AfterDawn: News

Chrome, Firefox steal more market share from IE

According to new figures from Net Applications, both Firefox and Google Chrome continue to wrestle away market share from long time leader Internet Explorer, with Chrome seeing the strongest growth.

Chrome saw over 10 percent growth to reach 3.58 percent market share, while Firefox continued its ascent moving to 24.07 percent. Apple's Safari still remains in third at 4.42 percent share, mainly due to increased Mac sales.



Net Applications says given Chrome's growth and recent beta release of Chrome 4, the browser will likely surpass Safari, and the 5 percent mark, by February of next year.

Also interestingly was the numbers behind Internet Explorer, which although still the clear market leader at 64.64 percent, is a far cry from the 93 percent share it owned in 2003. Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft's most recent update to the browser, had 18.1 percent share, moving it to within days of surpassing Internet Explorer 7 at 18.2. The eight-year-old and extremely inefficient Internet Explorer 6 remained the leader for the pack, at 23.2 percent.

IE6 remains the leader despite Microsoft's plea for users to stop using the browser, if they have the choice. Many corporate users are not so lucky.



Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 3 Nov 2009 11:54

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• 13 comments

• Amak

  90% of the time IE 6 is the standard and some people see no reason to update...

  3.11.2009 12:38 #1

• SProdigy

  Not only the standard, but IE7 is not included with XP SP3 installations.

  3.11.2009 14:40 #2

• bomber991

  Originally posted by SProdigy: Not only the standard, but IE7 is not included with XP SP3 installations.Not only that, but updating IE6 takes a long time. It's not like firefox or chrome where you can just go and download a small file, have it installed, and be using the browser within minutes.
  
  To update IE6 you gotta go through the wonderful windows update process. Takes forever to download / install. Then you have to restart your pc, but since you just ran windows update it takes forever for it to shut down, and then forever again for it to boot back into windows.

  3.11.2009 14:44 #3

• SomeBozo

  Originally posted by Amak: 90% of the time IE 6 is the standard and some people see no reason to update...But sites like YouTube are displaying messages like "You browser will not longer be supported soon..." I was a long time IE 6 fan, i tried IE 7 couldn't stand it, and since i needed a newer browser i went to firefox and started kicking myself for no switching to it sooner.
  
  Firefox is by far better, more features, easier to use, much easier to get and install add-ins.
  
  Why would any use IE anymore...?

  3.11.2009 16:35 #4

• venomX05

  You also have to take into account, that it's probably not home based users with IE6 or 7 that is giving that big of a number, but more on the side of corporations that are still using IE since it is more secured in a corporate environment rather than FF, Safari, or Chrome.
  
  If you can show me 1 company that uses mainly other than IE for it's day to day browsers, I will show you 10 companies that use it.
  
  Working in an IT field, I find it much easier to utilize FF rather than IE only because IE is just a pain in the arse to use when multi-tasking and accessing information sooner rather than later, unfortunately, IE has all the security that is being used in a corporate environment so it's kind of a catch 22.
  
  Personally, I love FF and don't even use IE at home or even at work.
  
  Long live the fox!

  3.11.2009 19:39 #5

• H08

  Quote:Originally posted by Amak: 90% of the time IE 6 is the standard and some people see no reason to update...But sites like YouTube are displaying messages like "You browser will not longer be supported soon..." I was a long time IE 6 fan, i tried IE 7 couldn't stand it, and since i needed a newer browser i went to firefox and started kicking myself for no switching to it sooner.
  
  Firefox is by far better, more features, easier to use, much easier to get and install add-ins.
  
  Why would any use IE anymore...?mabey beause some people like IE better? i have no use for add ons, and could care less if Firefox could load the page .12 seconds faster. i tried safari and firefox, but i always return to IE

  3.11.2009 20:02 #6

• SomeBozo

  Quote:Quote:Originally posted by Amak: 90% of the time IE 6 is the standard and some people see no reason to update...But sites like YouTube are displaying messages like "You browser will not longer be supported soon..." I was a long time IE 6 fan, i tried IE 7 couldn't stand it, and since i needed a newer browser i went to firefox and started kicking myself for no switching to it sooner.
  
  Firefox is by far better, more features, easier to use, much easier to get and install add-ins.
  
  Why would any use IE anymore...?
  mabey beause some people like IE better? i have no use for add ons, and could care less if Firefox could load the page .12 seconds faster. i tried safari and firefox, but i always return to IEI too am similar to venomX05, I'm a IT professional, i found installing add-ins for helping me test web sites soooo much easier in FireFox than IE, and half the time the ones in IE simply stop working. I notice Firefox is slower then IE for a few things but, hey the user experience and features i need are there in Firefox and easier to use, given a page might load faster/slower is not a driving factor for me, power and functionality is.

  3.11.2009 20:09 #7

• cyprusrom

  According to Bill Gates, his puppy is the best:),
  
  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/interne...comparison.aspx

  3.11.2009 23:23 #8

• SomeBozo

  Originally posted by cyprusrom: According to Bill Gates, his puppy is the best:),
  
  " target="_blank">http://www.microsoft.com/windows/interne...on.aspx
  
  Sorry but reading the information on the page you provided, everything sure seems like MajorShaft is putting down FireFox mainly, comments like "Sure FireFox has more add-ins you may install.... But IE has them built in right out of the box..." but for me that is the problem. If you get two different add-ins one for IE and the other for Firefox, i guarantee the one for Firefox will be easier to install, use, work the way you want it to and have more functionality then the one in IE.

  4.11.2009 03:19 #9

• cyprusrom

  LOL, I am right there with you buddy!
  That article just made laugh, that's all, I wasn't "endorsing" it by any means...:)

  4.11.2009 04:37 #10

• thunderwa

  I used IE up to v.6. Then they completely screwed up the interface in 7.0, tossing buttons in all directions and changing sizes so I had to look for them every time--which is the main reason people don't upgrade, IMHO. The only logical reason to do that was to force other companies to use up resources to match their new "standard". Well, FF is still organized just the way millions of users decided it should since Netscape Navigator. I still very occasionally open IE 6, when some video is M$-monopolified. Otherwise, I switched to FF long ago and will never look back, though maybe will look again at Chrome in its latest version.

  4.11.2009 13:31 #11

• dbminter

  I wonder how IE measures up in the listings if you take into account Firefox has that add-on available that lets you view a page in Firefox through IE's engine. Many times, I have to use it because the page simply won't work in Firefox because it was programmed for IE. Things like buttons not being able to be pressed or Javascript buttons not working.

  5.11.2009 12:56 #12

• NHS2008

  I am using opera 10. works great. lots of its unique features are now available on Firefox also. but it works the best for me.

  6.11.2009 03:43 #13