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The Shifting Sands of the Browser Wars

Winners Losers and Dodo Birds

I constantly track the browsers used by the visitors of this site and compare and contrast them with the "at large" statistics. One of the things that I have been noticing (in both figures) is that tech community darling FireFox’s meteoric rise has not only stopped, it has retracted.

I have been the biggest proponent of FireFox since the pre 1.0 days. I strong-armed all of my family, friends, and colleagues into converting with the zeal of a missionary. I always thought that it was great to see that so many visitors on this site were among the "enlightened ones".

Initially, I thought that Google’s Chrome was nothing special and would go nowhere. It was this stripped down, featureless toy that didn’t do much other than crash. Chrome’s market share was virtually nil, even on this site.

Then, a funny thing happened. FireFox started getting bigger, slower, and buggier with each update. All of the features that I love(d) so much were giving it a case of morbid obesity. When a stable build finally came out for Mac, I decided to give it a try. (I’m not a fan of Safari.)

While all of these FireFox problems built up, Chrome slowly, and steadily added more features. While the features and stability grew, the speed (mostly launching, not rendering) never wavered.

Why FireFox Lost the Browser War

Here are the main factors that are contributing to FireFox’s demise (IMHO):

Google – Having the biggest site on the web pushing a good, free product down the world’s throat at every turn is pretty good for market growth. Also, Google has always been one of Mozilla’s main benefactors. When they turn their attentions (and money) inward it’s a lot harder to fight the good fight.

FireFox – Their code bloat and bugginess have turned what was once the reinvention of the web back into the World Wide Wait.

Microsoft – As lame as this sounds, the fact of the matter is that Internet Explorer 7 & 8 are A LOT better than the now infamous I.E. 6. If new computers come with a "pretty good" browser built in, most people don’t feel the need to add additional ones.

Mobile – The amount of browsing that has shifted to mobile devices is pretty significant. FireFox has taken forever to get its mobile act together. Everyone is either using Safari (iPhones), Chrome (Android), BlackBerry (RIM), and Opera (just about any phone). I love me some FireFox, but it aint on my phone.

What can Mozilla do to Right the Ship?

Stop working on features at once! Put every single developer they have on one thing – LEANESS. Stop gobbling up so much damn memory. Seriously, I have a Macbook Pro with 4 gigs of ram and it runs like a dog.

Maybe ridding the app of the memory hogging processes will also iron out the flaky performance too.

Then, the need to get into the mobile game for real! Put a good browser out that will run on all of the major smartphone platforms. While they’re at it, they should innovate in the same way that they did on the desktop.

Where the Browser Market is Going

Chrome – They will probably be the biggest player out there in a few years. Not Internet Explorer circa 2003 big; more like 40% big. They are on every desktop OS, and the fastest growing mobile platform (Android). I’m sure that they will figure out a way to get onto iPhone/iPad, BlackBerry and Palm soon too. I initially missed the boat on Chrome, but I won’t make that mistake again.

Internet Explorer – Market share will continue to decline. Windows is at 90% and it’s still losing ground. They will probably end up in either second or third place.

FireFox – They will slip into a second place / third place battle with Internet Explorer.

Safari - Same as I.E. Facts are even Apple faithful prefer the company of others. It’s available to 99% of the world and they have ZERO market share. It looks like they finish out of the money (fourth or fifth place)

Opera – They’re like Apple of 10 years ago. Constantly making a better product that nobody wants. Problem is, they can’t even give it away. And I don’t see them having an iMac, Macbook, iPod, iPhone, and iPad up their sleeve either. It’s over Johnny!

The Rest – Give it up. Why would you keep pounding your head against the wall?

What I’m Currently Running

I have several machines between Home and Work. Here is what I run by operating system in order of usage.

Windows – FireFox (Most non-work stuff), Chrome (on my old, slow machine), Internet Explorer 6 & 8 (believe it or not, my work is still on I.E. 6).

Mac – Chrome (most stuff), FireFox (checking analytics and stats), Safari (Private Browsing comes in handy for certain things.), Opera (almost never), Flock (curiosity)

Linux (Ubuntu & Mint) – FireFox (most stuff), Chrome

iPhone – Safari (by force, not choice), Opera (5 %,just for comparison purposes)

See How to Convert Any Web Application into Destkop Software

Site Specific Browsers Put Web Apps on Your Desktop

OVERVIEW: You will learn how to turn your favorite web applications into standalone desktop applications using site specific browser tools.

What Is a Site Specific Browser?

A Site Specific Browser (SSB) is is an application with an embedded browser designed to work exclusively with a single web application. It doesn’t have the menus, toolbars and accoutrements of a normal web browser.

