Why do people leave firefox?
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fleece358
Oct 8, 2008, 8:06:27 PM10/8/08
to Impact Mozilla
Hi all,
If you can answer this question. What type of people leave firefox?
Then this is the key to an effective marketing campaign.
My personal oppinion is that people stop using firefox becasue they
have to switch back to IE for certain things. As GAZ keeps pointing
out to us he uses "3 browsers" but the truth is most people just wan't
to use one. So while Firefox is easier, safer and faster, IE works
everywhere so people use IE. The other thing is that IE comes with
the windows OS. So every time windows is reinstalled there goes
Firefox, and those users who are not very installation savvy couldn't
be bothered puting Firefox back on.
So another key questions is why do FF users sometimes use IE - 2
reasons in my experience, ActiveX and printing problems - preformated
text used in the print page links on banking and other websites
continue to be a problem for peopel even in version 3. Prepackages
addons then that solve these problems is one part of the solution as
someone has already suggested. Good idea.
The other part might be -for those that get a new computer or windows
operating system - to distribute firefox with other software that
people buy or download. In this case perhaps the best strategy would
be to talk to companies like Adobe, checkpoint, corell who might have
an interest in pushing microsoft of its perch or users using a w3
compliant browser. I note that Abode currently uses IE or the bulit
in windows browser which is just IE any way to display HTML in some of
its programs such as dreamweaver and contribute. Would they consider
using mozilla for that back end?? Wouldn't hurt to ask. (and it might
help for FF users to stop Abode reader bashing) The point is Users
will actually reinstall FF if the download comes to them on a platter
with from a company they trust.
Just some things to consider. I don't have the time or skill to
persue them myself, hope someone else might.
Cheers.
If you can answer this question. What type of people leave firefox?
Then this is the key to an effective marketing campaign.
My personal oppinion is that people stop using firefox becasue they
have to switch back to IE for certain things. As GAZ keeps pointing
out to us he uses "3 browsers" but the truth is most people just wan't
to use one. So while Firefox is easier, safer and faster, IE works
everywhere so people use IE. The other thing is that IE comes with
the windows OS. So every time windows is reinstalled there goes
Firefox, and those users who are not very installation savvy couldn't
be bothered puting Firefox back on.
So another key questions is why do FF users sometimes use IE - 2
reasons in my experience, ActiveX and printing problems - preformated
text used in the print page links on banking and other websites
continue to be a problem for peopel even in version 3. Prepackages
addons then that solve these problems is one part of the solution as
someone has already suggested. Good idea.
The other part might be -for those that get a new computer or windows
operating system - to distribute firefox with other software that
people buy or download. In this case perhaps the best strategy would
be to talk to companies like Adobe, checkpoint, corell who might have
an interest in pushing microsoft of its perch or users using a w3
compliant browser. I note that Abode currently uses IE or the bulit
in windows browser which is just IE any way to display HTML in some of
its programs such as dreamweaver and contribute. Would they consider
using mozilla for that back end?? Wouldn't hurt to ask. (and it might
help for FF users to stop Abode reader bashing) The point is Users
will actually reinstall FF if the download comes to them on a platter
with from a company they trust.
Just some things to consider. I don't have the time or skill to
persue them myself, hope someone else might.
Cheers.
Joshua Lyon
Oct 9, 2008, 1:54:10 PM10/9/08
to Impact Mozilla
I agree with your opinion that people stop using FF because they have
to switch back to IE for certain things and that most people dont want
to use multiple browsers. I've never tried any of the ActiveX plugins
for FF, but getting FF support for those webpages that require IE
might be a pivotal step in getting people to fully adopt FF.
On the other hand, it sounds like this campaign is supposed to be a
marketing campaign, not a feature request campaign. Although, I
suppose if one of the third party components is well written enough,
you might be able to package it as part of the distribution. The
IE7Pro group is taking a similar tactic, but for IE7. They are
packaging a bunch of add-ons with IE to try to make it better (eg.
Google Search, mouse gestures, privacy options, etc) and might have
some insight into how well this works... although I don't think they
have marketed well enough as most people are unaware of what they are
bringing to the table.
to switch back to IE for certain things and that most people dont want
to use multiple browsers. I've never tried any of the ActiveX plugins
for FF, but getting FF support for those webpages that require IE
might be a pivotal step in getting people to fully adopt FF.
On the other hand, it sounds like this campaign is supposed to be a
marketing campaign, not a feature request campaign. Although, I
suppose if one of the third party components is well written enough,
you might be able to package it as part of the distribution. The
IE7Pro group is taking a similar tactic, but for IE7. They are
packaging a bunch of add-ons with IE to try to make it better (eg.
