A Foxy Browser Scores in Search
When I first started working at Yahoo! seven years ago, Netscape was the browser. The tools we used weren’t even developed to work with IE. Ah, 1998. Netscape was just beginning to see the bloom wither, and as the years passed most users (and fellow employees) migrated over to IE. Begrudgingly, I joined the crowd and gave up on Netscape’s browser a
couple years back after crashes and much gnashing of teeth.
But wait! There’s a player on the scene that started attracting buzz in
the hardcore webhead community in early 2004. Interest in the
Mozilla-developed Firefox has spread to the point where the browser consistently ranks in our top
500 searches. Searches on the alternative browser are up 7% over the
past week and a graph of queries over the past year shows a rather
envious trend line:
The spike in November corresponds with a splashy Firefox ad in the New
York Times. Following a seasonal dip when holidays took precedence over
browsers, the alternative browser rebounded and looks to keep gaining in
search share as 2005 wears on.
Jeremy posted some interesting numbers and graphs on his blog in mid-December about Firefox’s growing popularity. The search numbers serve as confirmation that the open-source browser is starting to infiltrate the mainstream.
Top Firefox searches over the past week
Re-ignited browser wars? Stay tuned…
Erik Gunther
Yahoo! Buzz Index Editor
I’ve been using Firefox for awhile now, and I’m glad to see Yahoo! take notice of its gaining market share.
That said, I would ask that Yahoo! do two things ASAP for us Firefox users:
-Release a official version of the Yahoo! toolbar for Firefox with things like highlight search and new mail notification
-Fix Yahoo! Mail so that users of Firefox can send rich text or HTML formatted mail. I hate plain text.
Thanks!
There’s a free javascript rich-text-input thing called “FreeTextBox” at http://www.freetextbox.com
Might be just what the doctor ordered for rich mail
Awesome! I love firefox! Haha… I test nightlys (nightly versions of the browser) and it is so great… I would really like to see an official y! toolbar. A9 (Amazon’s search engine, powered by google) is the only big name to have a firefox toolbar. C’mon guys! It’s not too hard! Anyone can make an extention, easy!
Firefox rules!
Keep the good work and get the browser dominance.
*cough*YahooLAUNCH*cough*
I’m sorry, its just that I really like the service but hate having to start up Internet Explorer. I feel dirty afterwards.
It would certainly be nice if Yahoo! Mail enabled firefox users to send HTML mail. In the meantime, I’m using the ” eWebMail – Color and Graphics” extension to enable it.
http://patsis.brownhost.com/extxpi.html
Seems to work quite well.
Launch Videos can be viewed with an active-x hack which only alows WMP controls coupled with browser spoofing.
NOTHING so far will get Yahoo Plus premium content to play.
I PAY to be forced to use IE to access yahoo!
the scrapbook extension in firefox has turned my workstation into a tabletpc
The Indian Blogger
http://labnol.blogspot.com
I have to agree with the others. While I appreciate you taking into consideration FIrefox growing wave, I too am a Yahoo Plus customer and a great user of LaunchCast Plus. I play Launchcast thru the messenger but I can’t just use FF for the videos
besdides the current FF toolbar keeps this bug: the notification for new email is still on and one can’t click on it…the refresh process does nothing.
Put FF in your pocket and developp as much tools as you can, this will certainly be a great advantage over MSN
I’ve been advicing people for years to use Firefox and Opera for browser. And now it’s starting to take. Thanks you for your input. The more that speak to trying other browsers the better. But please talk of Opera too. The way it handle cookies is so great, and that you can start the next day right where you left off is great as well. Any time I have to go to a website that I don’t know I use Opera. And Opera is my default broswer because of it cookie handling feature.
It would be interesting if Yahoo! could post stats on the number of visitors reaching Yahoo! with a Firefox browser.
Thanks!
Andres
http://snit.blogspot.com
Paying customers should request Firefox support for Yahoo! Plus and Yahoo! Launch. Also please keep in mind that Yahoo! Messenger and Yahoo! Musicmatch should have the independent ability to play this content very very soon.
If you do e-mail Yahoo, be sure to include a link to mozdevgroup.com, a group that does for-pay independent contract work for companies interested in Firefox solutions.
You can get Yahoo! Companion for Mozilla at:
http://companion.mozdev.org
(Please be advised that it is not a Firefox extension, and will not be accessible from the Extensions manager.)
–Sam
–Sam
Iv’e been using and recommending Firefox since early in .8 release. Fast, resistant to pop-ups. no ads and remembers login info for all my surfing regulars.
In a way I hate to see it get popular as I know things will change. Go Firefox.
I just downloaded FireFox and Love it now just wish that Yahoo would make it where I could work on my website using FireFox!!! Keep up the great work.. I am telling all my friends about this browser!!
Firefox
IE displays my website in a shorter version than Firefox which seems to take up more vertical space. Why is this, I wonder? No big deal either way, Firefox rules.
I’ve checked Jeremy’s page and the links from sources he cited. I noticed that those sites do not check to see if the ones who identified as MSIE are actually Opera-spoofing-IE. Opera spoofs IE “out of the box,” and you would have to change the settings for it to identify as Opera itself. Others may even choose to spoof Mozilla. This will have an effect of inflating IE (and perhaps various flavors of Moz) hit counts while lowering Opera’s.
The Opera team may know how to make a great browser, but they sure need a lesson in marketing.
I love launchcast, want to subscribe for it but it doesn’t support firefox. I contacted launch customer service but got a very vague response… will you support firefox anytime soon?
YAY!!!
As a fan of Yahoo and a fan of Firefox, I am overjoyed to see more recognition for Firefox from Yahoo. =D Thanks!
Im an avid firefox and lauchcast plus user. Unfortuantely, like everyone else, I am forced to use IE or Yahoo messenger to listen. Is this too complex an issue to solve? Firefoxes marketshare will soon grow to 25%!! Lets make things compatible please…
I believe you are wrong about the first spike:
It corresponds to the Firefox 1.0 release. The NYT ad was mid December.
I’ve been using Firefox for like 4 months and is way better than IE.. however, I’d like to watch Yahoo!Launch and also get Yahoo!Mail fixed as the other guys mentioned.thanks!!