Why Firefox will continue to lose market share

[Batu69]

Mozilla Firefox is a great browser. Not everyone may agree with me on this but that is fine and expected. Firefox is the browser that gives users the most control over their browsing experience. It has the strongest add-on ecosystem of the three, and is backed by an organization that for the most part seems to be on the user's side of things when it comes to rights and such.

 

But it is also a fact that this browser has lost market share in the past years. This can be mostly attributed to the rise of Google Chrome thanks to Google pushing it with the help of its Internet properties, but also mobile browsing and a climate where customization options fell to the culture of simplifying things.

 

No one can say what would happen if Chrome would not have been released by Google, but it seems likely that Firefox would eventually have reached its peak.

With Chrome dominant, and Internet Explorer / Edge backed by the Windows operating system and Enterprise, it is Firefox that is trailing behind and losing market share.

Netmarketshare recorded Firefox's usage share at an all-time low of less than 9% in May 2016 down from more than 12% in June 2015. These reports are not 100% accurate but the very least they do is show a trend, and that trend signals that things will likely get worse before they might get better again.

Why Firefox will continue to lose market share

There are two main reasons why Firefox will continue to bleed market share on the desktop. The first, and probably the big one, is a number of changes that will roll out over the course of the next year or so.

 

This includes multi-process Firefox, add-on signing enforcement, focus on WebExtensions, and later on deprecation of part of the browser's old add-on system.

All this features or changes will impact part of the browser's user base. Some may notice that a favorite add-on won't work anymore, or that they cannot install a theme anymore that they have used for years.

 

Add-ons are one of the core reasons why users use Firefox, even though Mozilla stated recently that more than 40% of users don't use a single add-on.

With add-ons being impacted by that many changes, it is likely that some users will migrate away from Firefox. Many will probably switch to a browser such as Pale Moon that shares code with Firefox but won't implement these changes anytime soon or at all, while others may switch to Google Chrome directly instead.

 

Some might also add bad management decisions to Firefox's demise such as adding different types of advertisement offers to the browser (which got them pretty bad press coverage which, at times, was not overly fair but still expected).

 

Google Chrome Continuity

 

Google Chrome version 3

 

I considered "Why Google Chrome won't lose market share anytime soon" as the article title for a moment.

The second reason why Mozilla Firefox won't make leaps in regards to market share is Chrome's continuity.

 

Google is very careful about changes that it makes to Chrome. While it has made some changes to the interface throughout the existence of the web browser, none were as drastic as Mozilla's switch to the Australis interface (especially since it meant fewer customization options).

 

The browser UI, extension system, and behavior, remained more or less the same throughout the years.  The screenshot above is of Chrome 3 released nearly seven years ago.

 

There is simply no reason for users to switch to another browser as Chrome works just as good, and behaves and looks nearly the same, as it did years ago

This won't change unless Google starts making drastic changes to the browser UI or behavior, but that seems highly unlikely.

 

Mozilla's way out

 

 

Waiting for Google to make a misstep is not the way to go forward, as it may never happen. Mozilla needs to implement features and make changes to Firefox that make the browser stand out when compared to Chrome.

 

While Mozilla can continue to match or beat Chrome when it comes to performance, web technology support or other under the hood features, it is not really something that most users will care about unless it is directly affecting them.

 

This leaves features that Google cannot or won't implement. If you look at recent Opera versions, you will notice that the company is doing exactly that. Opera implemented a native adblocker in the browser, a browser proxy, and a power saving feature.

 

All features that benefit users and set the browser apart from others.

Mozilla needs to focus on features that set it apart from Google Chrome and are highly sought after by users. This may force them to make difficult decisions, such as integrating an ad blocker into the browser despite not being in the best interest of Mozilla partners.

 

Article source

[GRiM]

I've been using Firefox for 12 years and won't be stopping any time soon.   Tried Chrome a few times but it's shit.   Firefox has much better options, addons functionality.   

[jabrwky]

old addons not working? about:config

  Aardvark html editor & FireShot are indispensible. Get a copy of the .xpi (aardvark, eg.); open the "install.rdf" file in an archiver, then copy the contents to a notepad. Change the last version number to whatever you want, save as .rdf; replace and overwrite the original file in the .xpi.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/aardvark/

r.-click on "add to firefox"  >save as

[knowledge-Spammer]

for me firefox the best

[Pequi]

9 minutes ago, jabrwky said:

old addons not working? about:config

 

From what I understand new addons will have to be signed by Mozilla. So altering the XPI will change the signature, and it will not be loaded by any new version of the browser that imposes the signing.

