Re: decline :(

On Sun, 2005-05-22 at 12:55 +1000, Sridhar Dhanapalan wrote:
> On Sun, 22 May 2005 04:18, "Bobby D. Bryant" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On 05/21/05 10:28:22, Janek Kozicki wrote:
> > > But decline in galeon usage from 18% in year 2003 to 3% in 2004 is
> > > really sad!
> >
> > Probably a side effect of GNOME's "official application of the month"
> > mentality, and of course the 1.3 feature evaporation.
> 
> There are several reasons, but a big one is that Galeon has not had a stable 
> release in a few years. Having made the switch from 1.2 (stable) to 1.3 

-snip-

> The biggest reason, which can be seen on the graph, is the entry of Firefox 
> into the Web browser arena. Two years ago, Galeon was probably the only good 
> web browser on *nix. Konqueror was immature (and arguably still is) and 
> Mozilla was bloated. Firefox has energised the entire Web, regardless of OS. 
> It went from Zero to Hero in a very short period of time, perhaps to the 
> detriment of other browsers.

-snip-

A very well argued and interesting response.  My own 2 cents is that I
started with galeon back at version 1.0.x but have been reluctantly
moving to firefox for the following reasons:

- steady removal of features from galeon with each new release compared
to past versions
- lack of easy/timely updates from _reliable_ yum/apt repositories (ie,
ones that don't screw up your system)
- rise in features available in firefox (as extensions) that galeon had
pioneered years ago.  Once upon a time, nothing could touch galeon for
all its features that enhanced the browsing.  For me, these features
revolved around three things that, at one time, only galeon did REALLY
well: (a) manipulating/setting the tabs; (b) session saving; and related
to the previous point (c) CRASH RECOVERY.

Sadly, now the only thing that distinguishes galeon from the rest for me
is that I REALLY like to have my tabs down the left side - no where
else.  If galeon keeps being left behind and firefox keeps evolving, the
only thing stopping me changing to firefox, exclusively, is the lack of
an extension for tabs down the side in firefox.  Sigh :-(

I know - that's heavy criticism when the developers are not getting any
help from me.  However, I have helped in the shape of championing galeon
on several mailing lists and through have stuck with it so far.  Sadly,
galeon has just lost its edge for me, personally.    

Gavin.      



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