Every so often, I like to report in on what percentage of visitors to this site use Firefox. It's been awhile--and while I wasn't looking, Firefox usage passed the 30% threshold.
For awhile, some folks wondered if Microsoft's release of a half-decent browser in IE 7 would put a crimp in Firefox usage. But the following chart, graphing Firefox use on PCWorld.com since mid-2004, shows that Firefox's popularity is still growing at a decent clip:
About a year ago, I reported that Firefox usage stood at a hair under 24 percent--so the jump to 30 percent in twelve months, while not dizzying, represents a meaningful 25% increase.
True, IE has about double the usage--IE 7 and IE 6 were both used by roughly 30 percent of visitors during May, adding up to a still-dominant 60 percent. But it seems entirely possible that we'll see the day when IE is used by a bit more than 50 percent of visitors, and Firefox is used by a bit under 50 percent. Which would make it time to retire the phrase "800-pound gorilla" when discussing Microsoft's browser.
Meanwhile, Mac usage on our site bumped along at 2 percent or less for years. But since early 2006--perhaps not coincidentally when Apple switched to Intel chips--it's surged, and it's still soaring. Close to six percent of users in May were on a Mac:
Time was when Microsoft's market share wasn't just competition-crushing, but heading towards 100 percent--and it was hard to figure out a scenario in which that would be reversed. But we're enjoying an unexpected second era of platform diversity--and it seems entirely possible that the Behemoth of Redmond's share of both the browser and OS markets will continue to erode over the next few years.
Anyone want to hazard a guess as to where we'll be in, say, 2012?
In 20012, Firefox usage will be at 70 percent. Why? Mobile internet devices running Linux, whose hardware costs are partially subsidized by a certain very popular search engine.
Apple will have 12% because they will release a public version of their OS(Hellcat) and Firefox will have 52% simply because of the shear knowledge about computing by PCWorld for the average user.
tHIS IS the MOST ANNOYING FEATURE IN wINDOWS.
wHAT MORON THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA THAT WHEN YOU HAVE THE caps lock KEY ON AND YOU PRESS THE sHIFT KEY, YOU SHOULD GET LOWERCASE LETTERS. AND KEEP DOING THAT RELENLESSLY, EVEN WHEN AN os WITH AN iq IN THE SINGLE DIGITS SHOULD BE ABLE TO FIGURE OUT THAT YOU MADE A MISTAKE AND TO AUTOMATICALLY stop the caps!