I switched from Chrome to Firefox... tab groups, the extensions available, and actually being able to save and sync my search keywords across computers (instead of being stuck with a 2 yr old settings) are some big features for me.

Oh, also that Greasemonkey itself is very easy to use.

I might consider trying out Opera again in the future, since its mouse gestures are very responsive and the interface looks nice (to me). However, lots of web pages didn't render properly for me the last time I used it (3+ yrs ago)

The article really tries to be serious, with lots of charts and data. But they are all from StatCounter. There is an endless debate about which source of browser market share is best, and no clear answer, so why consider only one?

I find it very annoying when I try to open a site and it says something like:

"Why the hell are you using IE? Please switch to a modern browser and come back later!".

It turns out I'm not using IE, I'm using Chrome configured to say it is IE (user agent) because the company I work for has a proxy that only answers to IE...

The only thing that really matters is your site's audience. Our site has Safari in the lead at 39% (IE 24%, Chrome 17%). So, StatCounter's data is interesting, but Chrome is the least important to us.

Please get rid of IE8 - ugh, hate to see that many still using it - doesn't look like I can drop support for awhile

Isn't Opera missing here? I heard lots of people in Russia used it, at least about a year ago.

Any Opera user here? What are the key reasons for you to choose this browser over the others?

I would be surprised if Chrome isn't the #1 browser in North America a year from now.

I feel a bit sorry for Firefox here. They're doing things right but they cannot really compete with Chrome on a equal footing because Chrome gets bundled with almost every Java and Flash update and those are installed on 99%+ of PCs. Not to mention being pushed on high traffic sites like Youtube and Gmail and being bundled with some PCs by paying the OEMs.

I remember switching a lot of non-techie friends/family to Firefox but I see them using Chrome now. When I ask about Firefox the answer almost invariably is that they didn't know how Chrome got on their PC.

Site owners get as much as $1 per Chrome download that they're able to push their visitors to. I don't think Firefox has these kinds of resources against Google trying to minimize how much they pay Firefox by cutting down the middle man and building a moat around their search engine and ad profits. The next good search engine to come by will certainly not be the default on a large percentage of browsers.

They should've stated that the data comes from StatCounter upfront. I thought they had their own metrics.

Pasting from an earlier comment:

One big difference is that NetMarketShare tries to measure unique clients, while StatCounter measures web page hits.

Since the power users browse (probably a magnitude of order) more web pages than the normal users, Chrome and to a lesser extent Firefox is overrepresented in power users who browse a ton.

Toothpaste marketshare analogy. It's possible that 70% of people use Colgate and 30% use Crest, but Colgate sales by volume are only 40% vs. 60% for Crest, since Crest users tend to brush more daily and use more of the toothpaste when they do for some reason.

Or a car analogy: Toyota sells 40% of cars and Honda only 30%, but 60% of miles driven on roads are by Honda cars since they use it more. Which has a higher marketshare?

I can't tell you how many times I've told myself that I wish IE and FF would just die. One day, I'd love to just focus on building for Webkit and not have to worry about supporting all these other engines.