Microsoft Edge Beats Firefox To Become the Third-Most Popular Browser (techradar.com) 85
"New data from Statcounter shows that Edge has now overtaken established rival Firefox in the rankings," reports TechRadar:
In recent months, the pair have been neck-and-neck, but Microsoft's browser has now put daylight between itself and Firefox. Figures for June suggest Microsoft Edge now holds 3.4% of the browser market, while Firefox has slipped to 3.29%, continuing a downward trajectory that has seen the browser either lose or maintain market share in ten of the last twelve months.
The change pushes Edge into third position in the browser rankings, behind only Chrome (65.27%) and Safari (18.34%). Launched in January 2020, the new Chromium-based Edge got off to a slow start, but began to gather momentum as the year progressed. Since last summer, the browser's market share has more than tripled.
The increase in adoption can be attributed in part to renewed marketing efforts, but also to improvements that brought the experience in line with other modern web browsers.
That may be true, but the article also acknowledges that it was just last month that Microsoft began rolling out Edge to all Windows PCs (via Windows 10 updates), "expanding the install base by millions almost overnight.
"Now, Microsoft is doing everything in its power to encourage users to abandon Internet Explorer in favor of Edge, such as removing support for Microsoft 365 web apps and automatically launching certain web pages in the new browser."
The change pushes Edge into third position in the browser rankings, behind only Chrome (65.27%) and Safari (18.34%). Launched in January 2020, the new Chromium-based Edge got off to a slow start, but began to gather momentum as the year progressed. Since last summer, the browser's market share has more than tripled.
The increase in adoption can be attributed in part to renewed marketing efforts, but also to improvements that brought the experience in line with other modern web browsers.
That may be true, but the article also acknowledges that it was just last month that Microsoft began rolling out Edge to all Windows PCs (via Windows 10 updates), "expanding the install base by millions almost overnight.
"Now, Microsoft is doing everything in its power to encourage users to abandon Internet Explorer in favor of Edge, such as removing support for Microsoft 365 web apps and automatically launching certain web pages in the new browser."
As popular as⦠(Score:3)
I'm not surprised (Score:2)
Re:I'm not surprised (Score:5, Insightful)
That should be the story: How Mozilla turned a once great product into something that is almost as lousy as everything else.
The only reason I still use it is disabling video & audio autoplay works better then the others. But I wonder how long until that is removed in another round of Mozilla's "improvements"
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I dunno, still better than Chrome. I don't care what's popular on mobile devices as I don't browse there much.
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Statcounter blocked by most Firefox users is the more likely story.
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They couldn't win. It was falling behind because it was single threaded, and fixing it would break all the old extensions. They bit the bullet but it took years and turned a lot of people against them.
The UI stuff, okay, some missteps. That alone was not enough to kill it though, and some of the changes are for the better. I doubt many people decided that because they didn't like the new UI they would switch to Chrome or Edge.
Firefox relied on word of mouth, and when people got upset about the extensions th
Re:I'm not surprised (Score:4, Interesting)
By far the major factor in Firefox's share decline was Google's aggressive bundling and leveraging its portal control, so similar to Microsoft's old tactics.
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This. A thousand times this.
The overwhelming majority of people I know who switched to Chrome did so because suddenly, as if by magic, YouTube videos would experience strange problems if watched in any other browser: streams would buffer, downgrade resolution, and then buffer some more, even on 100Mb conns and at 20% total CPU load. And then, a helpful "Playback Problems?" popup would appear, that when clicked took you not to any sort of diagnostic, as you might expect, but to the "Install Chrome" page ins
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Re:I'm not surprised (Score:4, Insightful)
Really? There's a notification on the menu button when an update is available. By default it will automatically update when you restart the browser.
I'm going to guess that you changed a setting at some point to disable automatic updates. If you use sync, those setting will come along with you even when you get a new computer.
