Back in 2006, a strange tradition started between Microsoft and Mozilla. Each time one of the companies released a new version of their web browsers, the other company would send the development team a congratulations cake. In 2008, we posted a photo of the Internet Explorer cake that Microsoft famously sent the Firefox 3 development team. Now Firefox is returning the favor with a Firefox cake.
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The Mozilla Team Sends Microsoft A Firefox Cake
Mozilla sent a large Firefox cake to congratulate Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team on the major release of Internet Explorer 10.
The Firefox cake was hand-delivered by Mozilla employee Matt Brubeck to Microsoft team’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Also notice how the cake was signed: “Love Mozilla”.
Internet Explorer’s Decade Of Decline
It’s nice to see two tech rivals celebrating each other’s accomplishments. But it’s hard to believe that this tradition may continue much longer. The Browser Wars have not been kind to Microsoft. The bottom has almost fallen out of Internet Explorer’s market share of web browser users. When Firefox debuted in 2003, Internet Explorer had an 86% of share compared to Firefox’s 4%.
| 2003 | Mozilla | IE | Netscape | Opera |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November | 7.2 % | 84.9 % | 2.6 % | 1.9 % |
| September | 6.2 % | 86.6 % | 2.7 % | 1.8 % |
| July | 5.7 % | 87.2 % | 2.7 % | 1.7 % |
| May | 4.6 % | 87.7 % | 3.3 % | 1.4 % |
| March | 4.2 % | 88.0 % | 3.4 % | 1.2 % |
| January | 4.0 % | 84.6 % | 4.0 % |
Almost a decade later, it’s clear that Internet Explorer’s share has been stripped away and gone to both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. While Opera and Apple’s Safari browsers continue to have small but loyal users, Google Chrome appears to be the real threat. Chrome has shown slow and steady growth this year at the expense of both Internet Explorer and Firefox.
| 2012 | Chrome | IE | Firefox | Safari | Opera |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December | 46.9 % | 14.7 % | 31.1 % | 4.2 % | 2.1 % |
| November | 46.3 % | 15.1 % | 31.2 % | 4.4 % | 2.0 % |
| October | 44.9 % | 16.1 % | 31.8 % | 4.3 % | 2.0 % |
| September | 44.1 % | 16.4 % | 32.2 % | 4.2 % | 2.1 % |
| August | 43.7 % | 16.2 % | 32.8 % | 4.0 % | 2.2 % |
| July | 42.9 % | 16.3 % | 33.7 % | 3.9 % | 2.1 % |
| June | 41.7 % | 16.7 % | 34.4 % | 4.1 % | 2.2 % |
| May | 39.3 % | 18.1 % | 35.2 % | 4.3 % | 2.2 % |
| April | 38.3 % | 18.3 % | 35.8 % | 4.5 % | 2.3 % |
| March | 37.3 % | 18.9 % | 36.3 % | 4.4 % | 2.3 % |
| February | 36.3 % | 19.5 % | 37.1 % | 4.5 % | 2.3 % |
| January | 35.3 % | 20.1 % | 37.2 % | 4.3 % | 2.4 % |
Frank Wilson is a retired teacher with over 30 years of combined experience in the education, small business technology, and real estate business. He now blogs as a hobby and spends most days tinkering with old computers. Wilson is passionate about tech, enjoys fishing, and loves drinking beer.
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