Chrome still the top web browser at ten years old

When it was first released 10 years ago Chrome was marketed as a fresh take on the browser. It was first launched as a Windows only beta app, before it made its way to Linux and MacOS in 2009.

Chrome launched when users and developers grew dissatisfied with Internet Explorer

When Chrome first launched, the Internet browser landscape looked very different. Firefox had been steadily gaining ground on the more popular and venerable Explorer.

Google borrowed components from Apple's WebKit rendering engine as well as Firefox to help bring Chrome to life. It made all of Chrome's source code available in the Chromium Project. Chrome focused on web standards and respected HTML5. All of this during a time when Microsoft with Internet Explorer was struggling to adhere to open web standards.

Chrome was also a big step forward in how tabs could be used in that it had "sandboxed" individual tabs so that should one tab crash the others would still remain unaffected.

Chrome now dominates the browser market

According to netmarketshare Chrome now has more than 60 percent of the desktop market share. Despite the fact that Internet Explorer has now been replaced by Microsoft Edge, it still ranks second with 12.8 percent of the market. Firefox is third with just a bit less at 12.5 percent. Edge is a distant fourth at just 3.49 percent. Safari, the browser specifically for Apple computers, has just 3.49 percent. Opera, an excellent browser, has a mere $1.56 percent. Vivaldi, which I use now on my main computers, has a minuscule .08 even though I find it works best for me.

Chrome has dominated the market now for several years. Chrome engineers have continued to improve the product and have pushed the latest web standards. It is now perhaps more than a web browser and has become an entire platform that can run on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and even iOS for Apple phones.

Chrome powers the new Chrome OS

Chrome OS is Google's new lightweight operating system that is used in laptops and recently tablets. Google has been bringing Android apps over to the Chrome OS making its Chromebooks and tablets more useful. Even fully-fledged Linux apps are coming soon to the Chrome OS. Chrome is helping push progressive web apps to make them a lot better. Although Chrome has not seen a major redesign in years unlike Firefox, a Material Design Refresh is slated for the browser this month.

Future of Chrome may be more as a platform than just a web browser

There are concerns that Chrome is becoming dominant as was Internet Explorer. It is dominant among web developers.

Google engineers steer the latest web standards and push these into Chrome. Other browsers need to catch up or risk falling even further behind.

Final thoughts on browsers

All the popular browsers such as Chrome and Firefox do most things well. Internet Explorer is now superceded by Edge. While I have tried Edge and it works well for most tasks I do not like the fact that Microsoft pushes it by not allowing one to uninstall it, as it comes pre-integrated with Windows. Every other browser you can download and uninstall.

I have tried all the main browsers except Safari but there are particular tasks involving writing for Digital Journal and using my blog that they do not do everything as I want. I used Opera for a long period as it did everything exactly as I wanted, and also had features that appealed to me. However, all of a sudden it did not work as it had in the past copying material to my blog. I decided to go back to Chrome but it did the same thing. I then checked Vivaldi and found that it still worked. I decided to change to Vivaldi until things change again.

Most people probably find the browser they have is satisfactory and have no desire to change.This would explain why Internet Explorer is still the second most popular browser even though it has long been replaced by Edge. However, browsers can all be downloaded free. It is worth trying them out to see which one suits you and you like best. If you want to be even more adventurous and dislike Microsoft and Windows you can also try out numerous Linux operating systems that can be downloaded free as wel

Previously published in Digital Journal

Mozilla, the group behind Firefox, are exploring a voice-activated browser

Mozilla, the free software group behind the browser Firefox is envisioning an entirely different browser that would be activated and operate by voice rather than keyboard, touch pad, mouse, or screen taps.

Scout

The non-profit organization revealed its plans as an agenda item at a meeting of employees. The project will be called Scout. A notice for the meeting said: "Hey Scout, read me the article about polar bears. With the Scout app, we start to explore browsing and consuming content with voice. This talk will discuss the architecture and key components needed for a voice platform, the required capabilities of those components and the challenges of working with the limitations and confines of existing platforms."

