Mozilla's Metro version of Firefox had less than 1000 users

Mozilla has confirmed that its Metro version of Firefox had such tiny adoption that it will be discontinuing support for the specialized browser.

Instead, the company will stick to its much more popular "desktop" AKA the standard version of the software, which remains the second most popular browser behind Internet Explorer.

Mozilla had been working on the Metro-based browser for over two years, trying to give Windows 8 users a native alternative to Internet Explorer. Firefox for Windows 8 had such little interest, the company says it never had more than 1000 active users.

"As the team built and tested and refined the product, we've been watching Metro's adoption. From what we can see, it's pretty flat," Johnathan Nightingale, vice president of Firefox, added. "On any given day, we have, for instance, millions of people testing pre-release versions of Firefox desktop, but we've never seen more than 1,000 active daily users in the Metro environment. When I talk about the need to pick our battles, this feels like a bad one to pick: significant investment and low impact."

Mozilla will keep the code in case interest ever perks up, but for now it appears the Metro/Modern UI version of Firefox for Windows 8 is DOA.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 15 Mar 2014 10:27

Bozobub

Not a shock. I haven't seen a single Metro app that I particularly care for, and many I outright despise.

15.3.2014 14:33 #1

aldan

i was just gonna tell you that you can say that again.lol

15.3.2014 14:51 #2

malcarada

Nobody needs an app for a deskotp program, it is ridiculous. Well done Mozilla, dump ugly useless Windows 8, thank you.

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http://www.moviein3d.net

16.3.2014 01:23 #3

biglo30

I don't understand why all these asshole developers keep creating Metro apps for windows 8 and claiming their unneeded. The Metro apps should be created for Windows RT devices that actually will utilize the Metro tiles and layouts of the application. Why would someone download firefox metro when the desktop version works fine? It has no purpose Microsoft had/has a really stupid idea trying to push users to use metro. Everyone who owns windows 8 on a laptop or desktop mainly uses the desktop tile like 90% of the time. Everybody I know asks me to take it off their computer for them. I would never waste time with metro apps if I had windows 8 on my laptop or desktop but I will never put windows 8.1 on either of them anyway. When put the boot directly to desktop back and the start menu back all will be good in the world.

16.3.2014 21:15 #4

Bozobub

Um, hello? Metro apps, by their very design, are supposed to work on ANY Windows 8 device without any redesign; that's pretty much the entire point of Metro (or "Modern" or w/e) apps. They already run on RT devices just fine.

What this article is telling you is, there aren't enough users, even when including RT. Which is pretty damn bad for Win8's prospects RT or not.

17.3.2014 17:28 #5

KillerBug

Originally posted by Bozobub: Um, hello? Metro apps, by their very design, are supposed to work on ANY Windows 8 device without any redesign; that's pretty much the entire point of Metro (or "Modern" or w/e) apps. They already run on RT devices just fine.

What this article is telling you is, there aren't enough users, even when including RT. Which is pretty damn bad for Win8's prospects RT or not. The original idea of metro apps was that they would work the same way on pro or rt...except a touchscreen control interface and a mouse/touchpad interface are completely different...you might as well say Wii bowling works the same with a gamepad.

That said, isn't firefox for RT users a little silly anyway? Wouldn't the average firefox user rather hack their RT to install Linux...assuming they got it for free because they wouldn't actually buy one?

17.3.2014 17:45 #6

Bozobub

Some, perhaps, but why the hell would you shell out the cash for a Surface RT, then, instead of some cheaper tablet with otherwise comparable specs? It's not like most people will get one for free. Furthermore, finding all the drivers you'd need would be close to, or even actually impossible. I don't really see the point of working that hard to convert it into a Linux tablet, just to have borked functionality, especially as the touchscreen would probably be very high on that list of hard to find drivers.

If I got a Surface RT for free and wanted Linux instead, I'd simply return it to the vendor and buy a different tablet. Hell, some already have Linux installed when purchased! If I couldn't return it, I'd sell it. Either way, you'd almost certainly have a few hundred dollars extra to play with, even if you bought a tablet with pretty much the same (or better) hardware specs.

And yes, all Metro/Modern apps ARE supposed to run on any Win8 device. Remember, the RT has a mouse touchpad (or you can hook up an external one), and Win8 desktops often have a touchscreen monitor. Furthermore, all of the Metro apps run fine on the Surface Pro, which is Intel-based, so there's no reason for them not to run on a desktop. I can't say I like how mouse+kb is handled in Win8 for touchscreen-centric content, but the mechanism IS there, as well. I'm sure you can find a few apps that don't cross over so well between Win8 devices, but it is the main design conceit behind Win8, after all, so that should be damn rare.

17.3.2014 22:54 #7

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