Internet Explorer sees Market Share drop below 90%
March 1st, 2005 Leave a comment Visited 24 times, 1 so far today
Internet Explorer sees Market Share drops below 90%
They came, they conquered, than they created a mess and now it is the time to clean up the mess. Microsoft released their Internet Explorer browser free in the times when Netscape ruled the World Wide Web with their Netscape Navigator. They hit the competition so hard when they integrated Internet Explorer with Windows 98 that Netscape had to give away their browser application for free. However, it was a step taken too late as Internet Explorer dominated the computers all around the world and reached a stage where it touched the market share of more than 90%.
However, recent days have seen Firefox hitting Microsoft in the same market where Microsoft practically killed all sort of competition. Firefox gave the web users an alternative, which was free, secure and worked nicely. Moreover, people are embracing it with open hands. Firefox now has a fairly decent market share of around 5% and millions of users have downloaded it since the first final version was launched in November last year.
Latest stats have shown that the growth rate of this Open Source Community Developed browser slowing down, but that still is not stopping Mozilla Foundation from their goal of reaching 10% market share by the end of the year. In the way, they have for the first time in many years created a scenario where Microsoft is feeling the damage done to their reputation when it comes to software security on the web. This resulted in the recent news from the Software Giant that they would be releasing an intermediate version 7 of the Internet Explorer for Windows XP before Longhorn is released in the final version.
Latest stats released by two separate companies Amsterdam-based OneStat.com and US-based WebSideStory have confirmed that Microsoft is progressively losing market share. The share has dipped to below 90% for the first time in many years. OneStat.com reports that Mozilla’s market share in the browser market is around 8.45% compared to an interestingly low 87.28% of Internet Explorer.
WebSideStory also reported similar findings according to which Mozilla Firefox now has a market share of 5.69% (Mozilla combined percentage is around 8.16%). As per them, the share of Internet Explorer in the web browser market is around 89.85%. This number was an impressive 95.48% in June last year.
Looks like we would soon have some sanity around on the web where sites would no longer force users to use Internet Explorer. Instead, we would see sites supporting standard compliant browsers.
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March 2nd, 2005 at 12:56 am
It’s about time that Microsoft felt the “pinch”. As a PC user at work & home I am forced to rely on the offerings of Microsoft and am more and more disappointed. Windows XP was supposed to revolutionize the way we work with computers, IE 6 was supposed to be a breakthrough etc.etc.
The only breakthroughs I’ve seen are the security exploits discovered in Microsoft products and their lack of user driven functionality. Maybe this time around we’ll see a Microsoft product released that dosen’t need multiple patches just to be as safe as something developed on OpenSource.
March 2nd, 2005 at 01:10 am
Microsoft cannot stop FireFox. FireFox runs on more platforms, and is an all around superior browser.
Its just a matter of time before the rest of the world wakes up and drops the percent of Microsoft stuff lower and lower.
Also, don’t forget OpenOffice!!!
OpenOffice + FireFox + (Linux OR Solaris) = Freedom from Microsoft
March 2nd, 2005 at 04:58 pm
I am not a shill for MS but I think these numbers are inflate against IE. As a developer of a major software product that is web based, the requests I get for other browsers is closer to 5%.
kgm
March 11th, 2005 at 10:02 am
You folks are, most respectfully, idiots. 90% market for many years means that IE IS the standard. It outperforms everything out there. For years I have heard that IE is not compliant, that only lazy programmers write to it, that the real internet is with Netscape, Mozilla, etc. The fact is that as a web programmer, I can do massive amounts more with IE. Netscape (etc.) is crap. It’s only safer because it has little functionality. A day late and a dollar short.
Nobody is going to write for anything other than IE (other than an idiot) because it works well. If you don’t believe me, then ask your Netscape buddies if they also have IE on their machines (80% do), then ask the IE folks if they also have Netscape, etc. (only 3% do).
Get a grip. The browser wars are over.