#1Jul 4th, 2008
J-F Bilodeau's Blog @ chronogears.com
Friday, June 27, 2008
Firefox Adoption
I was intrigued by this article (external - login to view) from PC Pro in the UK about the trailblazing pace of Firefox 3.0 (external - login to view) adoption. It turns out that just after 10 days, the number of visitors using Firefox 3.0 is outnumbering those using Firefox 2.0. Wow! Talk about success!
Just for the fun of it, I looked at my (completely unscientific and scewed) site stats. It turns out that the number are very similar for me. Before June 17th, it turns out that Firefox 2.0 was already in the lead, followed by Firefox 3.0.
Here are the stats over a 32 day period:
Before June 17th:
Firefox 3 52.87%
Firefox 2 45.98%
Firefox 1 1.15%
On June 17th and after:
Firefox 3 62.00%
Firefox 2 38.00%
For the sake of comparison, here's how Firefox fared between the other browsers.
Before June 17th:
Firefox 85.29%
Internet Explorer 11.76%
Mozilla 1.96%
Safari 0.98%
On June 17th and after:
Firefox 86.21%
Internet Explorer 8.62%
Opera 5.17%
So, what conclusions should we draw behind these stats?
Well, to begin with, I don't think my site counts as a solid benchmark of Firefox for two reasons. I think it's fair to say that a lot of my visitors are like-minded and a lot of my regulars are friends and family. Most of them will be using Firefox.
The only surprise is that Firefox 3 was already ahead of Firefox 2 on my site 16 days before the release. This is most likely due to me encouraging my friends to try the latest beta.
I'm happy to see that Firefox is going to strong on my site — and not all of those visits are from people I know.
Beyond that, I'll let you draw your own conclusion.
Have a great day!Labels: firefox (external - login to view), free software (external - login to view), fun (external - login to view)
posted by Jean-François Bilodeau at 12:57 PM (external - login to view) | 0 Comments (external - login to view) Links to this post (external - login to view)
Thursday, June 26, 2008
How Microsoft Won and is Loosing
Steve Ballmer had it right. Developer developer developer!
The prime reason why Windows won over OS/2, the MacIntosh and even MS-DOS was thanks to the mighty influx of application that crept up for the OS. And the only way that those applications existed was thanks to developers.
Thought the Windows API are not the most graceful API I've encountered, they were reasonably well documented. I learned the Win16 and Win32 APIs mostly by reading the MSDN help files.
Using the simple tactic of ensuring that developers would favour the Windows platform early on, Microsoft achieved dominance in the operating system market.
But what is happening today? Balmer has been singing a different tune for the past few year. Since the rocketing rise of Microsoft's stocks capped in 2000, the behemoth is now struggling to pierce new markets while retaining their heavy monopoly.
It's interesting to see Microsoft running like a chicken with it's head cut off. Vista is a disaster, they are still loosing money in their search and gaming division and .NET is barely making a dent in the Java marketplace. Let's not even mention their iPod killer: the Zune.
If it wasn't for the near monopoly on Windows and Office, Microsoft would be hemoraging money faster than the speed of sound. BANG! Bankrupcy before they know it.
I think the reason is pretty clear. Microsoft is now spitting in the face of the very people that brought them to where they are: the developers.
Balmer himself said that he would like open source innovations to happen on Windows. However, he seems (or chooses) to be clueless about the free software philosophy.
Balmer can push all he wants, but he should realize that developers are usually intelligent folks. Many open source developers are quite brilliant. I do believe that most developers can smell bullcaca when it is spewed out of someone's mouth.
Genuine honesty free of marketspeak is not something you often hear from Microsoft!
It's certainly not by forcing proprietary software or standards down the FOSS developer's throat that Microsoft is going to win any friends. Neither is it going to give developers the desire or even the posibility to innovate.
Personally, I like computers to work for me and not the other way around. That's one of the many reasons I don't use Windows — I cannot stand an OS that thinks it can tell me how I should work.Labels: api (external - login to view), free software (external - login to view), freedom (external - login to view), microsoft (external - login to view), programming (external - login to view), windows (external - login to view)
posted by Jean-François Bilodeau at 10:47 PM (external - login to view) | 0 Comments (external - login to view) Links to this post (external - login to view)
Friday, June 20, 2008
ODF is the Winner: Microsoft
I'm kinda worried when Microsoft themselves declare that ODF is the clear winner (external - login to view) in the OOXML-ODF war (external - login to view).
However, I think I can agree with Microsoft. The whole ISO/OOXML (external - login to view) saga gave ODF a huge boost both in terms of popularity and credibility. This means that more people and organizations are aware of ODF than ever before.
I've long learns not to take anything Microsoft says (external - login to view) at face value, so I'm a bit concerned about the statement. Maybe the statement is genuine, but I can't help but think that Microsoft has something up their sleeve. Until they display they ace, I'll keep my eyes and ears open.Labels: freedom (external - login to view), iso (external - login to view), microsoft (external - login to view), odf (external - login to view), ooxml (external - login to view), openoffice (external - login to view)
posted by Jean-François Bilodeau at 12:31 PM (external - login to view) | 0 Comments (external - login to view) Links to this post (external - login to view)
Friday, June 27, 2008
Firefox Adoption
I was intrigued by this article (external - login to view) from PC Pro in the UK about the trailblazing pace of Firefox 3.0 (external - login to view) adoption. It turns out that just after 10 days, the number of visitors using Firefox 3.0 is outnumbering those using Firefox 2.0. Wow! Talk about success!
