« Citron Slams the Triple-Play | Main | Royal Bank Bails Out of AOL Canada »
Is Firefox the New Google?
By Mark Evans | March 10, 2005
Firefox's growing momentum makes you wonder whether if will be
able replicate in the browser market what Google pulled off in the
search engine space: knocking off entrenched rivals with better
technology, and doing it by mostly word of mouth. Not to get carried
away given Internet Explorer still has more than 90% of the market, but
there is no denying Firefox's appeal. In a Wharton School of Business article, legal studies professor Dan Hunter proclaims “Internet Explorer is a terrible browser and it has security problems. Firefox is just a better browser, but I would argue that its market
share gains have come because spyware and other hacks plague Explorer.”
So how does Microsoft react? Apparently by incorporating ant-virus
technology to deal with those pesky complaints about security. Is that
enough? Probably not but IE will continue to rule the roost as long as
CIOs are reluctant to adopt Firefox or Netscape. After all, no one ever
got fired for buying Micosoft, right? As for Netscape 8, it has some
redeeming features. I've always been a fan of tabbed browsing so N8
scores there. Still, Netscape is so yesterday. In its day, Navigator
was cool and had a cache. Today, it's part of the AOL empire, and there
is nothing cool about that. I suspect Netscape will make a minor
comeback because it has sunk so far in recent years, it only has room
to go back up.
Topics: Main Page |