cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1239595/firefox-is-now-ahead-of-safari-in-desktop-browser-market-share-according-to-statcounter

Source.

It being below Edge is a tough pill to swallow

power of default

And consider how many enterprise PCs only use Edge because of that.

Chrome used to be the default browser on the PCs where I work, but they switched to Edge a few years ago because "It's the same as Chrome under the hood, so it's easier to just remove Chrome and manage one less application."

I guess Safari is becoming like the ol’ IE where you only use it once, to download Firefox when you first turn on your Apple device.

5% is such a dismal number. Theres no way Mozilla is sustainable. I say that with a sad face. I mostly use Firefox.

I mean, edge is the best tool for downloading Firefox (on windows anyway).

Actually, this is scary, as it suggests Safari is shrinking.

Safari was really good at displacing Chrome on Macs. I try to get my family to use it (or a Safari fork like Orion) on theirs, but apparently all those “switch to Chrome” pop ups are working :(

I don’t want Chrome to be come the actual web standard. That’s straight up dystopian, as it gives Google absolute control over what’s left of the web.

I don’t want Chrome to be come the actual web standard

Is it not already what with how many browsers are Chromium based?

Chromium can’t do absolutely anything they want though. Anything drastic would break compatibility with Safari and FF.

…But if they do, if they actually get effectively 100% market share, think about it:

• They could close Chromium’s source, and kill off 3rd party forks as a “security risk.”

• They could literally disable adblocking, not just “softly” like the Manifest V3 switch did.

• Similarly, they could implement custom ad and tracking APIs that are effectively unblockable.

• They could arbitrarily block web pages, or redirect them, purely for Alphabet’s interests.

• They could mandate that sites they use have to use Chrome, to shut out other browser efforts.

• They could encourage similar behavior from pages depending on Google ad revenue.

If all this sounds tin foil hat-ish (and I know it does), consider Google’s past behavior over the decade.

…Is it that different from what they’ve already been doing? To virtually no public pushback?

And this is why Safari and FF are so important. As long as they exist, that cant happen, but they’re getting dangerously close to market irrelevance.