Of Mice and Market Share

This week has seen a lot of dire-sounding tech news postings proclaiming a drop in Firefox's overall share of the browser market. Most of them have titles like "Firefox suffers dip in marketshare" (see also "Fx Market Share Slips in July" and "Fx Share Slipped in July for the First Time.") So far, I've pretty much ignored the whole browser market thing. There are just too many sources and too many variables to put a ton of faith into any of the numbers. But just this once, let's have a look at 'em.

According to NetApplications.com, in July, usage of IE grew from 86.56% to 87.2%, while usage of Fx fell from 8.71% to 8.07%. Safari also jumped slightly, from 1.93% to 2.13%. So here's my question: Why the hell are we all talking about this? A drop in Firefox's share of 0.64% merits headline news? I can only assume it's because Fx usage has grown every single month since the official release of 1.0 last November, because the numbers are entirely unremarkable.

And you don't have to take my word for it. In fact, I wouldn't if I were you, because I'm clearly a fan of the software and the Mozilla Foundation (I'm writing this in Mozilla Suite). But Robert Accettura has posted a detailed look at the numbers and the probable reasons behind them. I think the main point is the impending (and late) release of Firefox 1.5, formerly known as Firefox 1.1. Incremental security updates of 1.0 just aren't sexy, and don't pull in the new users like major releases with mainstream press coverage. In any case, I just nodded off, and it's time to change the subject.

IBM is donating software to Mozilla to help create accessibility options in future versions of Firefox. Expected features include auto-narration and keystroke navigation (which can be done now through extensions). There's also a nice little surprise buried in this article:

IBM would also donate technology to enhance the DHTML capabilities of the browser. Big Blue said its moves are to support its work for the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, as well as strengthen its commitment to standards and open source.

In other words, IBM, who has already committed to using Fx in-house, has realized that it's in their own interest to help the browser pass Acid2 and become fully standards compliant (which only Safari has accomplished so far).

The free version of WindowBlinds has been updated to 4.6. As far as I can tell, the only significant feature change is a nice little glowy effect on some mouseovers. Whether that's worth a 9MB download is up to you.

And finally, about those mice. We got some here at the house. A few weeks ago I spotted one, and saw another a few days later. Cute little tiny brown mice. Well, in the last 48 hours sightings have increased to roughly one every ninety minutes, and they seem to be living somewhere inside the gas oven. The dogs haven't managed to catch any of 'em yet; Lucy, who's half terrier, has cornered a couple, but they slipped by her. I'm afraid I'll have to start poisoning the little fuckers. Oh, well.