Just for the fun of it, I looked at my (completely unscientific and scewed) site stats. It turns out that the number are very similar for me. Before June 17th, it turns out that Firefox 2.0 was already in the lead, followed by Firefox 3.0.
Here are the stats over a 32 day period:
Before June 17th:
Firefox 3 52.87%
Firefox 2 45.98%
Firefox 1 1.15%
On June 17th and after:
Firefox 3 62.00%
Firefox 2 38.00%
For the sake of comparison, here's how Firefox fared between the other browsers.
Before June 17th:
Firefox 85.29%
Internet Explorer 11.76%
Mozilla 1.96%
Safari 0.98%
On June 17th and after:
Firefox 86.21%
Internet Explorer 8.62%
Opera 5.17%
So, what conclusions should we draw behind these stats?
Well, to begin with, I don't think my site counts as a solid benchmark of Firefox for two reasons. I think it's fair to say that a lot of my visitors are like-minded and a lot of my regulars are friends and family. Most of them will be using Firefox.
The only surprise is that Firefox 3 was already ahead of Firefox 2 on my site 16 days before the release. This is most likely due to me encouraging my friends to try the latest beta.
I'm happy to see that Firefox is going to strong on my site — and not all of those visits are from people I know.
Beyond that, I'll let you draw your own conclusion.
Have a great day!Labels: firefox (external - login to view), free software (external - login to view), fun (external - login to view)
posted by Jean-François Bilodeau at 12:57 PM (external - login to view) | 0 Comments (external - login to view) Links to this post (external - login to view)
Thursday, June 26, 2008
How Microsoft Won and is Loosing
Steve Ballmer had it right. Developer developer developer!
The prime reason why Windows won over OS/2, the MacIntosh and even MS-DOS was thanks to the mighty influx of application that crept up for the OS. And the only way that those applications existed was thanks to developers.
Thought the Windows API are not the most graceful API I've encountered, they were reasonably well documented. I learned the Win16 and Win32 APIs mostly by reading the MSDN help files.
Using the simple tactic of ensuring that developers would favour the Windows platform early on, Microsoft achieved dominance in the operating system market.
But what is happening today? Balmer has been singing a different tune for the past few year. Since the rocketing rise of Microsoft's stocks capped in 2000, the behemoth is now struggling to pierce new markets while retaining their heavy monopoly.
It's interesting to see Microsoft running like a chicken with it's head cut off. Vista is a disaster, they are still loosing money in their search and gaming division and .NET is barely making a dent in the Java marketplace. Let's not even mention their iPod killer: the Zune.
If it wasn't for the near monopoly on Windows and Office, Microsoft would be hemoraging money faster than the speed of sound. BANG! Bankrupcy before they know it.
I think the reason is pretty clear. Microsoft is now spitting in the face of the very people that brought them to where they are: the developers.
Balmer himself said that he would like open source innovations to happen on Windows. However, he seems (or chooses) to be clueless about the free software philosophy.
Balmer can push all he wants, but he should realize that developers are usually intelligent folks. Many open source developers are quite brilliant. I do believe that most developers can smell bullcaca when it is spewed out of someone's mouth.
Genuine honesty free of marketspeak is not something you often hear from Microsoft!
It's certainly not by forcing proprietary software or standards down the FOSS developer's throat that Microsoft is going to win any friends. Neither is it going to give developers the desire or even the posibility to innovate.
Personally, I like computers to work for me and not the other way around. That's one of the many reasons I don't use Windows — I cannot stand an OS that thinks it can tell me how I should work.Labels: api (external - login to view), free software (external - login to view), freedom (external - login to view), microsoft (external - login to view), programming (external - login to view), windows (external - login to view)
posted by Jean-François Bilodeau at 10:47 PM (external - login to view) | 0 Comments (external - login to view) Links to this post (external - login to view)
Friday, June 20, 2008
ODF is the Winner: Microsoft
I'm kinda worried when Microsoft themselves declare that ODF is the clear winner (external - login to view) in the OOXML-ODF war (external - login to view).
However, I think I can agree with Microsoft. The whole ISO/OOXML (external - login to view) saga gave ODF a huge boost both in terms of popularity and credibility. This means that more people and organizations are aware of ODF than ever before.
I've long learns not to take anything Microsoft says (external - login to view) at face value, so I'm a bit concerned about the statement. Maybe the statement is genuine, but I can't help but think that Microsoft has something up their sleeve. Until they display they ace, I'll keep my eyes and ears open.Labels: freedom (external - login to view), iso (external - login to view), microsoft (external - login to view), odf (external - login to view), ooxml (external - login to view), openoffice (external - login to view)
posted by Jean-François Bilodeau at 12:31 PM (external - login to view) | 0 Comments (external - login to view) Links to this post (external - login to view)