Introduction
Despite the ever-changing standards of the World Wide Web, one thing has remained consistent in recent years; Firefox and Internet Explorer have persistently stayed at the forefront of web browsing, the two have regularly fought on parallel terms with constant updates and improvements, which have attracted consumers in the masses. These browsers have become our most common gateway to the web, and their fierce competitor strategies have driven the rivalry to new heights.
There is no doubt that Mozilla Firefox’s growing popularity has loosened Internet Explorer’s grip on the users of the web. But for how long have Microsoft had reason to fear the independent web innovators?
I will be researching the history of both browsers, analysing their features and benefits to the audience and how they have remained dominant forces in attracting web users. I will later tie in Google Chrome, which has caused another shift in the market share, and given warning to Firefox and Internet Explorer’s seemingly exclusive competition.
The Origins of Internet Explorer
Microsoft is a large and successful organisation who created Internet Explorer 1.0 as an integration of Windows 95. Although the browser was a revelation for the company, most users stuck with the more popular browsers at that time such as Netscape. However, the next step for Microsoft was pivotal in shaping the face of the web; they created the first cross platform browser with IE 2.0. This allowed Mac and Windows users alike to use the browser increasing its appeal. Microsoft later tied in Office which became their first e-mail service, this along with IE acted as a product bundle for users to get the full web experience.
IE adopted a professional and accessible design, which required some web knowledge to be able to use, but was as simplistic as possible in order to attract new and inexperienced users.
Mozilla Firefox Arises
Mozilla is a non-profit organization who spawned the free, open-sourced web browser, Firefox, in 2004. Firefox attracts most of its users through its customisation ability and vast array of add-ons. Web developers are at a strong advantage with Firefox’s web coding tools and the popular ‘Firebug’ add-on which allows users full access to a websites code and scripts. Features such as this are much the reason for the many facets of Firefox’s diverse audience.
Firefox aims at the intelligent web user, and expects this to be a reflection of their company image. Firefox’s extensive toolbox of features offers the user an advanced education woven into the ultimate experience of web. But as Firefox has taken IE’s stragglers on board through such aspects of their repertoire, it has begun to take a chunk of the web browsers most dedicated fan base.
Firefox takes on Internet Explorer
With Firefox fans boasting to IE users that the browser offered faster speeds and easier browsing, more users became open to downloading the product. The user was then further enticed through Firefox’s customisation and add-ons which have been the main reason to the parting ways of some of IE’s audience.
Mozilla Firefox effectively spread through word of mouth. Firefox as a cultural product originally offered web savvy users an alternative way of looking at the web, as its reputation built through these means the very name ‘Firefox’ developed intrigue and curiosity to the sheltered users of Internet Explorer. The word ‘Firefox’ does not suggest ‘web browser’, in contrast to Internet Explorer which is a blatant denotation of what the product is. The branding of Firefox also garnered attention due to its cool graphic logo and effective orange and blue house style. Where as IE looks a lot more simplistic in its brand identity, however perhaps seeming professional and secure to more wary users of the web, and that is one of the dominant features IE sells.
Internet is a household term, and IE is the web browser we most commonly associate with it. It is also pre-installed into every Windows operating system. This ensures that Microsoft gather a reputation of reliability and assurance certainly to a less experienced web audience. The security features IE offers are its main point of attraction, with the internet able to do more things than ever before; IE ensures users their safety to give them comfort when revealing their bank details and phone numbers online. But this is not a unique feature, Firefox stays on course with IE by offering equally effective security, but as a browser that is focused on customisation and freedom, Mozilla aim their browser at an alternative audience.
Internet Explorer has a ‘zones’ feature which allows the user to select the sites they want or do not want. It also offers a cross site scripting filter which prevents malicious emails. But most users are not even aware of these features; the popularity of IE is mostly down to the mere fact that it is the predominant browser pre-installed onto the majority of computers. However, the tide is starting to turn, with the user now having a wider range of choices with the availability of Mozilla Firefox upon installation of Windows 7. Internet Explorer’s largest market is 35-44 year olds, proving Microsoft’s hold on their most faithful users, who have perhaps been a custom to IE since its inception. These users are likely aware that Internet Explorer has been the commercially dominant browser for some time, and most of them are unwilling to embrace change or simply find it unnecessary. Where as the younger users of the web are more inclined to use Firefox, with over 30% of the browsers users being 16-24. This age group tend to be spontaneous, impulsive, open-minded and perhaps defiant which would support their drift from the major corporate organisation of Microsoft.
