Switchfast Blog: The Future of IT
Firefox Poised to Penetrate IE Stronghold as Primary Enterprise Browser
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 by Matt Hymel
Back in 2003, Internet Explorer 6 held around two-thirds of the
browser market share while no competitor was remotely close in
overall usage. In fact, at the end of 2003, IE6 closed out the year
with 70% of the market with IE5 controlling another 14%.
Jump ahead a few years to 2007 - Firefox has become wildly
popular and surpasses IE6 as the most used browser by the end of
2007. With the emphasis on "community" and customized browsing,
Firefox took off as a consumer-branded browser.
Now, present day. With Microsoft dealing with IE6 security
issues and Google launching its own browser called Chrome, Firefox
has grabbed almost half of the market share, wavering around
46-47%. With such an intense piece of the market share (IE8
is second with 14.3%), what's stopping Firefox from entering the
enterprise browser mainstream and surpassing IE as the preferred
browser?
For one, IE and Firefox seem to have parallel ideas established
as to the purpose of a browser. Both Microsoft and Mozilla find
themselves with similar-sounding arguments for why their respective
browser is sufficient. According COO Matt Asay, Mozilla's argument
sounds eerily similar to Microsoft's - 'we may not be faster, but
we have a better community.'
What's holding Firefox back from achieving such high regard
amongst big enterprises? For one, Mozilla has a history of updates containing
"regression errors", or updates that either produce new errors or
dig up old ones. Firefox has become somewhat of a security concern
to the casual user, but nothing nearly as problematic as IE6. If
Firefox wants to overtake an established IE arena, they will need
to focus on stability and security.
Another looming threat, although less than two years old, is
Google Chrome. With the backing of Google's powerhouse resources
and consumer desire for speed, the baby browser has
quickly grabbed 10% of the market share and keeps growing. Can
Firefox survive as a browser that provides more "community" than it
does "speed?"
With an established, loyal user base and a plethora of
customizable options, Firefox has transcended user browsing
experience and stepped into the enterprise industry as one of the
standards for internet browsing and tech work. What can
Mozilla focus on that provides businesses with reason to ditch
Microsoft's soft 'community' stance and convert to a recognizable,
user-friendly platform?
For browser statistics, hit the link here.
Until next time -
Matt
Switchfast Technologies
Chicago IT Support &
Consulting
Rochester
IT Support & Consulting
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