Google Chrome #1 in the world, #2 in US

[Appleby]

Originally Posted by Geech

In my experience it's only tech/tech minded people who use chrome, because they have the knowledge on what is out there.

IE is for people who don't know about anything else...
Firefox is for people who want security, and versitility.... (ME!)
Chrome is for people who want the next big thing, which is fast and s**y...

My opinion...

I 100% agree with this.

I have NO doubt that this forum is full of Chrome users. Probably alot of FF users also and before Chrome was released probably 90% used FF. I get that. We are "geeks". But my average customer, heck I'll say 95%+ of my customers don't even know there are alternatives to IE. Heck, I'll take it a step further and say that 80% of my customers don't even know what a "web browser" is. When I ask them what browser they use I get glassy eyed stares and if they do know what a browser is, I often hear things like, "I use the blue E" or "I use Windows Explorer".

I guess my point is, the only way that so many non-technical people could ever use another browser is if it's installed and set as default by tagging along with other software installs, exactly like the Ask toolbars and MyWebSearch junk.

I just don't believe for one second that enough average computer users care enough to even consider the fact there might be other browsers out there, much less take the time to actively seek them out and download them. This isn't a slam on Chrome, I like it, I just don't believe Chrome can have that many voluntary legitimate users.

[16k_zx81]

+1 Chrome

I often recommend it to customers + gmail if its relevant to them

Every time I start IE on a new install there are so many bloody annoyances and those freaking page redirects drive me nuts.

Actually Im not an IE9 hater. I think they have finally got a decent browser going.

I just like chrome better, so dont have any interest in using IE, myself.

.

[compnet]

Average user? No.

90% of the time your paying customer or person you interact with is the parent or old person. Ya they don't know what browser they use or what a browser is, they call their computer a hard drive, and they are just as ignorant of frost/limewire being on their computer.

The younger generation? Definitely,. Even if they aren't technical, the average 9 year old is a computer genius to their parents. I'm sure chrome and ff are huge with high school and college kids.

As more people are born after mass internet and pc use, the number of true "users will go down.

Oh and packaged anything is annoying (thank god for ninite), but I have a feeling being the only add on the main page if the #1 site in the world helps chrome's rank too.

[anglian]

Originally Posted by FoolishTech

Well, I used Netscape back in the day until they pushed out "communicator",

Fond memories indeed
I seem to recall that AltaVista was the search engine of choice back then as well....

Originally Posted by Appleby

I 100% agree with this.

I have NO doubt that this forum is full of Chrome users. Probably alot of FF users also and before Chrome was released probably 90% used FF. I get that. We are "geeks". But my average customer, heck I'll say 95%+ of my customers don't even know there are alternatives to IE. Heck, I'll take it a step further and say that 80% of my customers don't even know what a "web browser" is. When I ask them what browser they use I get glassy eyed stares and if they do know what a browser is, I often hear things like, "I use the blue E" or "I use Windows Explorer".

I guess my point is, the only way that so many non-technical people could ever use another browser is if it's installed and set as default by tagging along with other software installs, exactly like the Ask toolbars and MyWebSearch junk.

I just don't believe for one second that enough average computer users care enough to even consider the fact there might be other browsers out there, much less take the time to actively seek them out and download them. This isn't a slam on Chrome, I like it, I just don't believe Chrome can have that many voluntary legitimate users.

Agree, I had a client yesterday who had 4 additional toolbars installed on IE and "thought they were meat to be there" even though half of his screen has disapeared to them over time. It should be illegal to automatically opt in users for the installation of other software.

[frase]

ie9 cannot even handle cs3 correctly let alone html5
or ie8 for that matter. I use chrome personally as it is the most fluid browser i have used. I have notbeen influenced by any other source other than why not.

[Xander]

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/05...says-microsoft

"Chrome was recently called the world's no.1 browser, but Microsoft is accusing the source, StatCounter, of using flawed methodology. When a user enters a search in Chrome, the browser preloads an invisible tab not shown to the user, and these were being counted by StatCounter. Net Applications, another usage tracking group, ignores these invisible tabs and reports IE at 54%, Firefox at 20.20%, and Chrome at 18.85%."


I'm wondering if Chrome is counting the installs it gets alongside other products (like Avast) as "legit", like Apple counted when iTunes installed Safari and they claimed how suddenly they were popular.

[anglian]

Originally Posted by Xander

and reports IE at 54%, Firefox at 20.20%, and Chrome at 18.85%.

That sounds a lot closer from what I have seen.

[Appleby]

Originally Posted by compnet

Average user? No.

90% of the time your paying customer or person you interact with is the parent or old person. Ya they don't know what browser they use or what a browser is, they call their computer a hard drive, and they are just as ignorant of frost/limewire being on their computer.

The younger generation? Definitely,. Even if they aren't technical, the average 9 year old is a computer genius to their parents. I'm sure chrome and ff are huge with high school and college kids.

I agree with you up until the part it italics. I work on alot of younger people's computers too. My business is in a college town, 30% of our population inside the city limits are college students, so I see a fair amount of their computers too. I'm just not seeing those high numbers of Chrome (or FF) installs, much less the browser being installed AND the customer using it.

I know I'm beating a dead horse here but either I'm living in a bubble or their stats are WAY off.

IE at 54%, Firefox at 20.20%, and Chrome at 18.85%."

THIS!! I'll buy those numbers. Actually, look back at what I said I'd actually seen in the real world.....

In all seriousness, I see ALOT of computers and I don't see many that have Chrome installed....I'd guess maybe 1 out of 15 and Firefox would be about 1 out of 20. And of those that have Chrome and/or FF, I bet only 25% of them actually use the browser.

I was pretty darn close to those numbers above when I said 20% for Chrome and 15% for FF! (lucky guess. )

[geek12]

Google Chrome is the fastest browser I ever used.

[strollin]

When someone says one browser is faster than another, what exactly are they talking about?

I've used lots of browsers over the past 20+ years that I've been on the 'net and I personally don't see much speed difference between any of the browsers I've used. Yes, I could run some benchmarks that would prove that browser A is faster than browser B but, in my usage, if browser B loads a page in 1 second and browser A loads the same page in .75 seconds, will I perceive that speed difference?

If the claimed speed difference is due to how fast the browser loads, I could also care less since I only load the browser once a day and leave it loaded all day. A faster loading browser doesn't really buy me anything.

A smaller memory footprint is important in those cases where memory is tight but I find that to be the exception rather than the rule.

My perception of the speed of a browser depends more on each particular website. Depending on how popular it is, it may be very slow to load or there maybe one image that causes the page to take forever to completely load.

The speed of the computer itself also comes into play, as well as the internet connection speed.

With all the factors that affect how fast a page loads, the actual speed of the browser becomes irrelevant, IMO.

My choice for browser is based on other factors such as what add-ins are available and whether I can customize the browser to my liking.

I've tried pretty much all of the other browsers out there but my personal browser preference is FF.

IE at 54%, Firefox at 20.20%, and Chrome at 18.85%.

I think this stat jives more closely with my personal observation. I believe the average user uses whatever browser came pre-installed on the computer and doesn't really know (or care) that there are other browsers out there.