DISQUS

Project Pankaj · 4 months ago

Boy! This is an eye opener! I have to start using "browser" less in my online copy....

Ruth Weal · 3 months ago

lol - when it comes to joe public it's best to speak in terms of rubbing two sticks together = fire!

Username · 5 months ago

lol :D
i think funniest answer was that his friend reinstalled all his browsers and hi was using a Firefox :D

michaelmackie · 5 months ago

"I use the Yahoo."

Best line ever.

jfredson · 5 months ago

The more transparent the browser becomes to the end user the better. If their only concern is whether to search on Google or try to find stock information on "the Yahoo" it means the industry is doing a good job of making the browser experience transparent. Now all the users have to think about is what they do with the browser and that is all that really matters.

Steve · 5 months ago

Can you find Digsby in this video :)

Za3mOn · 5 months ago

LOLLL

Tom · 5 months ago

This is not surprising. We geeks spend all of our time talking at each other while forgetting that the vast majority of the public out there doesn't follow the latest Web tech news, and for those that do, tech-y terms don't mean much. They might know what Internet Explorer is or Firefox, but that's as far as it goes.

rafik · 5 months ago

Great post. Sadly it's a sign of the times.

Tom · 5 months ago

Why is it important that the common man know what a "browser" is? Most people don't know what an "EPG" is either but they use them anyways. Knowing the terminology doesn't matter. Most people have more important concerns to deal with. People SHOULD know about matters that will affect their vote, such as taxes, the economy, constitutional issues, etc. But tech issues? Who cares? Just as long as they keep buying...

Randolph · 5 months ago

This video has successfully made my soul cry.

markfinch · 5 months ago

Sad very sad. It makes you wonder how so many are able to use basic Twitter functions to be involved in #IranElection.

Timothy · 5 months ago

Dear lord, what year are we in??? That was horrifying. I hope everyone reading these comments understands what they are using...

ralphthemagician · 5 months ago

yeah, i'm using the yahoo!

iTbay · 5 months ago

Association or relationship is needed for people to associate what the term Browser means. I think product placement in a movie will be great as more people will be able to relate to the Google Brand, with the browser Chrome, and the fact that its hilariously fast (the saying I Googled it has been used before). Fast is the new thing these days (real time search, iPhone3GS). To people, Google is the internet (Google = Internet = Browser) ....The problem is that people have not associated Internet Explorer or Mozilla to the term Browser. Every computer I go on, I always delete the competition & Chrome it.

leliathomas · 5 months ago

While it is a simple question for any geek to answer, I'd like to point out that asking random people on the street "What is a browser?" is a lot different from asking them "What is email?" or an email program. The reason I say this is that "browser" is actually a more technical term, though many of us reading here on Mashable don't think of it that way. It is not used in everyday language, and so for the general population, it is not known. To many, how they browse the Internet, how they find information, is through a search engine; the tool through which they view web pages goes largely unnoticed, because it's not as noticeable as, say, an email tool that you have to navigate to.

All this being said, I have to agree with Michael. "I use the Yahoo!" was an incredibly wonderful line.

the Jim Gaudet · 5 months ago

I love that video.. Thank god Google put the search in the address bar...

alana marie · 5 months ago

I'm a systems analyst (reading mashable during my lunchbreak of course!!) and I just sent this to a large number of friends in my department at a fortune 5 company.

It made my friday a ltitle bit better and I think it will do the same for them :)

Josh · 5 months ago

I think this shows that we all have a lot of work to do before we finally kill explorer.

Amit · 5 months ago

Not surprised with the result. Browse is Looking up files so what is 'Browser' for the common man. & yes, they should include that common man persona of the survey. 'Location' is vital, of course.

Noah Thomas · 5 months ago

Ha! This is great.

Casi · 5 months ago

Not bad, but you should have a look at Germany. Here is a polititian (brigitte zypries, german minister of justice) who answered in a tv-interview "browser? what is a browser" and is right now getting an special award from the german internet-business, calling her a "internet-polititian". It isn't that funny to be a german internet-user in these days...

Yann · 5 months ago

Although entertaining, there's no valid point to be made from this video and certainly not that the average person knows little about basic technology... You'd get the same type of answers if you went on the street and asked "what is a web site"? Or "what is a TV" for that matter... Most people actually get it right: "It's what you use to search stuff" is a correct answer from a consumer's point of view. If anything, the people interviewed are more confused about what a search engine is...

What if you went on the street and asked "what is the sun"? Do you think everyone would answer "it's a 4.5 billion year old star comprised of hydrogen and helium"? Or "the yellow ball in the sky that gives me light and heat"?

This is a non-issue...

disopedient · 5 months ago

i agree with some of the comments that it's really not that important a question ....FOR us as users, that is. but it's probably very insightful for major internet brands. see how google is not exactly a browser but many people think of it as such? it's not accurate as a fact per se but the top-of-mind co-relation is still considered a positive sign for them, isn't it? :D

Oil Jobs · 5 months ago

Hey guys !! They might not know it now .... Think for a minute ... Google took over the world as the best search engine and now most of them do not seem to use the term "search" but rather "Google it" ;). So just in sometime Chrome will be the synonym for Search Engine !! Google Rocks :D

Regards
Anita

Georgios Athanassiadis · 5 months ago

Haha, nice one! Guess not everyone as intrested in this kinda stuff as I am :P

Jason Barone · 5 months ago

A consumer like this wouldn't have much to gain from using a different browser. How would you really tell them that they should switch? Nearly every incentive to would be meaningless. Extendability? Web standards? Irrelevant.
These types of users would need a full course on computers and the internet before they'd understand why they should switch browsers. Just about the only thing that would catch their attention is Safety and Speed.

Getting the Browser bundled with other software is probably one of the only ways the non-tech consumer will ever use it. But with Microsoft having most of the OS market, IE wins. I think the whole EU Windows browser thing is a joke. MS should have every right to include their browser, it's their product, forget the competitors. I'm all for Firefox, but making MS give share to their competitors is ridiculous. It took years for Mozilla to build up Firefox's rep and they're doing just fine. MS shouldn't have to pave the road for Opera and Chrome, or Firefox for that matter. Go make your product something that's worth going viral and let the consumers do the rest.

mdekka · 5 months ago

The Firefox line was classic! That is what most of my family/friends would probably say (if they even know what a browser is).

Chris · 5 months ago

Chrome = Chrash, does for me anyways.
Was extremely fast, not any more.... seems to have a slowdown rate similar to MS Win.
G-Promise, Crash only one tab.... yeah, well, that's never happened to me. Crashes the whole browser every single time.
Flash + Any Browser = crash
Started using Google Applications with Chrome... forget about that! just equals crash within an hour.
How to diagnose? how to fix? how to find answers? who knows.

Lillian Wight · 5 months ago

This is completely not a surprise to me. I train people to do hi-speed internet tech support and I've had trainees who didn't know the difference between a browser and an operating system!

Ruth Weal · 3 months ago

I'm not surprised!