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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  • 66 Posted by grissetto on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:13PM EDT Report Abuse

    I installed Firefox on my MacBook Pro and on my iMac. But every so often it seems to "uninstall" itself. When I click on the Firefox icon on the dock I suddenly get a large "?" in the center of the icon and nothing happens. At that point I have to go back to the Mozilla site through Safari and download Firefox again. When it's working, it's great. But having these unexpected 'uninstalls' is somewhat annoying. Have not found anything on the Mozilla site that addresses this particular problem.

  • 67 Posted by kevinmark20 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    Firefox is the best. Fast clean and easy to use. IE ALWAYS CRASHES! It's seriously ridiculous how much more reliable Firefox is and a built in spell checker? The icing on the cake (By the way Firefox just let me know that "spell checker" is two words and not just one)! I swear it has to be faster too, the tabs even look better on Firefox. Thanks Mozilla! Whatever happened to Netscape? Not that I'm a fan just nostalgic. Lol.

  • 68 Posted by ellen21393 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:53PM EDT Report Abuse

    My 12 year old talked me into switching to Firefox. Much better the IE.

  • 69 Posted by misterkozy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:22PM EDT Report Abuse

    I'd be glad to use it, and I tried awhile back, but I kept getting an error message that no one could decipher or come up with a fix for. I'd close it and about every 30 seconds thereafter it would pop up again! Finally went to Opera, instead.

  • 70 Posted by maruna122 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:09PM EDT Report Abuse

    I only recently switched to FireFox. A month ago at most. I admit, I was a bit weary of switching, so it took me a while to actually make the jump, but now, I can't stand even using IE. I really wish I switched sooner.

  • 71 Posted by eternal_krbygrl on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:56PM EDT Report Abuse

    I used to have FireFox, but this is the family computer, and some people didn't like it, so we're back to stinkin' IE. I liked Firefox better!

  • 72 Posted by slorider1816 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    I've used firefox for years (my son is a programmer and DESPISES IE) popup free and never had problems; like everone else love the add-ons. Kinda like that if you don't like the boring way it looks, there are skins & themes you can use to personalize it. In all those years, I've never had a single crash. Two months ago however, my mom sent me a subscription for some games that couldn't be accessed with ADP(ad blocker), so I had to use IE & made the mistake of downloading the games program as well as Real Arcade and doing some web surfing. Since downloading those and using IE on my laptop i've had multiple crashes, and now have my laptop at my son's for an overhaul as I've been getting the 'blue screen of death' daily, and warnings from microsoft that a complete crash is imminent. I will NEVER USE MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER AGAIN FOR ANY REASON. It is ridden with adware, spyware and possible viruses. The risk is too high. Firefox has FREE protection and I can safely surf and download. My laptop is not new but has always worked extremely well. I plan on keeping it that way by sticking with what works. FIREFOX RULES!!!!!

  • 73 Posted by diva_withclass on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:44PM EDT Report Abuse

    I absolutely love Firefox. I have been using it for several years as well. I never use IE unless the site will not support Firefox. The tabbed browsing is great, especially when I was using an older, slower computer. It can easily be personalized as well. As far as crashing, well, that is why I quit using Internet Explorer. I got tired of rebooting my computer. The Fox Rocks!

  • 74 Posted by real_lyfe on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:33PM EDT Report Abuse

    i've been using it for the last 3and a half years too,and i love it to death. i use it all the time.... its a lot better the I.E. its faster and you customize it...

  • 75 Posted by kyre352 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:55PM EDT Report Abuse

    I tried Firefox in early 2005 and immediately fell in love with it. I use IE when I have to (although most of the time Firefox's IETab extension works just fine!) but otherwise it's all Firefox. I even got my dad to switch, and he was 63 at the time! Two of my friends tried it; one decided she preferred IE7, and the other decided she loved Firefox as much as I did. So within my own circle, Firefox is running about 75%...lol.

  • 76 Posted by joegalvan on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:38PM EDT Report Abuse

    I too am restricted to IE at work but found a way around that. I downloaded FF to my ipod in a new folder. I use my ipod as an external hard drive and viola! I have FF at work!

  • 78 Posted by annnnnnonymous on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:55PM EDT Report Abuse

    I use a new browser called Enigma. You can obtain it for free at http://store.democratz.org You can find the link to obtain it just above the products section. Enigma runs faster than Firefox and does not take up too much memory like Firefox, Opera, or Safari. I have 35 windows open right now and it runs fast. I have stopped using Firefox, K-Meleon, Opera, Internet Explorer, each of which take up too much memory and do not run as fast as Enigma.

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