Firefox: Users Try, But Do They Stick With It?

Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:57PM EDT

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I was beyond surprised when I checked out the statistics on one of the websites I publish: More users who visit the site now use Firefox than use Internet Explorer. I'd always thought Firefox was around 20 or 25 percent of the market, but to brush 50 percent? Crazy!

Interestingly, Mozilla (the organization behind Firefox) still struggles to get users to give it a shot: Only half the users who download it actually install and try it, and only half of those users stick with it. That's a huge opportunity for the Firefox to improve growth rates by simply convincing people not to jump ship back to IE (or Safari, or whatever).

The Mozilla group has created a 12-point plan to attempt to improve things, mainly designed to give web novices more help in getting started: Renaming the application to better reflect that it's a web browser, improve add-on management, and create a more sophisticated help system. (Though I have to admit the user-based help system is awfully useful and responsive.)

Tragically, the one thing I don't see on the plan is a goal to make Firefox more stable and bug-resistant. I push browsers pretty hard, admittedly, but over three machines I continue to have frequent crashes whenever I open too many windows, or, particularly, on one website (IMDB.com), which sends a once-daily double-pop-up ad that immediately crashes the whole thing. Arggggh!

Still, I appreciate that the Firefox folks are trying to make things smoother for newcomers to the browser. Despite its bugs, I have made the move completely to Firefox, with no regrets. It's faster, easier to navigate, better organized, and nicer to look at than IE. The spell-checker alone is worth the price of admission. And unlike IE, it keeps getting better, not worse. 

Comments on Firefox: Users Try, But Do They Stick With It?

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  • 6 Posted by somebodys_here on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:32PM EDT Report Abuse

    Yes. I got the fox about a year ago, and I can't use IE without getting nauseous. Firefox is just more user friendly (and useful). I can't go back to IE- the thing about using more memory than IE doesn't bother me at all. I've never seen my "memory used" above 50%. I watch it daily with the Yahoo! widgets app. never experienced a crash either- even with 15 tabs and 3 other windows open.

  • 7 Posted by lexusgirl_07 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    I love Fire Fox because it ALWAYS works and Internet Explorer NEVER works anymore. Internet Explorer always freezes or never responds so I will be a long time user of Fire Fox.

  • 8 Posted by rogueist on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    Here at the office, the Internet Explorer is banned. If anyone is caught using the Internet Explorer, if their computer is taken over by a virus or trojan through their use, they either get fired or take a pay cut equal to the costs to repair the computer. Well at least that's the official policy. Nobody's gotten fired yet, but after two or three pay cuts, you better believe they stop using IE forever. Firefox and Opera are the two primary browsers in use. A few people also use Safari as well. There is no website we cannot visit anymore. Very few people still make "IE ONLY" websites, and for those companies, we just cancel all our contracts with and move to someone else if we find they have an "IE ONLY" site and dont change it to be generic. We like having our office virus and trojan free. We only get viruses and trojans if someone opens up IE and does something with it.

  • 9 Posted by daretobelost on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:36PM EDT Report Abuse

    I started using Firefox before IE7 came out and loved the tabbing. IE7 added that but I never switched back to IE. I like Firefox and haven't experienced the crashing...maybe I just don't pu----- hard enough.

  • 10 Posted by kentc33 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    I can' seem to get AOL radio to work with firefox, even with Adblock off. Any suggestions? kentc33

  • 11 Posted by royal_tiger_rk on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:53PM EDT Report Abuse

    Ever since I found out about Firefox, I have sticked with it ever since!

  • 12 Posted by lewinjon on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    Been using Firefox since later beta versions and find it both fast and stable and getting better all the time. It's right at the top of my start menu and will remain there along with Thunderbird. IE 7 has every button in the exact wrong spot. Too many cooks have certainly spoiled that broth!

  • 13 Posted by jabraham@pacbell.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:26PM EDT Report Abuse

    I find it odd that someone would go to the trouble of downloading a program such as Firefox and not install or use it. I've been using Firefox for a least a year now and only use IE if I must. Can't remember it ever crashing though, it's been very stable and much much faster then IE. It does use a fair bit of memory, but hey that's what extra memory slots are for!

  • 15 Posted by donnaliston@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:46PM EDT Report Abuse

    I quit using Firefox after an update disabled the browser and I could NOT get any help from Mozilla on line and I refuse to pay for a call. They need to be more user friendly!

  • 16 Posted by notbywrks on Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    Firefox is our main browser, but I do use IE for Yahoo Music videos. Can't make it work properly with Firefox, always freezing even with Firefox plugin that allows for switching window to IE.

  • 17 Posted by bobby_smith900 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:10PM EDT Report Abuse

    sorry folks but firefox is not what its cracked up to be when it comes to speed especially opening up Ie still starts up faster and safari is faster than ie and firefox both but ie 7 is a little less buggy than firefox and does not use up near as much memory as someone else posted so some of you fanboys think before you put down IE to soon.

  • 18 Posted by dianne_btlr on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:42PM EDT Report Abuse

    Frankly, I just feel safer using Firefox than IE. There may be a small glitch now and then, but never any of the problems I'd have with IE! the butler

  • 19 Posted by bagongtiktik on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:01PM EDT Report Abuse

    I used Firefox 2.0.0.6 in a Windows NT enviroment :D IE can't be use because of the version. Haven't encounter crashes, pretty stable :D unfortunately can't play flash and no videos too just plain graphics and text browsing.

  • 20 Posted by kimilynn on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:51PM EDT Report Abuse

    I've been using Firefox for several years now and love it. The only thing I open IE for is my Outlook email and to play games on Yahoo. The add-ons for Firefox are awesome - AdBlock in particular.

  • 21 Posted by ludakris1983 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:59PM EDT Report Abuse

    I agree with marydustin99 on Pg 1 that Firefox uses alot of memory, but that is the only negative aspect of Firefox I know. The tabs, better security, customization, etc. outweigh the memory thing for me. I have been using Firefox ever since I installed it, about 3 years. Especially since my IE6 was pretty spyware infected; it was slow responsive and generally was a headache. Mr. Null, if you are reading this comment, I would suggest getting the Adblock plug-in. It is pretty good at blocking pop-ups that happened to pass Firefox's already good security. I say that of all the web sites I have been to, Adblock blocks 99% of all pop-ups. There is only 1 problem site, so I am pretty much ok.

  • 22 Posted by sfcal2001@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:14PM EDT Report Abuse

    I love Firefox. It's a helluva lot faster than IE7 and the add-ons are great. I particularly like the spell check and the ad block.

  • 23 Posted by riverwest2 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:42PM EDT Report Abuse

    I have been using Firefox for several months and so far, I like it. I started using it because when I got AOL, my Internet Explorer stopped working. I couldn't get any other browser to work except AOL's browser, and then AOL's browser crashed completely. I could not get any help from AOL or Microsoft so I installed Firefox, dropped AOL and got a different ISP. Surprise! It doesn't crash any more either!

  • 24 Posted by terry.cobb on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:01PM EDT Report Abuse

    The only problem I have with Firefox is that I cannot use pages with Java. Is there anyway to correct this? I've gone to "options", but no help.

  • 25 Posted by dragonlp86 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    I started using Firefox about two years ago after reading about it. And I've not got any plans to go back to IE. Firefox is easier to navigate, I get MUCH fewer pop-ups and viruses, as well as spyware and adware. IE always tended to slow my computer down terrible, so I'll stick with Firefox.

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