Google Search, mouse gestures, privacy options, etc) and might have
some insight into how well this works... although I don't think they
have marketed well enough as most people are unaware of what they are
bringing to the table.
biglove
Oct 10, 2008, 7:24:21 AM10/10/08
to Impact Mozilla
Hey there,
I agree with the reasons why people stop using FF.
There are a few instances where FF is not compatible, and IE is the
only browser supplied with Windows OS.
Marketing is not just about reaching people, it's also about effecting
peoples behaviour.
To do this you have to offer something to the consumer, something the
competitors don't.
Striking a deal with companies like Adobe is a great idea.
Not only would it be possible to distribute hard copies of FF, but it
would also be possible to have all the plugins pre installed.
Or, if FF had native support for PDF, Flash etc. It could take away
the headache of having to reinstall all the plugins each time you need
to reinstall the browser.
Convenience is a big selling point. Why is FF not compatible with all
web pages? If this could be fixed it would decrease the inconvenience
of having to run multiple browsers.
Offering something material to users could work too. My ISP offers
prize's in a refer a friend type competition, giving away ipods and
the like.
Rewarding people for spreading the word is a good way to spread the
word, and it adds to user loyalty.
If you give away merchandise, your effectively spreading mini
billboards all over the world!
Cross promotional deals could be done with record/film companies where
FF could be included on CD's/DVD's, pre-installed with many plugins,
with offers of limited free music downloads, also promoting the
legitimate downloading of music and other media. Something along the
lines of buy this single get the old one free, or buy this album get
the last one free, buy this movie get the soundtrack free etc.
I agree with the reasons why people stop using FF.
There are a few instances where FF is not compatible, and IE is the
only browser supplied with Windows OS.
Marketing is not just about reaching people, it's also about effecting
peoples behaviour.
To do this you have to offer something to the consumer, something the
competitors don't.
Striking a deal with companies like Adobe is a great idea.
Not only would it be possible to distribute hard copies of FF, but it
would also be possible to have all the plugins pre installed.
Or, if FF had native support for PDF, Flash etc. It could take away
the headache of having to reinstall all the plugins each time you need
to reinstall the browser.
Convenience is a big selling point. Why is FF not compatible with all
web pages? If this could be fixed it would decrease the inconvenience
of having to run multiple browsers.
Offering something material to users could work too. My ISP offers
prize's in a refer a friend type competition, giving away ipods and
the like.
Rewarding people for spreading the word is a good way to spread the
word, and it adds to user loyalty.
If you give away merchandise, your effectively spreading mini
billboards all over the world!
Cross promotional deals could be done with record/film companies where
FF could be included on CD's/DVD's, pre-installed with many plugins,
with offers of limited free music downloads, also promoting the
legitimate downloading of music and other media. Something along the
lines of buy this single get the old one free, or buy this album get
the last one free, buy this movie get the soundtrack free etc.
Daveski17
Oct 25, 2008, 9:11:43 PM10/25/08
to Impact Mozilla
I know why I left Firefox, I was getting tired of Fx 3 crashing,
particularly on exiting. Fx2 worked superbly. I have found an
answer .... Opera 9.6!
particularly on exiting. Fx2 worked superbly. I have found an
answer .... Opera 9.6!
Matthew Mcleary
Oct 26, 2008, 4:04:02 AM10/26/08
to impact-...@googlegroups.com
I'm currently on the Mac and FF can be a little slow and buggy. Not crashing as much as it does in windows but still is not perfect. Google Chrome really has FF in the bag and once the GUI is finished getting developed, will look much better than it currently does. It's great, uses less resources, never crashes, few little bugs but none to moan about really. I love FF but it's now outdated!
Matt
Matt
Christopher S
Oct 31, 2008, 11:42:47 AM10/31/08
to Impact Mozilla
I know this post is a bit late, but perhaps it will help for future
pushes.
The main reason that IE is still the primary browser is because
Microsoft tackles this issue on one primary front, the developers.
It may cost a lot sometimes, but Microsoft makes it really easy to
write code and applications that only work well on IE. It simplifies
concepts like web services, and ajax and makes it really easy to use
activeX controls which do not work in any other browser (I'm not sure
any other browser legally can support those). Some web technologies
like SharePoint only work well with ActiveX controls and now that
SharePoint makes it so simple for the lay person to create web
content, I think we will be seeing many more sites out there that will
work on other browsers, but simply can't work as well on those
browsers as they do on IE. Indeed, even though I prefer Firefox, I
have to have IE for those, just in case, times when FF wont work.
