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

By polyarchist
in Web Browser Discussion & Support

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Do you think Chrome/Chromium will become the #2 browser, making Firefox #3?   

286 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you think Chrome/Chromium will become the #2 browser, making Firefox #3?

    • Yes, I think Chrome will beat Firefox. Firefox will someday be used less than Chrome.
      170
    • No, I think Chrome will never beat Firefox. Firefox will always be used more than Chrome.
      116

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Grand Master

Subject Delta

Posted
Posted

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.

Great post, and a +1 for you

I haven't tried it on Windows, but I have in Linux, and it was seriously fast.

On Windows, it is not. It is only about 13% faster than IE9, in my Peacekeeper tests, IE9 scored about 3,800 FF4 (with 3D acceleration), Safari about 5,100 and Chrome and Opera both went over 10,000. On Windows it's lagging WAY behind. I am looking to see people who claim that FF4 will be game changing justify that assertion, I have seen nothing in the betas that gives me any confidence in that viewpoint.

Grand Master

threetonesun

Posted
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IE #4?

How can you say that's even a possibility considering that it comes standard with Windows?

Also, how you possibly say that Chrome is LESS user-friendly than Firefox when almost everybody acknowledges it to have a simplified (some might even say dumbed-down) interface?

You have no idea what you are talking about. At all.

Just because it comes with Windows doesn't mean people use it. Its relevance is certainly fading, and my point was if Chrome ever overtakes Firefox, we'll be at the point where IE is nearly irrelevant.

Chrome is considerably less user friendly for the average user. Give it, and Firefox to your Grandparents. Tell me which one they can figure out first. Remember, the average user still needs a search box, and bookmarks they can find. And a little + button for more tabs.

Also, this assumes we'll be using desktop browsers in the future, hence my claim that Safari will be #3. If the iPad keeps getting better, and other tablets join the field, you'll see mobile versions shooting up in usage.

But, like you said, what do I know. :laugh:

Grand Master

inferniac

Posted
Posted

Just because it comes with Windows doesn't mean people use it. Its relevance is certainly fading, and my point was if Chrome ever overtakes Firefox, we'll be at the point where IE is nearly irrelevant.

I don't believe that IEs marketshare on windows-based PCs will ever be irrelevant.

Rising Star

polyarchist

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Just because it comes with Windows doesn't mean people use it. Its relevance is certainly fading, and my point was if Chrome ever overtakes Firefox, we'll be at the point where IE is nearly irrelevant.

Of course it means lots of people will use it. That's why it's still number 1 after 6 years of Firefox. People will always use the browser that comes with their computer because it is handed to them, especially if it's called "Internet Explorer".

Chrome is considerably less user friendly for the average user. Give it, and Firefox to your Grandparents. Tell me which one they can figure out first. Remember, the average user still needs a search box, and bookmarks they can find. And a little + button for more tabs.

How many times have you seen your parent or grandparent type searches into the address field when they first use a browser? Having one text field makes sense.

Bookmarks they can find? Firefox 4 did what Chrome and Opera did and turned bookmark adding into nothing more than a star icon you click on to auto add bookmarks.

Chrome has a plus button in the tab bar, and most old people or noobs don't even use tabs until you tell them about it.

Also, this assumes we'll be using desktop browsers in the future

Yeah...nobody will sit down in front of a desktop touch based or 3D movement-based display in the future, we'll all be carrying super-futuristic iPads and nothing resembling a desktop will exist in the future... :rolleyes:

But, like you said, what do I know. :laugh:

Apparently, not very much.

Grand Master

ViperAFK

Posted
Posted

How many times have you seen your parent or grandparent type searches into the address field when they first use a browser? Having one text field makes sense.

I am not a big fan of chrome but I whole-heartedly agree with its one addressbar/search bar combination. I work dsl tech support and 80% of the time, no matter how specific you are, they will type a modem IP in the search box or the home page, never the freakin addressbar. I like using one text field myself as well, I use opera and remove the search bar and use keywords in the addressbar.

Grand Master

Ryoken

Posted
Posted

Everyone I've shown Chrome too has started using it. This includes my parents, and now almost everyone at my work.

Talking about Grandparents and the like, they use it at the Nursing Home one of my parents works at.. There's no extra buttons or whatever, just a search/address bar, back, forward, stop/refresh.. They don't need or want more..

Grand Master

Udedenkz

Posted
Posted

I benchmarked scrolling speed of FF3.6 and Chrome (with HW layers).

Chrome was around 700ms, FF3.6 was 800ms.

That is not much faster.

why do people need 100 tabs open at once ? How is that useful ?

It is faster than opening 4-5 browsers with 20-25 tabs each.

Grand Master

Arkaic

Posted
Posted

I benchmarked scrolling speed of FF3.6 and Chrome (with HW layers).

Chrome was around 700ms, FF3.6 was 800ms.

That is not much faster.

It is faster than opening 4-5 browsers with 20-25 tabs each.

3.6 is quite old and outdated (well tech wise) its only patched for security holes.

try that against 4

(Watch 3.0 users are about to tackle me)

Mentor

Paul Ferson Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

It is faster than opening 4-5 browsers with 20-25 tabs each.

My question to that, however, is how do you need so many tabs? I normally have less than ten tabs open - I might not be making the most of tabbed internet browsers with only ten, but I don't see how having one hundred tabs open would be helpful in any way. I'd get bogged down in content and wouldn't be able to find the tab I needed at the time, personally. Even with Tab Groups in Opera 11 and App Tabs in Firefox 4, I still try to keep my tab usage minimal.

Grand Master

Xilo

Posted
Posted

My question to that, however, is how do you need so many tabs? I normally have less than ten tabs open - I might not be making the most of tabbed internet browsers with only ten, but I don't see how having one hundred tabs open would be helpful in any way. I'd get bogged down in content and wouldn't be able to find the tab I needed at the time, personally. Even with Tab Groups in Opera 11 and App Tabs in Firefox 4, I still try to keep my tab usage minimal.

I'm one of those 100 tabs people. I have several links to games I'm currently playing (builds, guides, info, forums, mods, etc), torrent websites, general websites I visit every day, programming websites with info for stuff I'm working on, also other random websites with information and other stuff that I want to save to come back later to. I also use a tree style tab extension that puts tabs on the side and have another extension to rename tabs. It makes organization very easy.

Arguably, you could use bookmarks. However, with tabs, everything is always there when I need it and setup in an order that I like. If I bookmarked everything, I would most likely forget about stuff or have to keep opening bookmarks one by one when I want access to all the information I need. Tabs are just convenient.

Rising Star

CGar

Posted
Posted

I average 1-5 tabs on any standard day, and I'll use at most 3 Panorama groups. I usually use groups when I'm playing an RPG or something and I want a walkthrough/skill tree/quest guide that I can easily pull up or put away, or if I'm researching buying something.

Tab groups aren't critical to me, but it sure is nice when I do want to use it

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