SillyDog701

[richard mitnick]

SeaMonkey came up several times here. I am using it as the default on one machine, Firefox on the others. But I have always had a special affinity for the browser. I never used the Netscape, Mozilla or SeaMonkey Suite as a whole, only the browsers..

But the question arises as to the future of SeaMonkey. Does anyone have any idea as to where I might find numbers on the installed user base, or the number of downloads of the software?

>>RSM

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.2.13) Gecko/20101203 Firefox/3.6.13 ImageShackToolbar/5.2.4 ( .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET4.0C)

[James]

I would venture to say it's less than 1% of users online and my guess is that it will always remain so. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera... those are the browsers of choice of 99% of users. Notice also that Opera, a suite like Seamonkey, is the bottom of that group. Suites are yesterday's answer to online communication. No one I know personally uses a suite. All of my immediate family, extended family, colleagues and friends use stand-alone browsers and the majority are using either IE or Firefox. Our company insists upon IE. My wife's company insists upon Firefox. I wouldn't be surprised in the least to find Seamonkey gone in a couple of years. But should that prediction prove wrong, I can guarantee it will remain an oddity since most view it as a throwback program.

BTW, I'm not trying to be offensive... after all... it's just a software program and there's no right nor wrong to our choices. This is simply my conviction.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:2.0b11) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/4.0b11

[James]

The other "issue" is the inclusion of programs in the suite that are fast becoming yesterday's means of communication (i.e. pop e-mail). Most young people don't even use e-mail anymore and those who do overwhelmingly use web mail accounts like gmail. I can't even remember the last time anyone wrote to my pop mail. Almost all the e-mail I receive is via gmail, yahoo and hotmail accounts. Ha... I even receive messages through the X-box from my stepson and grandson. Including a pop mail program with the browser is no longer seen as desirable by most online. I'm sure it's one of the reasons Opera has failed to grow (among other factors of course).

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:2.0b11) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/4.0b11

[DJGM]

1. How many browsers do you currently have on your computer?
2. What is your default browser?
3. Do you change your default browser frequently or infrequently?
4. Why do you keep several browsers on your computer?
5. Is there a downside to having too many browsers on one's computer?
6. Do you have a sense of "brand loyalty" or is your loyalty strictly to yourself?
That is to say, if you believe browser X is now better than browser Y, do you
change it to become your default in spite of the fact that browser Y has
been your default for many months (perhaps even years)?

1. SeaMonkey, Firefox, Safari, and Opera
2. SeaMonkey.
3. Very rare. Like beanboy I've been with SM since it was spun off from the original Mozilla Suite

4. Firefox, since the Gecko engine is usually slightly ahead of the one used in SeaMonkey.
Safari, because it's currently the best, and most customisable of all the WebKit based browsers.
Opera not specifically for the web browser, but for Opera Unite the in-built mini webserver feature.

5. Not really, unless you have a very old PC that can't accomodate modern browsers very well.
6. Brand loyalty to SeaMonkey because how it's evolved, and kept the classic Netscape suite idea.

Chrome is fast, it's lean, it's customizable . . .

It's certainly fast and lean (a bit too lean for my liking) but I don't see how it's customisable.
I'd have to say that it's about the most uncustomisable of all the current crop of browsers.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.1.16) Gecko/20101123 (like Firefox/3.5.x) SeaMonkey/2.0.10

[James]

Chrome has hundreds of extensions and skins. It's customizable.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:2.0b11) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/4.0b11

[DJGM]

Chrome has hundreds of extensions and skins. It's customizable.

That's not really proper customisation. The skins/themes for Chromium a little more than wallpapers
and color changers for the main toolbar. Mozilla based browsers and Opera have had proper themes
that change the look and feel of the entire product, for several years now,

As for extensions (or add-ons), again Mozilla based browsers have also had these for several years
while the Chromium based browsers (plus Opera and Safari) have only just got around to adding
them in recent months ... essentially, playing catch-up. If it had not been for popular demand,
the makers of Chromium, Opera and Safari probably would not have bothered.

Even IE (since v7.0) has offered extensions/add-ons for longer than Chromium, Opera and Safari,
although Opera did have a similar feature a while back called Widgets, based upon the idea of
the Dashboard widgets in Mac OS X, and the Yahoo Widget Engine before that.

Full customisation, not just themes and add-ons, but the option to physically re-organise all the
elements of the toolbars, is really only available in SeaMonkey and Firefox. Any customisation
available in Chromium is still extremely limited by comparison.

Thing is, Chromium is as open source as Mozilla, so at least one enterprising user with all the
necessary skills should have come forward by now to offer a Chromium based browser that
offers a comparable amount of customisation and flexibilty as Mozilla based offerings.

As it stands right now, Chromium looks like a browser that would best suited for use on public
internet kiosks you'd find in shopping centres and train stations ... the sort of systems that
are designed to be locked down with limited functionality and restricted internet access.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.1.16) Gecko/20101123 (like Firefox/3.5.x) SeaMonkey/2.0.10

[richard mitnick]

A colleague of mine, a confirmed IE user, has been trying Chrome for a few weeks. Not as a default, just installed and given some use. He is wanting to see if it should become his No.2 instead of FF.

His biggest complaint was his inability to disable Flash; but he figured that out in about:plugins.

His last complaint was that as Chrome updates itself frequently in the background, it fails to pull out obsolete .dll's and thus to Secunia looks like an old version. I think in Control Panel|Programs, he saw two installs listed, one of which was based on a .dll which Chrome should have removed. He found the errant .dll and removed it. I believe that he said that Chrome just re-built it?

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.2.13) Gecko/20101203 Firefox/3.6.13 ImageShackToolbar/5.2.4 ( .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET4.0C)

[powerwalk]

After reading the posts here today, I downloaded and tried out Chrome. It’s fast. But I assume Firebox would be too if I took out all my bookmarks and add-ons.

I just uninstalled it because I like add-ons such as Flag Fox, and Get Mail, to name a few, and the many options available to customize the Firebox. Chrome seemed like a fast barebones browser with add-ons geared to the gmail users which is fine for them, but I like Thunderbird. If I wanted a web base mail client I would use my ISP’s, Cox webmail.

I tried two add-ons which failed completely: Send Link (which is a normal menu choice in Firefox) and a get webmail item. No thank you. Have many complaints about Firefox but it does what I want from a browser.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2.13) Gecko/20101203 Firefox/3.6.13 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)