It's becoming obvious that Chrome will beat Firefox and become #2

[inferniac]

Firefox does what you want it to do.

I forgot how much I want my browser to start in 15 seconds and then wait another 5 to get the site I want :laugh:

[alisalem]

You guys really need to try BETA 9. Startup has improved heavily and it feels really smooth. The interface remains to be completed and I'm sure it'll impress when it's done.

[CGar]

I'm sorry you have had that issue, but I personally have not had that issue since the past few months of nightlies. I know a lot of people have this issue, but I think it's due to poor maintenance of their profile (again, another barrier to the average user).

Yeah, Chrome always started in like 1-2 seconds, but that's because the browser doesn't have the amount of extensions I had installed. Whenever I ran a new FF profile, it would start pretty much instantaneously, and maybe 4-5 seconds after I loaded with tons of extensions.

Now that I'm running an SSD, both browsers start in like under a second, so it's even more negligible.

[Guest]

Yes and for the only reason that they work so quickly on it.

[Kreuger]

People thus start to get the idea that Chrome is more innovative, and once they try Chrome, they get hooked on the speed advantage over Firefox.

Really? I went back to Firefox. I tested out Chrome to see what the big deal was and it didnt do anything for me.

[Xilo]

Can you do this on Chrome?

No? Didn't think so. These are reasons why Chrome will not overthrow Firefox. Chrome is a completely locked down browser that is extremely basic. It's only strength is it's speed and with i7 processors being common nowadays, it's not that big of a deal. Chrome is not a browser suited for heavy browsing. If you look at market share, Chrome is going up while IE is going down. Firefox has remained pretty stable.

If you're the type that just has a couple tabs open and don't really care, sure, Chrome will probably be better.

[Sub_Zero_Alchemist]

Really? I went back to Firefox. I tested out Chrome to see what the big deal was and it didnt do anything for me.

+1 Same for me as well..Sticking with Firefox and Opera.

[KiHu]

Yes, because the average public don't give a flying fig about extensions, user javascript, tab behaviour. They want something simple to use, and fast. The problem is that all of you are thinking like nerds when you should be thinking like the average web using layman. Chrome is by far the easiest web browser to use, and it pretty much ties with Opera at being the fastest. Firefox not only seems to be getting more buggy with each release, they actually seem to be going back with their rendering engine as well, a lot of work is needed on Firefox. I am a tech geek, and I don't even care about extensions. I use ad muncher to get rid of advertising, and the only addons I use in Chromium are ESPN cricinfo, Chrome 2 Phone, Awesome Screenshot, and F.B Purity. I use my web browser to browse, I don't need it to do a million things in one go. Chrome may not be as customisable as some other browsers, but it is slick, extremely fast, and easy to use, and that is why it is turning into such a hit.

This is exactly what I would have written..

This is the problem with us geeks..we do not think what the AVERAGE joe wants, but what we want.

I plus'ed your post,

because it just summarizes everything

Thank you

Now I can actually go to sleep instead of writing a looong answer

[Knife Party]

I'm really glad people are beginning to see that it's obvious Chrome will be #2. Firefox has too many flaws to continue being a serious competitor to Opera and Chrome other than extension support.

what massive flaws does FF have that undermine it to compete with Opera? Almost no one takes Opera serious, hence it's marketshare. Anyways, who cares if Chrome moves to #2, FF still exists for the market segment which value it the most.

[ObiWanToby]

Firefox's hardware support and smooth font rendering with directwrite will push it forward,especially on Windows.

[xtruder]

I think Chrome will gain a lot more marketshare than it does now, it might even pass Firefox, regardless if it does or not, Firefox is a better browser, it may have a slow UI, but it's much more functional and customizable than Chrome.

Also, Userbase/Marketshare =/= Quality

[inactive]

I voted NO. Firefox is the overall best in real world speed in my book. it feels the overall SMOOTHEST.

so while i think Chrome can give Firefox a run for it's money i think Firefox will most likely remain #2 into the foreseeable future. plus i think one major thing Firefox has going for it is... it's pretty much the first browser that everyone knew besides Internet Explorer and usually being first to the market helps establish your name. sort of like those IPOD's did for MP3 players as even if someone is better, everyone knows the IPOD name.

