SyndicationMar282008
09:23:10 pm
09:23:10 pm
Firefox, Safari, or Neither?
Browsers were all the
buzz over the weekend, beginning with the news that the developers of
Mozilla Firefox feel their latest build is ready for widespread general
use,despite technically being still only a beta. I've taken the leap
and I've been using Firefox 3 for a while although have been
disappointed with the plugin incompatibilities and such.
Firefox has long been my browser of choice; and judging from my own, completely unscientific study, I'm not alone. Open access logs for many sites show some 33 percent of visitors now use the open source browser -- an impressive market share for any software.
Apple's Safari browser, on the other hand, accounts for less than 5 percent of the hits. Apple appears determined to up this statistic, but the tactics it has chosen really disappoint me and seem to stray for the happy go lucky Apple we all know and love (for the most part that is) -- and here again I'm not alone.
Mozilla CEO John Lilly was the first to point out that Apple has now begun offering Safari as an optional download whenever you receive an update to its Quicktime or iTunes software on Windows. It's "optional" in the sense that you don't have to install it, but the installer assumes that you do want it, by default. If you don't want to download and install 50MB of Safari, you need to uncheck the box manually.
This really bugs me. I'm perfectly happy with Firefox, and I see no reason why I should have Apple twisting my arm to load up my system with another browser every time it issues a security update to Quicktime.
And I should point out that it's not just Safari. I made a point to install Quicktime without iTunes on my home PC, and yet I'm still offered "Quicktime + iTunes" every time Apple releases a new update. This is annoying and coercive at best, and at worst it resembles the practices of malware makers.
The shame of it is that Safari is actually a fine browser. Apple should be able to increase its market share on its merits alone, without getting pushy about it.
One final note, though: My unscientific poll shows that around half of the hits on the net (including this site I think) still come from Internet Explorer, proving that for many of you, these alternative browsers are a non-issue. How about it -- with all the reports of security problems and poor standards compliance with IE, what keeps you sticking with it? And what would it take for you to switch?
Firefox has long been my browser of choice; and judging from my own, completely unscientific study, I'm not alone. Open access logs for many sites show some 33 percent of visitors now use the open source browser -- an impressive market share for any software.
Apple's Safari browser, on the other hand, accounts for less than 5 percent of the hits. Apple appears determined to up this statistic, but the tactics it has chosen really disappoint me and seem to stray for the happy go lucky Apple we all know and love (for the most part that is) -- and here again I'm not alone.
Mozilla CEO John Lilly was the first to point out that Apple has now begun offering Safari as an optional download whenever you receive an update to its Quicktime or iTunes software on Windows. It's "optional" in the sense that you don't have to install it, but the installer assumes that you do want it, by default. If you don't want to download and install 50MB of Safari, you need to uncheck the box manually.
This really bugs me. I'm perfectly happy with Firefox, and I see no reason why I should have Apple twisting my arm to load up my system with another browser every time it issues a security update to Quicktime.
And I should point out that it's not just Safari. I made a point to install Quicktime without iTunes on my home PC, and yet I'm still offered "Quicktime + iTunes" every time Apple releases a new update. This is annoying and coercive at best, and at worst it resembles the practices of malware makers.
The shame of it is that Safari is actually a fine browser. Apple should be able to increase its market share on its merits alone, without getting pushy about it.
One final note, though: My unscientific poll shows that around half of the hits on the net (including this site I think) still come from Internet Explorer, proving that for many of you, these alternative browsers are a non-issue. How about it -- with all the reports of security problems and poor standards compliance with IE, what keeps you sticking with it? And what would it take for you to switch?
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