Firefox users on Mac

I would not have thought the number would be so low - especially since the one thread on this forum had them almost equal.

Only 7 percent of active Firefox browsers running on Macs? | The Open Road - CNET News

That article doesn't state that only 7% of Mac users are running Firefox. It says 7% of Firefox browsers are on Macs. With Macs currently accounting for about 10% market share of PCs in general, You could have 7 in 10 (70%) Mac users running Firefox and that still only account for 7% of Firefox's overall usage because the remaining 30% of Firefox users are spread over a much larger base of Windows users.

Don't forget linux users too

Don't get me wrong, I like Linux, but do they really matter?

deer dance said:

Don't get me wrong, I like Linux, but do they really matter?

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Yes they do. Every user counts. When you consider all the users using Firefox on Windows alone I am glad there are even 7% on OSX.

When I use Linux I always use Firefox. I hope I count!

lifeisabeach said:

That article doesn't state that only 7% of Mac users are running Firefox. It says 7% of Firefox browsers are on Macs. With Macs currently accounting for about 10% market share of PCs in general, You could have 7 in 10 (70%) Mac users running Firefox and that still only account for 7% of Firefox's overall usage because the remaining 30% of Firefox users are spread over a much larger base of Windows users.

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Excellent point!

Don't get me wrong, I like Linux, but do they really matter?

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Why wouldn't Linux users matter? I use Linux and OS X. And I use Firefox on both.

deer dance said:

Don't get me wrong, I like Linux, but do they really matter?

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Aside from hosting this site ;D?

Linux is also the operating system on a significant portion of web servers in the world (I don't have a stat to confirm this with me though).

dtravis7 said:

Yes they do. Every user counts. When you consider all the users using Firefox on Windows alone I am glad there are even 7% on OSX.

When I use Linux I always use Firefox. I hope I count!

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I meant are there enough Linux user who use Firefox to be significant.

I used Firefox on Mac all through v2.x and up to v3.x. I only recently switched back to Safari once Safari became a more mature browser. Still, I use Firefox on some places that Safari doesn't do well like my employer's intranet site and eBay auction postings. Firefox still sucks up CPU cycles for no reason from time to time. Mostly, I use Safari since I don't like coming back from lunch with my MBP's fans periodically running at full bore because a website has some flash video imbedded into it that Firefox seems to choke on.

gixxersean said:

Don't forget linux users too

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Doh! I did mean to mention Linux also.

lifeisabeach said:

That article doesn't state that only 7% of Mac users are running Firefox. It says 7% of Firefox browsers are on Macs. With Macs currently accounting for about 10% market share of PCs in general, You could have 7 in 10 (70%) Mac users running Firefox and that still only account for 7% of Firefox's overall usage because the remaining 30% of Firefox users are spread over a much larger base of Windows users.

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According to:

Browser market share

Firefox total market share is about 20%. And 7% of 20 is 1.4%.
So 1.4% of total computer users which = 14% of Mac users or 14 out of every 100. (Based on 1.4/10, the 10% share of Macs).

Firefox's total PC marketshare is 93%. And 93% of 20 is 18.6%.
So 18.6% of PCs 90% total market share = 16.74% or roughly 16/100 PC users use Firefox.

So in short for those who hate maths is:

14% of all Mac users use Firefox.
And 16% of all PC users use Firefox.
So it's roughly even at the moment.

But It's still a lot more PC users cause they are much more numerous.

^^ nice work and exactly what I was going to point out until you beat me to the punch. I hope you made a similar comment on the Cnet article. Some people just aren't good with numbers.

To be honest, if anything I'm surprised the percentage of Mac users running Firefox isn't much lower compared to PC users simply because Safari is far superior to IE and a person who already has a better browser would be less inclined to switching up to something else.

fleurya said:

To be honest, if anything I'm surprised the percentage of Mac users running Firefox isn't much lower compared to PC users simply because Safari is far superior to IE and a person who already has a better browser would be less inclined to switching up to something else.

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A lot of people don't think that way though. They either think, "I have a browser already so there is no point in downloading FF" or "I'm used to FF from Windows/other people are using it". I don't think many people (ie causal users) see superiority in one browser or the other until one browser can't render a page properly.

I agree that Safari is better, don't get me wrong. I use FF because Safari doesn't work properly with my school's email page and I need regular access to that. Otherwise, I would use Safari full time.

Browsers are tools, nothing more. Use whatever tool does your particular job best and has the repeatability you need. My 2 cents anyway.

They are no tools!

They are gods that are kind enough to grant us access to the wonderful land known as the Internet!

They are to be worshipped as so!

Personally, DownThemAll! is my favorite and very useful.

deer dance said:

They are no tools!

They are gods that are kind enough to grant us access to the wonderful land known as the Internet!

They are to be worshipped as so!

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LMAO - needed that!
Cheers,
Dave

Personally I have found myself leaning towards Opera recently because it is very quick and I think it looks much better than FF or Safari.

Opera is a very nice browser with many features not available on any others.