1) Chrome's interface is still way more responsive than even the latest Firefox 4 Beta 9. Firefox has a major disadvantage in they refuse to rewrite the UI from the ground up, while Chrome is the fastest starting browser for Windows by far.

i think Firefox beats Chrome in overall smoothness of the browsers. so even though Chrome typically wins in all those random speed tests in general. i think in real world speed Firefox is my choice especially when it comes to the overall smoothness of the browser plus it uses less memory etc.

and start up time does not mean to much in the real world. it's how quick it is while your using it in which case i think Firefox is the overall smoothest browser but it's probably because it's been out the longest so it's more polished vs Chrome.

2) People LIKE Chrome's minimalistic interface because there's more on the page to see, while Firefox still can't get rid of that big orange button.

Chrome might give you a little more to see on the page but with decent sized monitors with high res like 1920x1080 nowadays i don't think this is any real issue in the real world.

6) People seem to like having a browser that "just works" and you never even see the updates applied in the background. Overall, Chrome is a much more streamlined experience for the average user than Firefox is.

Chrome probably has a slight advantage here but with the whole 'just works' comment i don't see people going away from IE much in that case since it's what people known for ages and comes with windows.

Firefox's hardware support and smooth font rendering with directwrite will push it forward,especially on Windows.

I Agree. because looking at my ATI Radeon you can actually tell Firefox is using the graphics card because you can monitor it's Mhz fluctuations with GPU-Z on the card when some web sites are loading.

Chrome don't seem to do this which makes you wonder if it's even using it. (and yes, i know you have to turn it on in the "about:flags" thing on Chrome 8)

EDIT: Chrome was using the GPU not long ago but it seems to be flaky as it seems sometimes it's enabled and other time it's not because when it's ON it will show in it's own 'task manager' as 'GPU Process'. but it don't always come on it seems. but when it is on it acts similar to Firefox with the GPU load and Mhz increases. but Firefox always works when i load it.

my GPU chip is a Radeon 5670 card which has DX11 support so it's definitely not a graphics card issue since all GPU acceleration needs is DX10.

EDIT#2:... the Mhz fluctuations still seem to work on Chrome and so does some GPU load here and there even when it's not showing the 'GPU Process' thing in it's own 'task manger' thing. so it makes me wonder what's going on there?

[Subject Delta]

If I was a partner of Google I'd be very wary.

For years they've Firefox and Google supported each other again IE, but in the background Google introduced Chrome and is now product placing it in searchs on google.

Apple had Google CEO as a board director, the first Android OS was like a old samsung/rim OS, then suddenly that transformed into a iOS like product, oops.

Android is absolutely nothing like iOS :/

Chrome is for the average user who doesn't think outside the box, literally. That probably includes a lot of people here, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but I think that most users don't give two s**ts about their browsing experience, which will ultimately prevent FF from reaching the #1 spot.

Firefox does what you want it to do. Chrome does what Google wants it to do *cough sift through your data*.

However these are the majority of users on the internet, hence the large departure of IE users to Chrome, and the relatively stable FF population. Firefox has sort of an entry barrier, you need to be willing to invest time into the browser to make it an unbeatable experience.

I love how people say they love Chrome cause it "just works," but I have two Chrome users at work that get the "Oh snap something went wrong screen" on a somewhat regular basis. I'm not saying it crashes any more than any other browser, but it's not the golden boy infallible browser all its users clamor it to be.

I do care about my browsing experience. I want web pages to be rendered quickly and accurately, and I want a browser that is lightweight, fast, and minimalistic. I don't have a fetish with turning my web browser into a million different things, I just use it to browse. I don't use Firefox because it is sluggish, I find the UI to be horrible, and it has a slow rendering engine. For me, extensions are overrated.

This is exactly what I would have written..

This is the problem with us geeks..we do not think what the AVERAGE joe wants, but what we want.

I plus'ed your post,

because it just summarizes everything

Thank you

Now I can actually go to sleep instead of writing a looong answer

Thanks for the compliment :)

[farmeunit]

This is exactly what I would have written..

This is the problem with us geeks..we do not think what the AVERAGE joe wants, but what we want.

