News from software and web world. 

Firefox continues it's climb
21 Jan 2005

The number of people using Mozilla's Firefox browser continues to rise every month at the expense of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. Why? People are discovering an easier, faster, and much more secure way to use the web.

(NOTE: as usual, I'm giving you the security news first since it has immediate and sometimes an urgent impact on your business. See today's bottom story for the "bottom-line" type of news. :-))

From the beginning of December through mid-January, 4.78 percent of Internet surfers studied by online measurement company WebSideStory used the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser, a gain of 0.88 percentage points. At the same time, IE usage declined 0.7 percent to 92.7 percent, the firm reported. WebSideStory said IE use has declined from 96.7 percent since June.

The study measured market share by embedding sensors on major Web sites such as those of the Walt Disney Internet Group, Best Buy, Sony and Liz Claiborne. Previous studies from WebSideStory tested all operating systems, but the company said its Windows-only numbers are more accurate because new configurations in Apple Computer's Safari browser inadvertently skewed results. WebSideStory retrieves data from 30 million Internet users a day passing through its monitored sites. The company then takes a snapshot of two days and compares the growth.

source: news.com.com

News Analysis:

What does this mean for you as an Internet professional?

1. If you want your browsing to be more secure and less prone to getting nasty viruses and trojans, then switch over to Firefox. Download it from www.mozilla.org. It makes it a snap to import all of your Favorites and History from Internet Explorer in just a few seconds.

2. Give it more than a passing try. After only a few minutes you'll get used to the new look and you'll appreciate web pages loading a little faster (sometimes even up to a few seconds faster) and you'll rest easy knowing that security holes in Firefox are relatively rare compared to security holes in Internet Exploder.

3. You'll be on the cutting edge of technology and your customers will appreciate it. Have you heard of the extensions, think plug-ins, for Firefox? They are amazing and extremely useful in saving you time. How will you feel if your customers ask you about Firefox? You'll wish that you hadn't procrastinated trying it out. Download it from www.mozilla.org and then shop the extensions at addons.update.mozilla.org

Related magazine article: check out the February cover story in Wired magazine. It's available for free here — "Firefox Explosion" www.wired.com — definitely a fascinating and enlightening read!