Key features in Firefox such as its download manager have later been incorporated by IE in order to stay on a level playing field with Mozilla. Downloading is a huge market for internet companies at the moment and the download manager features allow users easy access and storage of their files. Despite Firefox spawning their inspiring innovations, it is difficult to keep them secret when the brains at IE are working to progress their browser for the optimum experience of the web as well.
Turning to Chrome
Since 2009, there was been a key shift in the popularity of web browsers. The latest figures from February 2011 show that Firefox had a 43% share of the web audience with IE barely climbing above Google Chrome with 26% of users (Chrome with 24%). The positioning of the top three browsers has remained this way since January 2009, proving the rise of Firefox to be a great impact on the world of web and a major hindrance to the success of IE. However, these figures are likely to change again in the coming months, with Chrome rising at a growing rate, the browser from one of the world’s most popular websites, Google, offers the user much quicker speeds and less memory usage. When Chrome originally began in 2008, it struggled with a tame 3% share of web users; however, since then it has now gathered almost 25% of users which shows its increasing popularity as users have become more conscious of speeds and functionality of their chosen browser.
Chrome has a hugely effective simplistic look, attractive enough to rival Firefox and that’s not the only reason the Mozilla Corporation will be at the drawing board with new plans. Chrome offers customisation in themes and colour schemes similar to the new web leaders, but these features are very similar indeed, and as far as design and feel, Firefox still ticks all the right boxes. But its browser speed that the Firefox creators will be losing sleep over. Chrome is considerably faster, and is merely another process on the task list when it comes to memory usage.
The one major downside to Chrome, and perhaps the reason why Chrome may never dominate the world of web, is that it is only available to Windows users. This was certainly a factor in the lack of market growth in IE 1.0, so they created a cross platform version to stay afloat, surely this calls for a new version of Chrome to include Mac and Linux users too? IE did later segregate Mac users again making it Windows only, but it was able to do this quite easily after it had automatically gained a grip on a large percentage of the audience with being the constant pre-installed browser on Windows systems. Although Windows is still the dominant platform, Apple still possess a market share of around 10%, this means Chrome is segregating 10% of its potential market by its exclusivity to Windows. Chrome is also the most secure web browser, in a recent hackers competition Firefox and IE where cracked within minutes, where as Chrome stood firm and remained unaffected. The web browser is sending worrying signals to alert Firefox in its web domination.
Privacy is a great concern of most web users, but as soon as Chrome had introduced its ‘incognito’ mode in which the users browsing session would not be saved, Firefox and IE quickly jumped on board with their own private browsing sessions. This predominately shows that the browsers are not far behind each other in terms of creating ideas, and it is not necessarily the first to do it that will gain the recognition; it is the most effective that will earn the acclaim. Although Chrome claims its ‘incognito’ mode is private, the Google search engine itself does store users searches not matter how their browser is configured. If you are logged into your Google account while in ‘incognito’, your searches will be saved – not so ‘incognito’ from Google Chrome. Another major flaw with this new feature is that some video files are being stored in the users’ history despite the supposed privacy mode; maybe the browsers should really test their features before releasing them to the unaware internet audience.
Microsoft’s web page devoted to Internet Explorer boasts a mere 9 reasons to choose their browser, where as Firefox has a whole website representing the reasons that their product is the best. Even Google represent their product a little better than Microsoft, with Chromes features being highlighted in short informational videos on their website which gives a clear look into the browsers experience. Conceivably, Microsoft feel the marketing and promotion of their product doesn’t need to be as noteworthy, as they expect most of the audience to be using their browser while on their web page regardless, but with the clear popularity shift already stated, perhaps a change in thinking needs to come for Microsoft’s IE.
Conclusion
It seems that Internet Explorer will require new innovations to gain its audience back, as even Chrome is now looking to overtake the once irreplaceable browser. But despite Chrome offering faster speeds and increased security, it remains Windows only, and this will be a big problem in gaining more users if this fact remains. Perhaps users should be content with their decision in crowning Mozilla’s brainchild the most popular web browser. It offers reasonable speeds, reasonable security, and is within reason the ultimate web browser available to everyone.
