Bad news for Microsoft

[N1LAF]

Internet Explorer is not what it used to be. Firefox, but also additional rival browser such as Safari and Google Chrome, have eroded Microsoft’s dominance on the browser market. IE is left struggling even after the release of Internet Explorer 8 this year and with no end in sight to its downward trajectory. The Redmond company’s proprietary browser has continually bled audience to competitors, and it looks like on certain markets, Internet Explorer no longer occupies the dominant position. And it is only Mozilla’s Firefox to blame for IE being forced to give up the lion’s share of the browser market. According to statistics made available by Gemius Ranking, Firefox has overtaken Internet Explorer in terms of market share in Central and Eastern Europe.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/With-IE9 ... 7580.shtml

There are hundreds of different versions or distributions of Linux, some pitched for general use and others for specific needs or tasks such as high security, older machines or multimedia. In the five years since its launch, Ubuntu has risen to become one of the most popular.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/bl ... ws7-review

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My take is if Linux/Ubuntu becomes that much easier to install and operate for all users and not just the technical crowd, it could start to give Microsoft real competition.

[KC2UGV]

If M$ released a version of IE for linux (A real version, not some crippled crap), it would sink Firefox within 6 months.

Of course, it would never happen.

[N1LAF]

Why would it sink Firefox? I use Firefox exclusively on a windows system, so does my friends and family (once it is installed on their computer - and they never looked back)

[ad4mg]

Internet Explorer is not what it used to be. Firefox, but also additional rival browser such as Safari and Google Chrome, have eroded Microsoft’s dominance on the browser market. IE is left struggling even after the release of Internet Explorer 8 this year and with no end in sight to its downward trajectory. The Redmond company’s proprietary browser has continually bled audience to competitors, and it looks like on certain markets, Internet Explorer no longer occupies the dominant position. And it is only Mozilla’s Firefox to blame for IE being forced to give up the lion’s share of the browser market. According to statistics made available by Gemius Ranking, Firefox has overtaken Internet Explorer in terms of market share in Central and Eastern Europe.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/With-IE9 ... 7580.shtml

There are hundreds of different versions or distributions of Linux, some pitched for general use and others for specific needs or tasks such as high security, older machines or multimedia. In the five years since its launch, Ubuntu has risen to become one of the most popular.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/bl ... ws7-review

-----

My take is if Linux/Ubuntu becomes that much easier to install and operate for all users and not just the technical crowd, it could start to give Microsoft real competition.

That's a real possibility! Ubuntu 9.10 installed flawlessly on two different machines here, and I didn't have to use terminal to make any adjustments! I recall starting with Ubuntu 6, which required a bit of tinkering to get right. I'm still running 9.04 on this machine, but it runs so well, I have no reason to change it. On every machine I've installed Ubuntu on, it has consistently outperformed Windows in terms of boot-up times, and general "look and feel". I understand some of this is because there is no bloated anti-virus/malware/scareware suite running all the time.

Certainly, some of Mozilla's success with the Firefox browser was due to backlash against Microsoft. Earlier versions of Firefox left a bit to be desired, but it is much improved, and it's the only browser I use these days on Windows or Linux. i think the latest version of IE I have on any of my machines is 7, but I only have 2 machines with Windows anymore, and one of them is running Windows 2000, the other, XP Pro.

Fedora 11, with the KDE desktop, is pretty impressive as well, but isn't apparently as "mainstream" as Ubuntu. I think some of that is the perception that, since it's Red Hat (or a spinoff), that it's the "harder" Linux to use.

I've kept records on this, and to date, I've added Ubuntu to 14 different machines (for other people) in a dual boot configuration, and I've yet to receive a single complaint. I do fully pre-configure them to what I anticipate the user will do with the machines. At least 3 of these folks have dropped Windows entirely!

I'm delighted that Ubuntu is growing more popular, as that insures it will be around for some time, and popularity will grow quite a bit with their introduction of "cloud computing" into their latest version. I also worry that the growing popularity of the OS will attract the attention of those who wish to ruin the experience, just as they have with Windows, and the OS will become bloated like Windows, and with the associated security issues.

[KC2UGV]

Why would it sink Firefox? I use Firefox exclusively on a windows system, so does my friends and family (once it is installed on their computer - and they never looked back)

It would sink it due to the "idiot factor". How many developers write for Firefox just not to eliminate their "other users"? If IE just worked on Firefox, wouldn't it be easier to convince people to "just use IE"?

I mean, it's not technically better, but imagine a Linux experience where you could use ActiveX plugins, full IE compatibility? One thing I can't do in Firefox+Linux is Netflix streaming movies.

If M$ made that work on Linux, it would sink Firefox. Thankfully, they'll never realize it until it too late (ie they only have a 25% market share).

[N1LAF]

I don't think that analysis would be right, because I think most of Firefox users are fed up with Microsoft and Internet Explorer. Quite frankly, Linux doesn't have the user base for M$ to get into the mix. With that fact, if M$ did, it wouldn't put that much of a dent into Firefox numbers for reasons stated before.

If the Linux consumer user base was large enough, Netflix would make it work for Linux.

[N1LAF]

Case in point. Just as I posted my last above, we have 6 users logged in.

5 running Windows OS, one running Linux (Luke)
4 are running Firefox, one running Opera, one running IE

3 of 5 Windows OS users are running Firefox
1 Windows OS user is running Opera
1 Windows OS user is running IE8

So lets ask our Linux user, Luke, if IE was available on Linux, what browser would you use?

[ad4mg]

Case in point. Just as I posted my last above, we have 6 users logged in.

5 running Windows OS, one running Linux (Luke)
4 are running Firefox, one running Opera, one running IE

3 of 5 Windows OS users are running Firefox
1 Windows OS user is running Opera
1 Windows OS user is running IE8

So lets ask our Linux user, Luke, if IE was available on Linux, what browser would you use?

Firefox, as I have no real need for IE. FF had tabbed browsing before IE did, and that's what really sold me on FF when I first started using it.

I don't have an issue with MS or IE, no ax to grind. It's strictly a matter of preference.

I'm also amused by these Linux "wars" ... like which is the best flavor of Linux. Some do not like that Ubuntu disables the root account by default (it's very easy to activate). I think that's one of it's greatest strengths. I hosed several Slackware installations running as root when I first started looking at Linux.

I think the ad-block plus add-on for Firefox contributes a lot to its popularity, as well as all the other add-ons available. It's considerably more difficult to customize IE!

[KC2UGV]

Case in point. Just as I posted my last above, we have 6 users logged in.

5 running Windows OS, one running Linux (Luke)
4 are running Firefox, one running Opera, one running IE

3 of 5 Windows OS users are running Firefox
1 Windows OS user is running Opera
1 Windows OS user is running IE8

So lets ask our Linux user, Luke, if IE was available on Linux, what browser would you use?

Ok, I might be wrong. It's academic, at best. M$ would never do that.

But who in the fuck is running Opera?!?!

[kb2crk]

not me... i have switched to chrome unless i have to print a shipping label through paypal.