Mozilla is not happy with the evolution of the web browser ecosystem. The makers of the well-known (but is it that popular?) web browser Firefox have taken aim at Google, Microsoft and Apple in a new report titled “Five Walled Gardens” – for the full lens. You just know what it can hold.
The criticism of the three tech giants stems from the way they exploited their operating systems to promote their own web browsers. “When the operator has a conflict of interest – promoting their own browser over alternatives – it negatively impacts anyone on the planet who wants to search or browse the internet freely,” the report says.
But where does this criticism come from? Mozilla has a valid point. Microsoft, the makers of the popular Windows operating system for various PC form factors, have undoubtedly pushed the Edge web browser to the users. Google, which is undoubtedly dominant with Chrome in the PC ecosystem even now, also owns the most popular smartphone platform in the world – Android quite extensively integrates the Chrome web browser.
Apple’s iOS for iPhone, iPadOS for iPad, and macOS for Mac have the company’s own Safari web browser. Over the past two operating system upgrades, Safari has also received a lot of attention when it comes to privacy and functionality.
Note that neither operating system locks users to one or a set of web browsers. There is a certain choice available to everyone, but it has been noticed that familiarity and ease of availability (this is where preloaded browsers have an advantage) often dictate preferences that become habits over time.
The latest data from Statcounter research indicates that across all platforms, Google Chrome still remains strong with a 65.52% share, followed by Safari which has an 18.87% share and Edge which follows in a distant third with a share of 65.52%. share of 4.3%.
Break it down further for desktops, and Chrome leads (67.35% share) while Edge takes second place (a distant 10.92% share) and Safari follows with an 8.82 share. % on Mac computing devices. Also on mobile devices, Chrome (65.02% share), Safari (24.61%) and Samsung Internet (4.81%) rank in the top three.
Among mobile devices, Mozilla Firefox has a share of 0.52%, which rises to 7.39% for desktops only, while an overall share of 3.16% of the total pie across all platforms , places it just ahead of Opera, Samsung Internet and Vivaldi.
Mozilla hopes the development of the Gecko browser engine will help turn the tide in its favor. “This is important because there are only three major browser engine vendors left: Google, Apple and Mozilla – but Apple’s engine only works on Apple devices,” Mozilla said. They point out that apart from their browsers, the only cross-platform browser foundation is made by Google, called Chromium Blink.
“Having the development of cross-platform web browsers to a single company not only creates a concentration of power, but also a single point of failure,” Mozilla added. Microsoft’s Edge now also uses the same platform as Chrome.
They pointed to protocols and initiatives such as TLS 1.3 and Let’s Encrypt, which theoretically make online transactions and web browsing more secure.
There’s also a trek through the pages of the past, as Mozilla has suggested that history repeats itself. In 1995, Netscape had a market value of $2.9 billion and was the creator of the popular Netscape Navigator web browser. However, the emergence of Microsoft’s Windows and Internet Explorer slowly put an end to Netscape’s options.
“Like any product that runs on a computer or smartphone, a browser needs an operating system to function and reach consumers. When the dominant operating systems (Microsoft and Apple) decided to offer their own browsers that come with each computer’s operating system, the opportunities for independent browsers have diminished,” Mozilla pointed out.
The situation has worsened for them with smart devices such as connected displays bringing their own browser interfaces. Like Amazon’s Silk browser on Fire OS devices like Fire TV and Echo displays. Meta also has the Portal browser for its line of smart displays, while there’s the Oculus browser for Oculus mixed reality headsets.
There is concern that while not all operating systems force users to choose a default browser, the path to alternatives is not as clear as it should be. For example, Windows 11’s setup process has a browser settings screen that doesn’t exactly list alternative browsers at first glance, while Android and iOS use multi-step menus that a user must navigate before they can change the default web browser application. .
Mozilla said this is only the first part of the journey. The next chapter will consist in proposing solutions to the problems and questions raised in the last report. Whether these proposals change anything in a meaningful way, including being noticed by regulators around the world, remains to be seen.