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I've recommended firefox leading to an actual install, or actually installed firefox, on about 3 other people's boxes. Not a very impressive number, and can't confirm if they actually use it. How many have you all got installed, or actually to switch? If anyone is responsible in this category of making the web a better place, it's us lot.
How many have you all got installed, or actually to switch? If anyone is responsible in this category of making the web a better place, it's us lot.
Well, some folks are tracking their own progress through the spreadfirefox [spreadfirefox.com] website. It tracks clicks on links from your website or email signature. I've got 76 points since signing up 6 days ago. Others are tracking conversions at Zillivisation [studer.tv] which relies on the honor system, but tracks actual conversions and such. I've made several real-world conversions, including one IE-holdout web developer that is now in love with Firefox and has, in turn, converted 4 friends.
At work, nearly everyone in the office has moved to either Opera or to Mozilla/Firefox. Not because I insisted (as IT Director), but because they enjoy using them more so than they enjoyed the MSIE experience. These same employees did not enjoy Netscape 7, preferring to stick with MSIE until they found out about Opera/FF/Moz.
At home, my wife (casual user) wondered how come the computer looked so pretty, and after a couple of pointers from me about where the browser icon was and how to get to the games she plays, she has been a Linux user without complaint. She has actually commented on how much she prefers Firefox over MSIE, which is rather unusual for her. She really appreciates the tabbed browsing, among other features.
If I ever do a format/reinstall of the OS I just backup my Mozilla's profile folder, everthing is kept including mail settings, browser settings, the whole lot. Simple re-install of Mozilla, change paths in a single file puts me back to how it was before, everything exactly same. E-Mail client & Calendar apps are really powerful too, including pop up blocker, lots of plugins, browser ID changing etc... but not the default browser as IE is faster and more integrative for browsing local files etc... otherwise mozilla is the way.
I launched a new site exactly one week ago. It's a forum, catering to an exclusively female audience, on a completely non-technical subject. Audience is mostly from continental Europe, and a little bit from Canada (it's a French-language site).
My stats for my very first week:
IE6: 81.9%
IE5.5: 1%
IE5.2: 0.3% (Mac)
IE5.0: 1.9%
NN4: 0%
Unknown: 2.7%
Mozilla/Firefox: 11.8%
OK, it's a pretty small sample (less than 500 uniques) over a very short period - but if this pattern continues, it's a very significant shift.
But numbers are going up, firefox has won the developer's hearts and minds, that's obvious, Opera really screwed up by overcharging for their browser for too many years, I'd be on my second paid opera now I think if it had been 19.99. For some reason norwegian's can't do basic math, like sell 3 times more at half the price = 1.5 times greater income. I have never seen Opera use go much over 1%, usuall it's around .25%, same it's been since opera 5.
Just checked a more commercial site, Mozilla/firefox running at around 5% of real non spider traffic, looks like a whopping 2 users this week visited with Opera, talk about a dead product...
Encyclo, not to ask the obvious, but you did filter out your IP address from the stats, no?
Those are real visitors in those figures. Yes, I did filter out my own visits as much as possible.
I briefly became the star of the shop when I pointed out that it was the browser he was using at that moment 'cause I switched him from IE 4 or 5 months ago :-D
-B
Seems to suggest the possibility of guerrilla tactics >;-> I switched his browser and imported his bookmarks months ago and he never noticed except that the icon was orange and not blue...
Gecko (Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox): 57.6%
IE (All Versions/Platforms): 34.7%
Opera: 0.8%
(Based on 43,000+ visitors in the last month)
Ok, so obviously that's going to be a tad skewed. But let's take another type of site. This one is an ecommerce site selling beauty products. Mostly female customers. Not geared towards techies at all:
IE (All Versions/Platforms): 90.1%
Gecko (Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox): 5.4%
Opera: 0.0%
(Based on 20k+ visitors in the last month)
Now, just for a different take on things. How about a financial site. This one is geared towards lawyers, accounts and finance guys. Here's the breakdown:
IE (All Versions/Platforms): 83.3%
Gecko (Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox): 8.4%
Opera: 0.1%
(Based on 50k+ visitors in the last month)
Ok... no high-volume sites, to be sure. But a good range of sites, 2 having nothing to do with tech. They all have one thing in common, though. They've all seen Gecko-based browsers on the rise. Upwards of 33% since January on the finance site, for example.
Overall, I think we're nearing/at the "tipping point" to use some business-speak. Firefox has the right combination of tech-savvy-ness, security, functionality and coolness-factor... all at the right time... and all in the right way. And that's all coming together to give use this rise. I think when 1.0 Final hits, we'll see things grow even more.