They say it's to protect you from using "dangerous third party addons", but it's really so they can control which ones you are allowed to use.

Disclaimer:

I've been editing my XPIs for ages. Even discontinued ones (when the author has given up in disgust) sometimes work fine.

Been using Firefox since it was v 0.something. And had another name.

Sad to see it being so ruthlessly slaughtered.

[jabrwky]

more info: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-on-signing-in-firefox

[heyyahblah]

5 hours ago, GRiM said:

I've been using Firefox for 12 years and won't be stopping any time soon.   Tried Chrome a few times but it's shit.   Firefox has much better options, addons functionality.   

 

I agree with Grim. I even use Waterfox x64 on my new build, functions exactly like FF except in 64-bits. You cannot customize Chrome for shit, he is right. FF I can change the layout, the title bars, the menus, everything, addons. Make it the way I like it and never have had any problems. about:config is the best for changing all my settings. Save tabs on exit, extensions, everything you possibly want.

 

And its slow? Well yea if you use my laptop from 2008 with a Core 2 Duo and 5400RPM HDD and 20 tabs open, sure its slow. But on my i5 6600k with Samsung 950 Pro M.2 SSD NVMe x4 .... buddy opens so fast that I have to be careful when I click the mouse. Too fast.

 

No problems here with speed or crashing. Runs like a dream.

 

 

 

 

[steven36]

Agreeing dont make the masses want to use something I dont see the marketshre skyrocketing because you did ...Only thing Firefox has going for it is that it can still be tweaked to not send data home too big daddy Google (for now) . But every since v43 it's  steadily becoming crippleware with each new version and the market share keeps declining . Classic search  is gone , They broke cookie controller add on   and messed up other privacy enhancing  features already in stable versions  and they not even got started breaking things yet. It's all down hill from v43 and onward boys and girls. It's just going to become more like Chrome ...  But at lest Chrome do have a  addon were you can make a good search bar and block all cookies by default  Firefox dont even have this going for it anymore.

 

Firefox's new slogan should be... I'm only have the browser I use to be because I try to copy Google !

[pc71520]

Long live, Firefox!!!

[Vjcobra]

Personally firefox is still the best for me ... surpassed google chrome.

[alvinblah]

yeah, I want to like Firefox, but it's a browser that really likes to nag you about shit and size control for updates and restarts. Too tedious.

[DKT27]

On 9/6/2016 at 5:58 PM, Batu69 said:

Mozilla needs to focus on features that set it apart from Google Chrome and are highly sought after by users.

 

This part says it all.

 

20 hours ago, heyyahblah said:

I agree with Grim. I even use Waterfox x64 on my new build, functions exactly like FF except in 64-bits.

 

Firefox has officially released 64-bit some time ago, available on the FP.

[Pequi]

On quinta-feira, 9 de junho de 2016 at 1:52 PM, jabrwky said:

more info: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-on-signing-in-firefox

Override add-on signing (advanced users)

You can temporarily override the setting to enforce the add-on signing requirement by changing the preference xpinstall.signatures.required to false in the Firefox Configuration Editor (about:config page). Support is not available for any changes made with the Configuration Editor so please do this at your own risk.

 

Thanks for the info. Let's just hope they don't remove the option.

[heyyahblah]

5 hours ago, DKT27 said:

 

This part says it all.

 

 

Firefox has officially released 64-bit some time ago, available on the FP.

 

I will try it again but last time I tried the FF-64bit version it was giving me some weird issues with add-ons not working correctly. When I ran the same add-ons in Waterfox x64 it ran way smoother. I am willing to try FF64 again, but I find that Waterfox runs better in the x64 domain.

 

[DKT27]

17 hours ago, heyyahblah said:

 

I will try it again but last time I tried the FF-64bit version it was giving me some weird issues with add-ons not working correctly. When I ran the same add-ons in Waterfox x64 it ran way smoother. I am willing to try FF64 again, but I find that Waterfox runs better in the x64 domain.

 

 

Seems fine here though.