<IT WORLD> Firefox 4 outruns foes
By Martin J Young
HUA HIN, Thailand - The battle of the browsers waged on this week as Firefox 4
hit the net and gave Microsoft's rival browser Internet Explorer a pounding. In
its first day of availability on Tuesday, Mozilla proudly announced that the
latest iteration of Firefox, the world's second-most popular web browser, had
been downloaded almost 6.5 million times. The figure easily eclipsed the 2.35
million downloads of IE9 within its first 24 hours last week.
A website (http://glow.mozilla.org/) has
been set up by the creators of Firefox to display a real-time counter of
downloads and locations across the globe. The figure, though impressive, still
wasn't enough to beat the previous record set by Firefox 3 in
2008, which clocked 8 million downloads in its first day.
Europeans made up 44% of the first day total, remaining the biggest users of
Firefox, the US accounted for 26%, while Asia, where IE is still very dominant,
only managed 20%.
Microsoft's myopic decision not to allow Windows XP users to run IE9 would have
benefited Mozilla, which did not have such restrictions with Firefox 4.
According to analysis firm Net Applications, Windows XP still accounts for over
60% of all versions of Windows currently in use.
Microsoft defended its decision not to support the diehard operating system in
a statement this week; "The browser is only as good as the operating system it
runs on, and a browser running on a 10-year-old operating system tethers the
Web to the past."
The fourth edition of Firefox is loaded with new features, security and privacy
options, and boasts six-times faster Javascript rendering. It also supports a
wide range of video and graphics standards in contrast to Apple and Microsoft,
which are still squabbling over which one standard to lock their users into.
The initial response is good news for Mozilla, which needs the boost after
losing ground to Google's Chrome in recent months. Firefox accounts for 21.7%
of the global browser market and the fourth edition of it can be downloaded
here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/fx/
Telecoms
The crowded market for mobile-phone operating systems could be seeing another
player if Motorola proceeds in developing its own platform to rival Google's
Android. According to a report on InformationWeek, Motorola has been hiring
engineers from Apple and Adobe to work on its own web-based mobile operating
system.
Nothing has been confirmed aside from a statement that Motorola will remain
committed to Android for the time being but recognizes the need to
differentiate with options that do not depend on one single supplier.
The company is one of a few that has become frustrated with Android recently
and its fragmentation, lack of enforced hardware specifications, Google's
reliance on handset manufacturers to tweak and push out operating system
updates, and patchy support. The only company turning a profit from Android is
Google, so the logic behind Motorola's decision will be tough to question.
The question about the need for another mobile operating system in addition to
those already offered by Apple, RIM, Hewlett Packard, Nokia, Microsoft, and of
course Google would be a more pertinent one.
Hardware
Apple has been getting far too much attention for its iPad 2, at least
according to BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, which plans to launch next
month its own tablet, the PlayBook.
The April 19 launch will be one of the company's largest rollouts and one it
hopes will pull back some lost market share from rivals Apple and Google. The
device has been priced at US$499, identical to the entry level iPad 2;
Samsung's Galaxy Tab and Motorola's Xoom cost a little more, though Samsung has
stated that it will be offering a smaller, cheaper version of the Galaxy in the
coming months.
The target market is corporate clients that currently prefer a BlackBerry over
an iPhone for its superior security and encryption functions. One drawback of
the PlayBook is that it will need to be tethered to the Blackberry to perform
certain tasks such as reading e-mail attachments or going online using the
cellular network rather than WiFi.
Entertainment
Everybody likes freedom of choice, especially if they have purchased a piece of
hardware and want to play their legally purchased music on it. Apple seems to
think otherwise, which is why the company has found itself at the end of an
antitrust lawsuit from a consumer group accusing chief executive Steve Jobs of
creating a music download monopoly.
The class-action lawsuit claims that Apple restricts use of the devices and
what gets played on them via a piece of software called Fairplay. The name
couldn't be further from reality, as the software permits only music purchased
through iTunes to be played on the iPod.
Upgrades to Apple software have blocked competitors such as RealNetworks from
allowing their music to be played on Apple devices. Jobs, who is currently on
medical leave, has been ordered by Judge Howard Lloyd this week to answer
questions from lawyers for the plaintiffs.
Apple is embroiled in a number of lawsuits ranging from patent disputes to more
antitrust allegations.
Martin J Young is an Asia Times Online correspondent based in Thailand.
(Copyright 2011 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
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