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  Firefox users ignore online ads, report says
Time: 08:23 EST/13:23 GMT | News Source: CNET | Posted By: Chris Hedlund

Internet Explorer users are at least four times as likely to click on Web ads than Firefox users, a German advertising technology company said last week. The company, Adtech, found that during October and November, only 0.11 percent of Firefox users ever clicked on an ad, compared with around 0.5 percent of IE users. The percentage of IE users clicking on ads varied depending on which version of the browser was being used, the company said: from 0.44 percent of version 6.x users to 0.53 percent of version 5.5 users. The survey was based on 1,000 Web sites in Europe that use Adtech's ad server.

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#1 By 1401 (69.40.48.240) at 12/7/2004 8:25:34 AM
You just gotta love that first line...4 times as likely (hhmm - what does that say about IE users???)

#2 By 5912 (145.222.138.61) at 12/7/2004 9:04:13 AM
Maybe it is because Firefox has the most *brilliant* ad-blocker out there: Adblock (see http://adblock.mozdev.org/ ).

#3 By 37 (67.37.29.142) at 12/7/2004 9:05:27 AM
I wouldn't say Adblock is most brilliant as it lets ads STILL appear and it requires more user intervention than needed. In fact, in regards to it blocking ads, let's not forget the Pop Up blockers. My IE 6 SP2 pop up blocker blocks pop up ads that Firefox doesn't block and vice versa.

This post was edited by AWBrian on Tuesday, December 07, 2004 at 11:52.

#4 By 11131 (64.132.138.66) at 12/7/2004 9:36:59 AM
AWBrian -- Adblock does not block the pop-ups, it blocks the banners and flash ads :) My FireFox is 100% pop-up free (except for where I allow them) and 100% ad/flash banner free (except for where I allow them). You cannot get that with IE :)

Alister

#5 By 37 (67.37.29.142) at 12/7/2004 9:51:51 AM
"You cannot get that with IE :)"

Your kidding, right? If not, you are sorely misinformed.

"Adblock does not block the pop-ups"

I am aware of that. I was just talking about Pop-ups. Which means your Firefox is NOT 100% popup free, as I have the same Firefox version, popup blocker/ad block on mine, and I get some that sneak through.

This post was edited by AWBrian on Tuesday, December 07, 2004 at 09:54.

#6 By 13030 (198.22.121.120) at 12/7/2004 10:16:15 AM
"[N]ontechnical Web surfers, who tend to be IE users..."

The best quote from the story.

#7 By 7797 (63.76.44.6) at 12/7/2004 10:23:33 AM
"I was just talking about Pop-ups."

Nice try AWBrian. It would seem to be pretty clear that initially in the tread you confused Adblock with the Popup Blocker. Why else would you say "it" is not brilliant and then refer to the popup blocker that nobody had previously mentioned, when replying to a post about Adblock? We know you think we're stupid, but please dont make it THIS obvious.

#8 By 7797 (63.76.44.6) at 12/7/2004 10:24:39 AM
AWBrian, could you provide me with a link to an addin for IE that has similar functionality as the Adblock extension for Firefox? Thanks.

#9 By 37 (67.37.29.142) at 12/7/2004 10:59:07 AM
"but please dont make it THIS obvious"

tgnb...you are wrong as usual. But it's not really my fault that you have poor reading skills. I wouldn't say most brilliant because ads still by pass the ad blocker AND the popups are still not fully stopped. TRY AGAIN tgnb. Not to mention, I already have SAID ad blocker and Firefox.

#10 By 37 (67.37.29.142) at 12/7/2004 11:09:04 AM
tgnb,

Sure, here is a link:
http://www.maxthon.com/en/index.htm

And he is another:
http://www.avantbrowser.com/

Oh, whoops, here is another:
http://www.powerie.com/

Let's pay attention next time ok? :oP


#11 By 7711 (12.107.81.66) at 12/7/2004 11:17:40 AM
Wait a minute...forgetting the virtues or vices of each browser and it's popup blocking, let's look at this from a statistical standpoint...

ballpark figures... and please don't flame me for the figures...it's the order of magnitude that's important, not the tenth's of percents...

IE 95% of users
FF 5% of users

Is 5% a statistically significant sample for Firefox? I'm not sure....

Remember, figures never lie, but liers figure.....

#12 By 37 (67.37.29.142) at 12/7/2004 11:51:26 AM
I can indeed admit I may not have worded it properly when attempting to make my point. I will edit and make it more clear. Sorry for any confusion.

For the record, I update my Firefox Extensions almost daily to make sure I have the latest builds. In fact, I have many extensions that were available up to the PR release (cutemenus is an example) that are STILL not updated to work with the final release.

This post was edited by AWBrian on Tuesday, December 07, 2004 at 11:56.