Benefits of Site Specific Browsers

OK, I know I "can" break web based apps into standalone desktop apps, but why "should" I? Well, there are a number of benefits to SSBs.

• Use just what you need. Crop the window down to just the usable part of the application. (Pandora)
• Control each application separately.
• When one application crashes (and they always do), you all of your other tabs don’t go down in flames too.
• Have One Application visible all the time.

What Sites have I Applicationized

Pandora  – I like to be able to control this just like I would iTunes when it is palying. It just works well as a really tiny, really awesome little music player off in its own littl corner of my screen.

RememberTheMilk  – When I want to manage or add to-do’s to my task list, it is very handy to have RTM sitting in its own little window.

Google Voice  – Truth be told, I don’t use GV that much, but when I am using it, I just keep it off to the side.

Worth Considering?

Email – If you can’t make the jump from Outlook to full webmail, this may help ease you along. (Kind of like the patch for dektop junkies.)

Meebo Instant Messenger

Twitter App – There are a bunch of nice desktop Twitter apps (TweetDeck, Seesmic, Twhirl, etc.), but there are also some cool web based ones too (TwitHive, Seesmic Web App, GTwit, HootSuite, etc.). If these float your boat, you can turn them into a full desktop applicaiton.

Google Reader – Some people use Google Reader as a power tool for the web. These users may enjoy splitting it off as a standalone applicaiton.

How to Make Site Specific Browser Apps for Your Desktop

There are a few tools that make creating these standalone applications simple. You just install one of the tools listed below. These tools create a framework on your machine that allows the web sites to function as independent applicaitons. Then, you create your applications from a simple wizard.

Each tool has its own secific steps, so pick the one that is appropriate to your operating systems and get started.

Here are some of the ones that I have tried on the three major operating systems.

Windows:

Mozilla Prism -  This is built by Mozilla, so it uses the Gecko (Firefox) rendering engine to run your web apps on the desktop. Bonus – you get to use Firefox extensions and Greasemonkey scripts to customize your desktop applications.

Bubbles – This Windows only tool gives you a very simple wizard to turn your favorite site into an applicaiton. It also has a small but powerful set of extensions.

Google Chrome (Browser, not OS) – To put a Chrome Application Shortcut to Gmail, Google Reader, Twitter, Facebook, or any other webapp you like to keep open in a separate window, open the site in Chrome. From the Page menu, choose "Create application shortcuts." From there decide to put your shortcut on the desktop, quick launch bar, and/or Start Menu.

Mac:

Fluid – This Mac only tool is built on the webkit (Safari and Chrome) rendering engine. It is very simple to use and creates stable web applications. You can also use most Greasemonkey scripts to customize your new creations.

Mozilla Prism -  See Windows section above.

Linux:

Mozilla Prism -  See Windows section above.

Video Walkthrough

The following video shows how to turn a Web Service into a Desktop Application using Site Specific Browser technology.

Cool Hack

Put links to the application launcher in your Bookmarks. Then, you can launch it straight out to a standalone from your browser.

What Sites Would You Put on the Desktop?

What applications do you think are best suited as standalone desktop applications?

I would love to hear what you think. Let me know what sites you have converted to a SSB in the comments below.

Google Chrome Just Might Catch On

Could I Possibly be Wrong?

I’ve been reading all of the news about Google Chrome, the blogosphere’s newest darling. I downloaded Google Chrome and tested it on a few machines to see what all of the fuss was about.  Overall, I think it’s OK, but not as good as Firefox, Flock, or even Opera. I don’t really see it taking out Internet Explorer or Firefox any time soon. It lacks that extensions and customization of Firefox and it won’t be bundled with the Windows or Mac operating systems.

When ever I look at the possible adoption of new technologies like Linux, Firefox, or Google Docs I always ask, “Will my mom use this?”

A few tech news sites are reporting that Chrome is being used by as much as 8% of their readers and predicting when it will pass IE and Firefox. My initial thought was that these sites are read by tech geeks that installed and tested out Google’s new toy. I would be curious to see what Yahoo, AOL, or MySpace are seeing.  For the record, VitaminCM.com is seeing right around 1%, which is just behind Opera.

My “Wakeup Call” to Chrome’s Mainstream Potential

So I see my phone ring at 7:55 AM this morning and it’s my mom. I figure that something really bad must have happened down in Del Boca Vista, so I answer. No deaths, hurricanes, or tragedies, just this:

I was reading about this new browser, “Google Chrome” in the free local paper. Have you ever heard of it? I decided to try it out.

Well that cinches it, the “Will my Mom use it?” threshold has been met.

Maybe I was wrong, this thing might take off. I’m still taking a wait-and-see attitude about how much market share Chrome will actually gain.