Firefox faces challenges as it matures

When Version 1.0 of Firefox was released last November (see "Mozilla launches Firefox 1.0 browser"), it caused a sensation as a seemingly more secure and more feature-rich alternative to Microsoft Corp.'s ubiquitous Internet Explorer, which for years had held a market share north of 90% -- and which Microsoft had barely bothered to improve. Since then, Firefox has achieved what no other browser had accomplished in years: It attained a significant market share at IE's expense. Firefox now holds a market share of between 7% and 9%, according to various market research estimates. But as Firefox nears its first birthday, its maker, the Mozilla Foundation, faces significant challenges, analysts said. These include quickly discovering and fixing security vulnerabilities, competing against an upcoming IE upgrade and broadening Firefox's user base beyond its core of technically savvy users. The stream of Firefox security vulnerabilities uncovered in recent months is par for the course for a young software product (see "Symantec report sparks safe-browser debate"). But it may disappoint users who switched to Firefox expecting it to be immune to security holes.
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3 Comments

Interesting article, but nothing most of "us" didn't already know. We can't look into the future, not me, not them, not anyone.

As a big Firefox fan I'm hoping for the best, of course. And if I find some time I will write some XUL applications, but as of yet I haven't been able to start with those.

We'll see. I believe in Firefox.

Comment by Bas Hamar de la Brethonière at September 21, 2005 01:22 AM | Permalink

How come I cannot download google toolbar into firefox? Anyone got any suggestions? Thanks

Comment by Prof d'anglais anglais a Montreal at September 22, 2005 08:17 PM | Permalink

what kind of error do you get?

Comment by Henrik Gemal at September 26, 2005 09:37 AM | Permalink

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