Sometimes I think it would be easier to just use IE all the time. IE
tab, helps, but that brings up another point for me. Every time a new
version of FF comes out, I find myself having to wait until all my
addons get upgraded, and if the original developer has stopped
maintaining it, sometimes I end up losing a good addon, permanently.
Anyway, it would be helpful if there were some sort of tool suite out
there that did a good job of competing with the Microsoft tools that
is 1. Easy to learn and 2. Well supported and 3. Has a license
structure that would require minimal legal work for businesses to
protect their own privacy and financial interests. 4. Does a good job
of supporting multiple languages like VB, C#, Ruby, Pearl, Python, and
maybe even some flavors of older languages like Pascal, COBOL and
Fortran, 5. Supports things like AJAX, Accessibility, XML, XSL and
easy data access 6. Ties this all in with things like Bugzilla,
Subversion, Unit/Regression testing tools and a good debugger and 7.
Simplifies security issues pertaining to the Web and PCI DSS
standards. Please note, the learning curve for this should be
relatively low, too.
VSTS already does much of this (but costs and arm or two and a leg). I
would personally like a suite that does a better job of supporting non-
proprietary standards and best-practices.
If there were a tool set out there like I described that could compete
with VS, then I think it would not be long before a lot of web sites
were more favorable to FF and other browsers, simply because those
browsers actually do work better than IE and it is only the
proprietary code that makes it seem otherwise.
Later
pushes.
The main reason that IE is still the primary browser is because
Microsoft tackles this issue on one primary front, the developers.
It may cost a lot sometimes, but Microsoft makes it really easy to
write code and applications that only work well on IE. It simplifies
concepts like web services, and ajax and makes it really easy to use
activeX controls which do not work in any other browser (I'm not sure
any other browser legally can support those). Some web technologies
like SharePoint only work well with ActiveX controls and now that
SharePoint makes it so simple for the lay person to create web
content, I think we will be seeing many more sites out there that will
work on other browsers, but simply can't work as well on those
browsers as they do on IE. Indeed, even though I prefer Firefox, I
have to have IE for those, just in case, times when FF wont work.
Sometimes I think it would be easier to just use IE all the time. IE
tab, helps, but that brings up another point for me. Every time a new
version of FF comes out, I find myself having to wait until all my
addons get upgraded, and if the original developer has stopped
maintaining it, sometimes I end up losing a good addon, permanently.
Anyway, it would be helpful if there were some sort of tool suite out
there that did a good job of competing with the Microsoft tools that
is 1. Easy to learn and 2. Well supported and 3. Has a license
structure that would require minimal legal work for businesses to
protect their own privacy and financial interests. 4. Does a good job
of supporting multiple languages like VB, C#, Ruby, Pearl, Python, and
maybe even some flavors of older languages like Pascal, COBOL and
Fortran, 5. Supports things like AJAX, Accessibility, XML, XSL and
easy data access 6. Ties this all in with things like Bugzilla,
Subversion, Unit/Regression testing tools and a good debugger and 7.
Simplifies security issues pertaining to the Web and PCI DSS
standards. Please note, the learning curve for this should be
relatively low, too.
VSTS already does much of this (but costs and arm or two and a leg). I
would personally like a suite that does a better job of supporting non-
proprietary standards and best-practices.
If there were a tool set out there like I described that could compete
with VS, then I think it would not be long before a lot of web sites
were more favorable to FF and other browsers, simply because those
browsers actually do work better than IE and it is only the
proprietary code that makes it seem otherwise.
Later
codemx2006
Nov 5, 2008, 2:01:54 AM11/5/08
to Impact Mozilla
I have noted that IE introduce a new file format called mhtml. its
very easy to save web pages to that format as it compile the web page
to one single file. all the images and other continents are storing in
the same file. due to that reason I also using IE, specially when I
need to save and keep web pages. I am continuously using FireFox, as I
love to the open source community, but I guess this is one
disadvantage of the Firefox not supporting to this file format yet.
some people may be move to the IE due to that reason.
On Oct 31, 8:42 pm, Christopher S <Christopher.StroliaDa...@gmail.com>
wrote:
very easy to save web pages to that format as it compile the web page
to one single file. all the images and other continents are storing in
the same file. due to that reason I also using IE, specially when I
need to save and keep web pages. I am continuously using FireFox, as I
love to the open source community, but I guess this is one
disadvantage of the Firefox not supporting to this file format yet.
some people may be move to the IE due to that reason.
On Oct 31, 8:42 pm, Christopher S <Christopher.StroliaDa...@gmail.com>
wrote:
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