The first sentence was said by Mozilla to be an example of a sample command given to the browser. Mozilla also said that with the new browser the company was exploring browsing and consuming content with voice. The key to using voice in this fashion is Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Services such as Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple's Siri are all sounding more human. The new Google Duplex sounds exactly like a human — so much so that it will identify itself as a robot when making calls, as reported in a recent Digital Journal article.

The new voice browser may help Mozilla compete with Chrome

Mozilla's Firefox browser has been losing ground to the leader Chrome. Chrome now accounts for 58 percent of web usage compared to just five percent for Firefox, according to StatsCounter. A new voice browser would very well put Mozilla again in contention in the browser market.

The voice browser would be a boon for the blind or those with vision problems. Mozilla would not comment on Scout as it is an early stage project, but did say that its aim is to foster "an internet that includes all the peoples of the earth — where a person's demographic characteristics do not determine their online access, opportunities or quality of experience."

Mozilla did say: "We use our internal All Hands conference to come together so we can plan and build for the future. We look forward to discussing these efforts publicly when they are further developed."

Mozilla

Mozilla, now stylized as moz://a, is a free software group. It was founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, spreads and supports its products. It promotes free software and open standards but with some minor exceptions. Mozilla is funded by the non-profit Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary Mozilla Corporation.

Mozilla is best known for its Firefox browser. It also has the e-mail client Thunderbird. There is also a Firefox mobile operating system, the Bugzilla bug tracking system, a layout engine and other products.

Previously published in Digital Journal

New Firefox 57 due in November to challenge Chrome for top browser

 Mozilla Firefox or just Firefox was at one time the first choice of browser users back in December of 2009, challenging the dominance of Microsoft's venerable Internet Explorer.

Firefox's usage peaked at the end of 2009 with 32 percent of the browser market. It has now declined as its competitor Chrome kept rising and now dominates the market. Depending on who is doing the measuring, Firefox now has between 5.65 percent and 14 percent of worldwide usage as a desktop browser. Firefox runs not only on Windows but on Mac OS and Linux distributions as well.

Although Firefox was created as "Phoenix" by the Mozilla community it was first released as "Firefox" in November of 2004. Firefox is thought of as the spiritual successor of Netscape Navigator as the Mozilla community was created by Netscape in 1998 before they were taken over by AOL. In certain areas Firefox is still dominant. In Cuba it has 85.93 percent of the market. In Eritrea it has 79.3 percent of the market. Even in Germany it still enjoys 37.01 percent of the market.

Yet Firefox has fallen far behind as Chrome has long dominated with about 54 percent of the market now especially if one includes not just computers but phones and tablets. According to StatCounter Firefox has a mere 6 percent of the market. It obviously is not penetrating into the mobile field successfully.

Mozilla is now developing Firefox 57 a massive overhaul of the browser. As a cnet article describes the opening of a meeting revealing the new browser the traditional logo is gone: Gone was the blazing-orange fox snuggling a blue globe, the image that’s represented Mozilla’s scrappy browser since 2003. Instead, Firefox Senior Vice President Mark Mayo opened the event with a drawing of a fox in menacing mecha armor, named Mark 57 — the same way ever-improving Iron Man suits are named.

The new overhaul is due on November 14th ready for battle it is claimed. Mozilla hopes the new version will lure back those Firefox users who switched to Chrome since it came out in 2008. Of course, Microsoft would like to lure some Chrome users back to its new Edge browser. There are even annoying pop-up ads on Windows 10 touting its speed as compared to Chrome.

CEO of Mozilla Chris Beard claimed: “It’s going to add up to be a big bang. We’re going to win back a lot of people.” Yet Firefox 57 will have an uphill battle as Mozilla itself lost its co-founder, technical leader, and former CEO Brendan Eich who left Mozilla after a fight over gay marriage. Eich donated to a California organization opposed to gay marriage. Eich has a new browser Brave. The founder of Opera, also launched a new browser Vivaldi after leaving Opera when it changed hands.

