Google Chrome is probably gaining a few users that were Firefox users in the past, but I don't think it's anything to worry about. For one, Chrome is growing much slower than Firefox did when it was their age. Firefox was at 9% market share at 9 months of age, and Chrome is now at about 7.5% with almost 2 years of age. Furthermore, Google Chrome doesn't seem to be too keen on evolving, and has basically stood still since its initial beta release, two years ago. Firefox 4.0 is looking absurdly almighty, with groundbreaking stuff and many improvements. Besides, Google Chrome seems to be slowing down its market adoption. And then we have to consider that Google Chrome is mostly an ally of Firefox in the fight for an open web. Unlike Safari, for example.
Yeah, I don't think Google Chrome will give Firefox any trouble. Even if Firefox decreases its market share after Firefox 4.0 (which I think would be great, to lighten up on the developers...), it will never be to any significant extent.
But you are right in saying that IE9 will not run on Windows XP and will probably be hindered by that. But Server 2003 is loosing support in less than a month's time and Windows XP will loose support halfway through 2014. If Internet Explorer comes out early next year (which I think is a reasonable ETA), it will have about 40%-45% market share of Windows Vista and 7 to explorer, which is definitely plenty if they deliver a good browser. Maybe them not supporting XP will be a good think for Firefox and Chrome (because people on XP will tend to move away from IE), but if they do make a good browser with a good UX, then they are going to be a very serious competitor to Firefox, much more serious that Chrome-for-simple-people ever will.
2010-06-16 15:41