#13 By 37 (67.37.29.142) at 12/7/2004 12:15:21 PM
Muddle, I can't speak for AWIN about the ads, as I don't know the logistics behind the decision on what ads they use.

But I can say that I too have used IE's security settings in the past to block ads before, but I found them cumbersome to use as my internet travel began to grow. I found myself having to click on dialog boxes to often to accept/deny a page/cookie/ad, etc.

#14 By 11131 (64.132.138.66) at 12/7/2004 1:16:59 PM
AWBrian " have many extensions that were available up to the PR release (cutemenus is an example) that are STILL not updated to work with the final release."

All of my extensions work fine with the final release. I get my extensions from here http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/index.php -- they are usually always up to date here.

I can't remember the last time that I saw a pop-up with FireFox and I browse alot of sites.

Alister

#15 By 1643 (204.210.28.138) at 12/7/2004 1:19:37 PM
Maxthon rules...it gives me all the features of Firefox with none of the incompatibilities (it uses the IE rendering engine).

I for one still hold out IE is more secure than other browsers, and has the world's leading ISV supporting it.

#16 By 37 (67.37.29.142) at 12/7/2004 1:20:28 PM
Muddle, I will experiement with that! Thanks.

#17 By 37 (67.37.29.142) at 12/7/2004 1:24:19 PM
al_fiend, I use the Extension Manager in Firefox to obtain the extensions as intended. Do me a favor and try to install the following extension and tell me what happens:

https://update.mozilla.org/extensions/showlist.php?application=firefox&version=1.0&numpg=&category=Appearance

Cutemenu 0.4

There were 4 other extensions that I had that Firefox made inactive (checked for updates before making them inactive).

#18 By 11131 (64.132.138.66) at 12/7/2004 2:00:02 PM
I just installed Cutemenu 0.4 and it is working fine with my FireFox 1.0 ???

Alister

#19 By 37 (67.37.29.142) at 12/7/2004 3:06:27 PM
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/thehedon/cute.gif

See above screenshot.

#20 By 11131 (64.132.138.66) at 12/7/2004 5:17:52 PM
If you install Cutemenu 0.4 from here: http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/index.php , it works fine. All you have to do is edit the cutemenu.xpi file with a text editor and change the compatible version number. Extension Mirror updates the extensions as soon a new version of Firefox comes out to make them compatible. The Mozilla extension site does not get updated as frequently. I get all of my extensions from Extension Mirror because of this. Sometimes you can find modified versions of the extensions also added/changing features of the extention.

Alister

#21 By 37 (24.183.41.60) at 12/7/2004 6:04:10 PM
Thanks al_fiend. I installed from the mirror site you recommended and that worked. I didn't have to edit the xpi. Thanks for giving me that link. I have bookmarked it.

But it's rather unfortunate that the Extension manager's link to the recommended site to obtain the extensions is not the most up to date. The purpose for the extension manager and the link is for the ease. Maybe it will get better over time.

Now that we are on that subject, is it possible to change the link on the extension manager to the page you recommend?

#22 By 37 (24.183.41.60) at 12/7/2004 6:54:05 PM
Whether or not they are considered "extensions" is irrelevant. They accomplish the same things that Firefox allows you to, yet still using IE (similar to AOL's branding of IE). And all of the mentioned front ends allows you to run an IE theme mode so that it's the same interface you are used to.

Essentially you can look at it as this: You have the Mozilla browser, then you have the Netscape and Firefox version of Mozilla's browser, giving you added features. It's the same thing with IE and these front ends (all of which are free, have the same features...well before Firefox did).

But I also did give a url to an extension, powerie, if all you want is an extension.

This post was edited by AWBrian on Tuesday, December 07, 2004 at 18:56.

#23 By 7797 (68.142.9.161) at 12/7/2004 9:13:41 PM
thanks for the links AWBrian i didnt realize this technology was included in these

This post was edited by tgnb on Tuesday, December 07, 2004 at 21:14.

#24 By 143 (69.210.0.62) at 12/8/2004 1:10:30 AM
#18 By humor "Thank you" Maxthon is much better than Firefox!

#25 By 37 (67.37.29.142) at 12/8/2004 9:22:16 AM
hal, the same could be said for Firefox. Look at all the extensions you have to download that doesn't already include that functionality. Maybe the standalone Mozilla browser demonstrates what Mozilla considers an acceptable application?

What if MS included every option on every windows platform? What if longhorn includes a FREE AV program that is developed by Microsoft? With free updates or even an inexpensive subscription plan? Are they not creating a monopoly even more so by offering features that could otherwise be sold by 3rd parties? I am just curious as to where it ends? Next thing we know, people will expect a Photoshop similar application included with every Windows?

While there is no doubt in my mind that IE as a standalone has suffered from being updated feature wise because of the monopoly that MS had, I still feel that they haven't been neglecting the security. And now that the IE team is back together again (because of competition no doubt), I am confident that we will see additional features in future updates.

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