So, it's perhaps not too far-fetched to believe that many people in the internet community are asking the following question:
- Just how many people are using Microsoft's IE7 browser and how many are looking elsewhere for their browser needs?
Well, bigmouthmedia decided to do some research of our own into this query - and the results were interesting to say the least. The figures we collected were based upon browser hits to multiple large, high traffic websites, the average of which produced the results shown in the graph below:
It doesn't take a genius to discern from these results that Internet Explorer continues to dominate the marketplace with a near 90% market share, as it has done since the Wild West era of the web when Microsoft first took over from Netscape Navigator as market leader (Remember those days when Yahoo! was king and 28.8 kbps modems were viewed with awe and respect? We do!).
Even though the percentages are small at the other end of today's browser market, we now know that Firefox has finally overtaken all the other browsers combined, to come in a respectable second place. This is probably due to a number of factors: for example, the Linux community's enthusiastic uptake of the open source browser, as well as the less loyal components of the Mac brigade abandoning Apple's native Safari browser and the more tech-savvy of the PC crowd switching their browsers.
Those who have tried will realise that it is massively difficult to get rid of Internet Explorer, as it is so closely integrated with the Windows operating system. Often, even though you are using Firefox, clicking on a link inside MSN messenger or another program in the Windows suite will automatically direct the link through Internet Explorer regardless of preferred browser settings. Without detailed technical knowledge, it is hard to make the myriad Windows programs cease to do this. As a result, this casts doubt over the true percentage of Internet Explorer usage figures just a little bit more - though not by much.
That said, having analysed these figures, it's interesting to look at the progress made by all the versions of Firefox currently in use in comparison to all the versions of Internet Explorer.
As you can well see from the above graph, Firefox has grown the most over time, with a sharp rise reported in mid September last year. For the most part, this is at the expense of other browsers such as Safari and Opera, rather than Internet Explorer, but as the year progresses towards Christmas time, these other browsers temporarily overtake Internet Explorer. Perhaps this is a true example of Christmas cheer, as bubbly frothing tech-geeks over the world open their new iMacs with joy and play with them for the first time? We can only speculate.
So, given that we now know Firefox is starting to snap at the heels of Microsoft, what versions of the open source browser are the net elite using these days, when compared to Internet Explorer users?
The graph above shows that, over the last week or two, Firefox 2 uptake has finally overtaken Firefox 1.5 usage. This appears to be quite an accurate assumption since Firefox's user base has traditionally been considerably more tech savvy and, further, the upgrade to Firefox was not forced on users. Hence, user uptake of the new browser appears to be much more enthusiastic than the uptake of IE7, as indicated from the graph below.
The uptake of IE7 presents a more interesting proposition. Even though the upgrade is not optional, IE6 still reigns supreme, and the increasing use of IE7 seems to mirror the loss of IE6 users. The fact that the numbers appear to be the same means it's safe to assume that most IE6 users haven't yet defected to Firefox. However, what is interesting to note is that the uptake levels off at the end of December 2006. What reasons can we guess for this?
Well, a major component has to be the vast amount of people in the world with cracked, illegal versions of Windows XP who strictly control their communications with Microsoft and do not want any new software from them - or for whom WGA is a stumbling block. In some circles it's even a matter of pride to say you've never bought a Microsoft product and yet use the full suite of their products extensively.
Another reason may be that there are problems with old hardware not being able to deal with memory and system demands of IE7. It's also likely there's still a fair chunk of people out there using Windows 98 and IE6 and, as Microsoft dropped their official support for Windows 98 late last year, there is no IE7 version available for these users. We may also guess that users who haven't figured out how to ignore the mandatory update process - by the extremely novel method of ignoring the "update now" box when it appears and dragging it off screen - have levelled off, so the numbers of IE6 users have started to stabilise.
Microsoft has traditionally been a desktop and office system powerhouse, but are notoriously known as "bad at the web". The differing patterns of uptake amongst different OS users show us that the majority of IE users - essentially, the huge crowds of less tech-savvy web users - remain ignorant of the different options available to them in the browser market.
So, what is the most prurient fact we can take from this research? Even with the increasing uptake of safe, open-source browsers and newer, more secure versions of Internet Explorer, IE6 - long lambasted as riddled with security holes, open to phishing, spyware, Trojan worms and viruses - is still the worlds most dominant browser, with approximately 45% of all users using the platform. This is only likely to change with the default pre-installs of IE7 on new Windows Vista machines in the coming months, but will hopefully lead to a rise in compliance with open standards and better safety for all.
Most pressingly: will Firefox ever overtake Internet Explorer after starting the chase on April 3rd 2003? Well, ask us in another three years time and it's not inconceivable that you would get an affirmative.