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Are you sure you're using Firefox? It doesn't make much sense that your experience is completely different from everyone else.
but everyone I know uses sleep mode and browsers stay open forever.
I guess Windows doesn't update for you either?
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Re:I'm not surprised (Score:5, Insightful)
This seems to be a popular opinion on /. but I don’t understand it. Firefox works great. I was worried when they had the interface change in the works because everyone here bitched and moaned about how awful it was. Then I got the update and it turned out to be a minor change that did not affect usability and I actually liked it.
Among all the major browsers, I have a hard time pinpointing anything about the UI that makes any one stand above the rest. I just prefer Firefox because it tries to balance privacy and usability. I certainly don’t trust Google or Microsoft with my data.
I’ll continue to donate to Mozilla. The internet would be worse off without them.
Re:I'm not surprised (Score:5, Informative)
This seems to be a popular opinion on /. but I don’t understand it. Firefox works great.
Yep.
And as far as filtering/blocking crap goes: Firefox is still #1
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FF works mostly pretty great on desktop, mostly okay on mobile but with even worse UI than desktop, and I use it. But it's still missing functionality I used to use...
Re: I'm not surprised (Score:5, Interesting)
Firefox is the only browser that has a tree-style tabs extension in the main window (not in a pop up, don't @ me about the numerous terrible extensions for chrome) so I'll keep using it. It also pins tabs properly, i.e., you can't accidentally close them. You can pin tabs in chrome but if you hit ctrl-w it closes immediately. Useless.
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I was worried when they had the interface change in the works because everyone here bitched and moaned about how awful it was.
I think the big problem here is that the interface change is indicative of the fact that people designing UIs have no clue. It is minor in the grand scheme of things but points to underlying issues which have more serious consequences. e.g. the one *huge* problem that wasn't discussed on slashdot:
They changed the word "Copy Link (A)ddress" to "Copy (L)ink"
Seems minor. But why? Well apparently to make it easier to understand what it does (does it really?), but the important part is not the text it's what's i
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Popular meaning . . . (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: Popular meaning . . . (Score:1)
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It's possible this says more about you than about Microsoft.
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Considering Windows is on 90% of PCs, 3% is terrible.
The Edge market share is 8.1% on desktop. The 3,4% is across all platforms (desktops, tablets, phones). Still not impressive, but more apples-to-apples when citing Windows market share as 90%
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Re: Popular meaning . . . (Score:2)
Right. Think about Safari's user base...
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Re: Popular meaning . . . (Score:2)
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I don't see how you could interpret that as "small." There's only one manufacturer worldwide who represents a larger market share which is Samsung at 22%.
I said: "Safari is the default on the iPhone which Androids users will tell you incessantly how small iPhone's market share is.
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Except when talking about the App Store, in which case the iPhone market share is so big it's a monopoly.
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Re: Popular meaning . . . (Score:1)
Re:Popular meaning . . . (Score:4, Insightful)
It could be most people using firefox are also blocking statcounter's tracking crap?
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Mozilla should consider building in uBlock Origin or maybe asking the user if they want to enable it after first installation.
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Unlikely based on people's general opinion of Firefox, and the fact that Mozilla is constantly laying people off.
It seems very likely that the market share has very really dropped off. Me I finally gave them the middle finger when they changed a keyboard shortcut that I had engrained in muscle memory.
Popular? No. (Score:3)
The only edge this thing has is that it comes preinstalled. If you had to actually install it, it would not amount to anything.
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No. Surprise. Here.
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"Growth"? (Score:3)
Would that be down to the thing where they covered everybody's entire screen with an Edge installer and no obvious "Close" button for people to click on?
https://www.techradar.com/news... [techradar.com]
M$ back to their old tricks (Score:2)
Yeah, M$'s tactics to switch people that are asleep at the wheel are very much at play again. M$ repeatedly do this. Not to mention, forced installation came back as well not long ago.