Firefox's innovations and popularity have helped keep other browsers competitive. Mitchell Baker Mozilla's executive chair-woman and co-founder said: “There are people who make hardware, people who make software, people who make websites. They want to give you an experience that you like enough to pay for and to keep coming back, but they’re about running their business. They represent themselves. We like the browser because we can represent you.”

While a non-profit organization Mozilla is considering a possible membership plan that would make money. It is also counting on software beyond the browser, and financial growth. Mozilla wants a future where everyone is not dependent on Apples' app store, Google's search results, Facebook's news feed, and Amazon's Prime video streaming. Personally, I only use one of those four.

Some of the technical advances came through a special project called Quantum: One part, Stylo, accelerates formatting operations. Quantum Flow squashes dozens of small slowdown bugs. Quantum Compositor speeds website display. And Firefox 57 also will lay the groundwork for WebRender, which uses a computing device’s graphics chip to draw webpages on the screen faster.

Developers of Firefox 57 had speed as their top priority. In a browser test called Speedometer, Firefox performance has already jumped significantly apparently significantly enough to stem the steady stream of defections from Firefox to other browsers. The new browser will have a different look as well. Nick Nguyen, vice president of Firefox product said: “If Quantum is how we make Firefox faster, Photon is how users will know about it... a sleek and modern user experience, buttery-smooth animations and crisp interface elements for all resolutions.”

Some are skeptical about Mozilla's ability to take on Chrome. At the job recruiting service Glassdoor only 42 percent would recommend employment at Mozilla to their friends. The approval rating for CEO Beard who has been there for 3 years is just 28 percent. Even Trump fares better. However, Beard claims that Firefox is stable and poised for growth.

Mozilla has been active on such issues as net neutrality which it promotes and lobbies for. It has a team of 8 people who spend all their time lobbying politicians. Mozilla mounted a petition of more than 42,000 signatures defending net neutrality. Mozilla is also lobbying against government efforts to weaken privacy-protection encryption. It even spoke out against Trump's immigration ban efforts.

While the new Firefox is aimed at challenging Chrome there are many other competitors who may also come up with their own challenges to the leader. Microsoft is vigorously promoting Edge. Safari is still the browser of choice for Mac users. Opera has been around for ages and though its usage at present is only a small percentage it is under new management and has had some good reviews as has the new Vivaldi. As the appended video shows, the Firefox 57 is a bit behind Chrome 57 already, at least it is released later.

Mozilla opposes CISPA bill as violating privacy rights

Mozilla, located in Mountain View California, is the company that has produced the successful and popular browser Firefox. The company has issued a statement condemning the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). The company says the opposition is to protect the rights of its users.

The company statement said:“While we wholeheartedly support a more secure Internet, CISPA has a broad and alarming reach that goes far beyond Internet security,” “The bill infringes on our privacy, includes vague definitions of cybersecurity, and grants immunities to companies and government that are too broad around information misuse. We hope the Senate takes the time to fully and openly consider these issues with stakeholder input before moving forward with this legislation.” Others have joined in opposition to the bill including several Democratic representatives. The U.S House of Representatives has already passed the bill and it has gone to the U.S. Senate.

Advisers to Obama have issued a statement saying that the administration will advise Obama to veto the bill if it does pass Senate. However a similar statement was issued about the National Defense Authorization Act but Obama eventually signed it on New Year's Eve..

Mozilla's opposition is a big plus for opponents of the bill. Other Silicon Valley big corporations such as IBM, Facebook and Microsoft support the bill. Microsoft was rumored to have changed it position but recently denied this.

Among others opposing the bill are The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Ron Paul, and the American Civil Liberties Union and Reddit. For more see this article.