I plus'ed your post,

because it just summarizes everything

Thank you

Now I can actually go to sleep instead of writing a looong answer

The average Joe will use IE.

[kawasabi]

lol chrome kids stuff cmon

[Flawed]

chrome is without doubt going to catch up to mozilla in terms of market share, i used to be an firefox fan boy but these days firefox is just soooo slow compared to chrome 10.0 or IE 9 beta 1

Wait, you are comparing IE 9 beta with the current stable release of Firefox? How about you compare stable FF 3.6 vs IE8 or FF 4 beta vs IE 9 beta. Anything else is just silly.

The average Joe will use IE.

That's why FF has 30% marketshare? I doubt 30% of the market is made up of solely geeks. I put FF on all my friends, family's, or any machine I fix, so there are a lot of ordinary users running firefox right now if I'm any indication of behaviour.

[Ji@nBing]

I could maybe see that. Personally I can't stand Chrome as I find it fugly and just too minimal. But FF has gotten so crappy and feels so sluggish, I can see people leaving it for Chrome. Opera 11 user here BTW.

[Growled Member]

I think when version 4 of Firefox comes out, it's going to be a market changer. I believe FF will gain many new users when it comes out.

[Subject Delta]

I think when version 4 of Firefox comes out, it's going to be a market changer. I believe FF will gain many new users when it comes out.

I have tried FF4, and I see nothing game changing in it at all. Even with 3D rendering enabled it's still dog slow and it renders fonts in the same awful way that IE9 does.

[Ji@nBing]

I think when version 4 of Firefox comes out, it's going to be a market changer. I believe FF will gain many new users when it comes out.

I don't see how. I gave the betas a go and it feels like the same old FF. Slow and sluggish. I think they just need to start from scratch after this build. They're falling way behind everyone else. I mean, even IE feels lighter.

[farmeunit]

That's why FF has 30% marketshare? I doubt 30% of the market is made up of solely geeks. I put FF on all my friends, family's, or any machine I fix, so there are a lot of ordinary users running firefox right now if I'm any indication of behaviour.

And that's taken how many years? You said you put Firefox on their computers. What did they use before? I use Firefox and put Firefox on most peoples' computers also, but when I ask people what they use, it's almost always IE. Half the time when I ask them what browser they use, they give me a dumb look. They just think it's call "The Internet"

I work at a school, and the only reason most teachers have switched to Firefox is because our SIS requires it. Luckily they urge kids to use Firefox also. In the "real world" I just see IE mostly because that's what's on the computer.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

I used to run nightly editions of Firefox but now I run nightly editions of Chrome/Chromium. Firefox's wide range of extensions is both a blessing and a curse. Yes, it gives people something to play with but it can also make the browser operate much more slowly than a clean installation. When I used to use Firefox, I kept my extensions to a minimum.

[polyarchist]

I don't see anybody saying this, so I will.

The main reason Firefox has a 30% marketshare is NOT just because it's so "great". It's because of the need for an alternative to a monopolistic browser that was not secure at all due to its widespread use. People wanted something that would't be overrun with toolbars, exploits, etc simply because it was the only game in town. Any browser that popped up when Firefox did would would been accepted as being great because no matter what, it was a free, open-source alternative to IE.

Like the guy before me said, if you work in an small to medium sized business or organization, which is what most of the world runs on, there's a good chance that your sysadmin will require you to use Firefox because it creates less headaches than IE does.

Opera used to be a browser you had to pay for back then, and Netscape was pretty much on its way out and eventually became Phoenix, which became Firebird, which became Firefox.

We all know what really happened, so lets stop acting like Firefox is a streamlined, well-coded browser. It's not. It's a big sluggish piece of old code that is reliable, but ultimately, too slow for people that like to do things fast. That's what the new Chrome and Opera stable versions are for.

[Chester0]

Firefox 4 will be a game changer, i dont think Chrome will beat Firefox, in the near future anw...

[threetonesun]

Maybe, but it would be Chrome #1, Firefox #2, Safari #3, IE #4 at that point. But I personally don't think it will happen. Chrome is great, but it's not as user friendly for the general public as Firefox.

Are there any counters out there that account for mobile browsers? I have to assume Safari is moving up in the world usage if that's accounted for.