Edge #1 VERY Soon (Score:2)
Edge will be #1 VERY soon. Today's Edge is Chrome. Well, Chromium anyway. Modified to work with Windows and Microsoft's services.
Preinstalled on Windows... Why bother going to get Chrome when essentially you've already got it installed in Edge.
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Google, Apple and Microsoft all use their browsers as loss leaders to get users hooked on their SAAS ecosystems. If you use a lot of Google's offerings there are still feature benefits to using Chrome. If you use a lot of Apple products, then Safari is a great browser to use. If you live in a MS world, Edge has some great features.
If you want to do everything mediocre but actually care about protecting your own data: Firefox.
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If you want to do everything mediocre but actually care about protecting your own data: Firefox.
Their new tag line doesn't really roll off the tongue. But it certainly is accurate.
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Why bother going to get Chrome when essentially you've already got it installed in Edge.
Me? I just love typing "download google chrome" into Edge. I do it as often as possible.
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Because you don't get all your all bookmarks, passwords, extensions (sync service) you had on your old PC, phone and so on. Sure, Microsoft has its own sync service but nobody's using it.
This is such a big deal the Google blocked even Chromium from accessing the service in order to keep people installing Chrome and not something else Chromium based: https://it.slashdot.org/story/... [slashdot.org]
That's odd ... (Score:2)
The article is about Edge vs. Firefox, but /. article icons are for Chrome and Firefox. Almost like Edge isn't really a unique browser, but perhaps another browser just with *more* telemetry and OS integration baked in. Weird, right? /sarcasm
[ Personal note: I'm sticking with FF ... ]
Nope (Score:4, Insightful)
Still won't switch to a Chromium-based browser.
Say no to browser monoculture
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Having multiple browser engines forces the engines to adapt to standards rather than making browser-specific hacks de-facto standards. It’s also important for security. When IE was pretty much the only browser, an IE vulnerability meant that pretty much all internet users were vulnerable. If a critical vulnerability is revealed on my browser of choice, I can use something else until it gets patched.
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Yeah, it’s crazy how every time I launch Firefox and bombards me with social justice messages and it randomly redirects me to the Black Lives Matter website. /s
Chrome-based browsers (Score:1)
I stopped using any Chrome-based browser because they would *randomly lose all cookies*. Really.
Doesn't matter which one. Chrome, Brave, Edge. They all randomly lost all cookies.
Which one didn't lose all cookies randomly? Firefox.
I like it when my session cookies are not randomly disappearing, and I'm not forced to re-log in to websites.
Redesigning straight into the graveyard (Score:5, Interesting)
It's really is a shame. At its core, Firefox is a top notch browser. After pairing it with uBlock origin you actually get a pleasant web browsing experience. I really cringe every time, for some reason, I need to load a web site somewhere other than my phone or desktop. It's always an obnoxious experience. Firefox is fast, and stable.
The problem with Firefox, and what's driving it into the ground is everything outside of the core web browsing functionality. On mobile, where most of the growth opportunities are, these days, Firefox has redesigned itself into a shithole.
First, the URL bar dropped to the bottom, inexplicably, and you have to dig through setting to put it back up at the top where it belongs. Then, you no longer have a home page, but a blank screen with six, or so, icons to choose from. What. The. Fuck. And then, everything your open becomes a new tab. And they multiply like rabbits. If you go back to the home-blank-screen your tab DOES NOT CLOSE, and just sits there, hogging memory. When you go to a new destination you get ANOTHER tab, even if it's the same web site you just backed out of.
I haven't tried to experiment to see what happens if I don't close anything for a week. Will this dumb thing keep spawning tabs, in perpetuity, until it runs out of memory? I didn't feel like wasting time to find out. You can dig through setting and set the tabs to autoclose after 24 hours, the shortest possible setting. Still, I'm majorly annoyed having to manually close tabs at least a few times a day.
