NewsByte; Email Battles; 20 March 2006
- How Microsoft’s ActiveX Fiasco Unfolded, and Its Effect On Firefox; Email Battles; 10 March 2006
- Tiny uptick in Internet Explorer share makes news in Seattle; NewsByte; Email Battles; 01 February 2006
- Microsoft Employees Rage As Internet Explorer Ship Sinks; Email Battles; 03 January 2006
- Browser Wars: Network Managers Flee IE; Email Battles; 03 January 2006
- Dell UK Boosts Firefox; NewsByte; Email Battles; 28 December 2005
- More Boing Boing readers use Firefox than IE or other browsers; Xeni Jardin; Boing Boing; 23 December 2005.
- Bleak Future Awaiting Internet Explorer?; Email Battles; 27 July 2004
8 comments
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March 28th, 2006 at 11:59 pm
ADAXL
It is likely that Firefox will stay above 10% for all uisers and much higher for pro users. The shipping date for Windows Vista has slipped (again!), making people and companies less willing to trust in Microsoft. MSIE7 got some good reviews, but still suffers from the bad name of the old malware trap MSIE6. Firefox is being developed vigorously and will probably hit 3.0 until Vista ships. Moreover, MSIE7 will not support Win2000 or Mac, which will cause even more people to switch.
March 29th, 2006 at 9:36 am
Jim Storch
Could you break down the makeup of the 26% non-Windows visitors? That’s a stunning increase, IMHO.
March 29th, 2006 at 10:36 am
BJ Gillette
“break down the makeup of the 26% non-Windows visitors…”
Our breakdowns of both Windows and non-Windows are frankly blowing our minds. We’re trying to assemble info from other sites to give you a broader view than that provided by Email Battles visitors alone.
If you have % breakouts for your websites, we’ll be happy to give you some free advertising right here.
Post your Browser Usages by %, and Operating System Usages by % here, with a synopsis and link to your website.
Remember: PERCENTAGES ONLY. Nobody needs to see your competitive secrets.
Or, if you prefer more privacy, send them to “emailbattles” AT “airpost.net.” (Let us know if you want your website to remain anonymous. But we *will* follow-up with a confirming email, to avoid trolls, and provide some assurance that the resulting output has some validity.)
If possible, provide percentages for the month of January: 2004, 2005 and 2006.
March 29th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
Franklin Smith
Until Firefox brings itself upto date with styles allowing you to really create a website that will work in both browsers. Firefox is not a viable option for doing business. Regardless of what you believe when you create a page they should both render the same in both browsers. I can create a page and they will both render differently depending on the browser I use to view it and while I much prefer to surf with Firefox. IE just provides better abilities to create the page to look the way I want or need. Such as inline styles that actually let me set widths on 100% for images and tables and it truely working properly.
March 30th, 2006 at 9:27 am
Webguy
Hey Franklin. Firefox is standards-compliant. IE is not.
April 4th, 2006 at 6:39 am
Chris
I think this article is reading into this issue all wrong. Linux users are the cause of FireFox’s success but Windows users are obviously going to be the majority of users adopting it. Linux makes up less then 10% of world-wide users. You just don’t have enough Linux users to drive it. Linux has many good browsers- and not all Linux users only use FireFox. I use Konqueror some times (Mac used this base for Safari, although they mucked it up) and Opera (major improvements in recent versions). If people want Linux- Linspire has a distribution designed for the masses. It’s quickly becoming the de-facto standard in ease of use. You can even run windows on Linux through win4lin until your comfortable with it, use it as a crutch. Tons of commercial software is available with one click installs for it and it doesn’t require all the tech lingo to use (no terminal windows here, just a web browser-like program called CNR).
June 21st, 2006 at 5:47 pm
Michael Hosting
Visualization of the current trend:
http://general.sc35.info/artlists/firefox_eats_ie.jpg
Posted by:
http://www.milliondollarhosting.net
June 22nd, 2006 at 7:40 am
BJ
re: “visualization…”
Whoa. That fox has *teeth.*