Firefox faces new web browser challengers
A funny thing to happened to Firefox on the way to vanquishing Internet Explorer: the Mozilla browser’s success opened the door for a host of its other competitors.
Even as Internet Explorer’s market share has slipped - down a dramatic 8 percentage points to 65.5 percent in about the last year - Firefox programmers face a surprising question: should they be more worried about the programmers in Redmond, Wash., or about those working on Apple’s Safari, Google’s Chrome, and Opera?
Firefox has gained about 3 percentage points to 22.5 percent in market share, according to Net Applications’ statistics since July 2008, and Firefox backer Mozilla doubtless hopes for more gains with the release of Firefox 3.5 planned for Tuesday. But Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome each gained 2 percentage points, to 8.4 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively, indicating a growing appetite for alternatives to Internet Explorer that’s not completely met by Firefox. Opera stayed flat at about 0.7 percent.
Features of Firefox 3.5
- Password Manager - Remember site passwords without ever seeing a pop-up.
- One-Click Bookmarking - Bookmark, search and organize Web sites quickly and easily.
- Improved Performance - View Web pages faster, using less of your computer’s memory.
- Smart Location Bar - Find the sites you love in seconds—enter a term for instant matches that make sense.
- Instant Web Site ID - Avoid online scams, unsafe transactions and forgeries with simple site identity.
- Full Zoom - See any part of a Web page, up close and readable, in seconds.
- Platform-Native Look & Feel - Browse with a Firefox that’s integrated into your computer’s operating system