Monthly Firefox redesigns just have to stop. They really have to. At its core, Firefox is a fine browser, but it's noone else's fault that its continuous stream of UI insanity is driving people away from it.
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I like the new Android Firefox, it's just that it's been broken of Pixel phones (all of them) and probably a load of others for years.
There is a bug in the way it determines the screen DPI and dimensions that breaks rendering of a lot of sites.
It keeps me on Chrome on desktop too because I need sync between desktop and mobile.
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First, the URL bar dropped to the bottom, inexplicably, and you have to dig through setting to put it back up at the top where it belongs.
To be fair, putting the URL bar (and most controls) at the bottom of a screen on mobile is a good idea. With phones getting bigger and bigger, reaching the top is harder, especially with only one hand. But if you make it the default, you better have a splash screen explaining it on first boot and giving you the option to revert it.
If I was on v89, I would use the bottom URL bar, but since they dropped extension support beside a dozen and somehow broke rendering on some sites, I'm still on 68...
And while the
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That's the same behaviour as a desktop-based browser. To be accurate, web pages on a phone-based browser do not have a Close button. I found the answer by accident so Mozilla and Google deserve some stick for not putting the answer in their respective FAQ. A long press on the 'new page' button brings up a page manager (a la Windows Task Manager), which shows each page with a Close button.
Windows 11 is EdgeOS (Score:2)
As for Mozilla Firefox they have actively sabotaged their own product, from wrecking the gui to putting not stop clickbait in the recommended by pocket section. They use “but you can disable it” to put in as much ads and telemetry as possible. Even Waterfox/Palemoon are heavy adware now.
The web has failed, and other open source projects have been just as disgrace
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"Windows 11 uses Edge webview2 embeds everywhere, looking in the task manager or encountering the f7 caret browsing bug proves it."
Meh, webviewers where they shouldn't be has been a thing since windows 98 made your desktop a web page.
At least Win11 is finally cutting over to a modern engine.
That's a big improvement over previous versions which use internet explorer web views all over the place.
Not even 4%? That's pathetic. (Score:2)
With Windows having a market share in the 90% and Edge pretty much coming crammed down everyone's throat along with it, the least you'd expect is that every tenth user is sticking with it.
How crappy does a product have to be that even the average computer illiterate knows not to use it? And why do I have the feeling that the increase comes at the expense of Internet Explorer, which is still used by a couple people and which is being pushed to the side more and more with every update of Windows? The last upd
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Corporate accts (Score:2)
Why not use Brave? (Score:2)
If you are going to use a Chrome-based browser why use anything other than Brave?
Chrome based (Score:1)
Insert free advert for MICROS~1 (Score:1)
Mr. Robot (Score:1)
Firefox is Being Sabbotaged (Score:3)
statscounter blocked by a lot of users (Score:2)
StatsCounter works by tracking users and it's in quite some block lists. I'm not sure if Firefox out of the box block it. But I think a lot of Firefox users out there have uBlock or some other plugin installed.
Edge nags you all the time. Even when the default. (Score:2)
Configured a new Windows 10 laptop for somone and Edge was the default. Yet it still nags you to use it. Whatâ(TM)s up with that?
The user wanted Chrome but finally gave up and switched to Edge.
Well, of course (Score:2)
Edge comes stock with Windows, is the default browser, and nags you incessantly when you switch to a different browser. What's remarkable is that it only holds 3.4% of the market. The mindshare has to be really negative for Edge to have that much of a head start and still capture that small a piece of the market.
Virus (Score:2)
I tried and tried to get rid of that virus, but nothing worked.
Didn't microsoft already lose one lawsuit (Score:2)
I guess now that they've rebranded their crappy, monopolistic browser to be edgier, they're due for another round in court.
The Meteoric Rise and Fall of Modzilla Firefox (Score:2)
Cant wait to watch the documentary when it comes out. Lots of nostalgia for this piece of crap. If any of you are content creators, get on it.