Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has seen its market share steadily eroding as Mozilla’s Firefox Web browser has seen its popularity continue to grow. Internet Explorer 8 should be Microsoft’s answer to Firefox 3 and even Google Chrome but the early sentiments are mixed at best.
Firefox 3 surged during its first few days, helped by Mozilla’s “Download Day” on June 17, 2008, when more than 8 million people downloaded the browser to help set a Guinness World Record.
While early unofficial estimates seem to indicate that IE 8 was just as, if not more popular in its first 24 hours, the momentum may have died after its first weekend out in the wild.
IE 8, which was released last Thursday, held 1.70 percent of the market after its first day, according to Net Applications. The browser reached its peak on Sunday with 2.59 percent of the browser market.
However, its share dipped below 2 percent on Monday morning, as it finished the workday with 2.30 percent of the market.
According to StatCounter, IE 8 held 2.57 percent of the U.S. Web browser market on Monday, which put it behind IE 7 (48.08 percent), Firefox 3.0 (22.54 percent), IE 6 (15.62 percent) and Safari 3.2 (3.21 percent).
Net Applications pegged IE 8’s market share on Monday at 1.17 percent, behind IE 7 (47.32 percent), Firefox 3.0 (19.11 percent), IE 6 (18.85 percent), Safari 3.2 (4.29 percent), Safari 3.1 (2.47 percent) and Firefox 2.0 (2.27 percent), and just ahead of Chrome (1.11 percent).
There have already been complaints of improper rendering of certain pages, even those built with Microsoft’s very own publishing software. Also, analysts have pointed out the clunky nature of IE 8’s privacy controls.
Add to this the normal delay in adoption from corporations and other organizations and it’s doubtful that IE 8 will reverse or even cushion the blow of the continuing decay of its market share thanks to Firefox, Safari and Chrome.
Still, IE 8’s genuinely faster load times, add-on offerings and enhanced tab controls have earned it some kind words.
The browser war is far from over, but there is little reason to believe that Microsoft can reverse the trend that has gained so much momentum during the past few years.
Sources:
http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser_version-US-daily-20090323-20090323-bar
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=2
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=113008TTJKEZ
http://www.pcworld.com/article/161805/ie_8s_poor_reception_not_a_good_sign_for_microsoft.html
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/eric2_0/2009/03/microsofts-fast-internet-explorer-8-a-major-improvement.html
http://www.newsfactor.com/news/IE8-s-Privacy-Controls-Cumbersome/story.xhtml?story_id=11300ADVUYPR
http://news.zdnet.com/2463-9595_22-280277.html
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