Comment by joenathan | Hacker News Reader

Comment by joenathan | Hacker News Reader

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According to W3Schools[1] ~84% of web traffic comes from Windows users. In light of that wouldn't it make more sense to hire more Windows developers? If cuts have to be made it doesn't seem reasonable to make cuts to your main source of revenue.

edit: In response to your edit:

>Making the best web browser is not Mozilla's goal. Their goal is to "promote openness, innovation & opportunity on the Web"

If Mozilla's goal isn't to make the best web browser then no one will end up using their browser, and if no one uses their browser then they wont be able to "promote openness, innovation & opportunity on the Web", no market share = no voice. During the days of IE6's dominance Mozilla got its large user base because it was the best browser available. Mozilla is in danger of hemorrhaging users if it continues making these sort of decisions.

Us "hackers" got Mozilla its user base, we started using it first and convinced our family, friends, workmates/workplaces to switch. If the power users leave, the rest will be soon to follow.

[1]http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp

The "true" figure might lie somewhere between 65% and 88%[1]. But in any case, a significant portion of web traffic.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_syste...

This is off-topic, but you should know that there are a number of significant issues with W3Schools that prevent it from being a reputable source: http://w3fools.com/

Thanks, I didn't know W3Schools wasn't trust worthy.

No offense, but anyone who visits w3schools is probably clueless and lost. It's a terrible resource that needs to be destroyed, scrubbed from the search results like Stack Overflow did to Experts Exchange, all for the sake of humanity.

I'm surprised only 84% of the traffic is Windows users.

That is ridiculous. Sure it isn't the best resource available and on some things makes some out of date or wrong recommendations. I have gotten refreshed on basics plenty of times though from a wc3schools links. Does that make me less of a developer?

You are also implying that developers using windows are all second rate.

What I'm implying is that a lot of Windows developers don't have a choice. It's the standard issue computer they're given. Maybe they work for a gigantic company with a fossilized IT department. Maybe they work for the government. Either way those kinds of organizations are not running Linux or OS X or Chrome OS. There is a very strong bias towards Windows because of that.

If you subtract that quotient from the general pool of "Windows developers" it becomes much more of a fair comparison.

Yes, there's useful things on w3schools, but like picking through a trash heap full of rusted bicycles and used syringes, it's a dangerous expedition. You might pick up some awful bad habits along the way.

> I have gotten refreshed on basics plenty of times though from a wc3schools links

When even the basics are wrong you're not getting refreshed much. Especially when adding three letters ('mdn') to the query at the end gives you a much better resource by all metrics.

It's not ridiculous. http://w3fools.com/

You are also implying that developers using windows are all second rate.

Actually, the implication is that second rate developers are Windows users. Which is a very different statement.

> anyone who visits w3schools is probably clueless and lost

That's not referring to Windows users in particular.

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