> I'll tell you this, I have used I.E. for years - well, as long as it has
> been out; however, I have been using Mozilla for the past month and I
> have no desire to ever go back to I.E. Not now nor for the newer
> version being made available in XP. Now, I am not a Microsoft hater.
I'm not a hater of anything when it comes to software. I like to define
myself by what I like, not by what I hate. I find that there's something
fundamentally weird about people who are primarily Microsoft haters and
only as a distant second do they have a "passion" for Linux, Mozilla or
whatever it is.
I've been using Netscape browsers since version 0.9-something. I've used
every version of it since then, I own a Netscape jacket and I'm an eager
follower of the Mozilla project in hope that it would one day become
something great. Now, I use Internet Explorer for browsing like so many
other people, because it just simply works. If Mozilla starts working
better one day, I'll switch happily. If it doesn't, I don't have a big
problem with just simply staying with IE.
Read on...
> There was a time when Netscape ruled over I.E.. Just as those numbers
> changed, in I.E.'s favor, those number can be changed again. It only
> takes a few multiplying. Let the news be spread - the Mozilla browser
> is certainly not dead.
No, unfortunately it doesn't just take a few multiplying. It takes about
150 MILLION people switching to Mozilla before it would happen. The
project has been going on for three years now and Netscape's 6.x release
has been out for what? half a year? And even combined, the two don't have
more than a million users worldwide. Internet Explorer 6's beta version
has more users already and it has only been avaiable for a month or two.
If people who were using Netscape 4.x didn't bother upgrading to 6.x,
what makes you think they would upgrade (in masses) to 6.5 or 7.0? The
vast majority of users out there just don't care what browser they have
as long as they can surf the net. Your and my mom can't see if a web
page loads fast or slowly to the extent that they would switch a browser
cause of it. My dad couldn't care less about "CSS2 and DOM compliance",
nor would my grandma care one bit if the browser has a cool XP GUI or
not. For 99% of the people out there - or more - as long as the web
works for them, it's all they care about and they won't be spending
2 hours downloading a new browser, installing it and learning it. They
especially won't do it if the browser is getting poor reviews like
Netscape 6.x has. So I'm sorry but it takes much more than "a few
multiplying" users.
Personally I don't see why it would have to be about numbers. Why would
Mozilla have to have the largest market share? Why do we care how many
people use it? If / when it becomes the best browser out there, that's
enough for me; I'll switch and I'll think the Mozilla project is a
success. I couldn't care less if the rest of the world uses Mozilla or
not.
But don't neglect the stats. The stats clearly show that Mozilla is NOT
being adpoted by the world. They also show that Netscape 6.x is being
adopted even less. Unfortunately, we can't explain away this by saying
that people don't download new browsers because at the same time, IE 6
beta *IS* being adopted quite quickly - and it's just in beta. Something
is wrong, the numbers are telling it, and the clock is ticking.
Peppe
S/MIME Cryptographic Signature
