IE Continues to Lose Grip on Market

[Emboldened Chimp]

Oh no, they say IE's got to,
go go Mozilla!

Fri Jan 21,10:00 AM ET

Matthew Broersma, Techworld.com

Microsoft's share of the browser market has continued to slide, according to a new study, indicating a continued momentum for users switching to Internet Explorer alternatives.

Between the beginning of December and mid-January, IE's market share dropped 1.5 percent to 90.3 percent, while the Mozilla Project's Firefox browser rose 0.9 percent to a total of 5.0 percent, according to market researcher WebSideStory. Researchers have shown Explorer's market share falling since June, when WebSideStory had its market share at 95.5 percent.

Other browsers, including Opera and Apple Computer's Mac-only Safari, also gained just under 1.0 percent to 2.1 percent, WebSideStory said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1093&ncid=1093&e=4&u=/pcworld/20050121/tc_pcworld/119369

[mrbassman03]

1. Good riddance!

IE is the most bloated POS I have ever used. Firefox is a bit too unstable for my taste, I am sticking with Safari.

[Emboldened Chimp]

2. Firefox works fine for me...

Can't use Safari, because I've got a PC.

[mrbassman03]

15. Yeah, it is a good program, but Apple has made Safari a bit better...

To each his own...

[Synnical]

17. Me, too

A few hiccups here and there. But anything is preferable to using a MS product.

[girl gone mad]

5. I've never had any problems with Forfox. n/t

[fnottr]

20. must be the mac build

The windows version has been rock solid stable for me. So has the Linux version when I've used it.

[MeDeMax]

21. tried the real FF 1.0 ?

have you tried firefox 1.0 ? not the preview release, the real thing ?

it is VERY stable, I have opened upto a dozen pages in different tabs (clicking on links in DU blogs) and there is no evidence of slow down.

[mrbassman03]

22. Yes, I just like Safari better...

To each his own...

[NYC]

39. I have Mozilla Best of 2003.

It works fine for me. If you ever need something instead of or in addition to Safari, try Mozilla Best of 2003.

[dethl]

3. IE won't be missed

But sadly the damn program is integrated with the OS itself.

[Anakin Skywalker]

7. True. Sad and true.

Just try deleting IE. Windoze won't let you. :)

[bobweaver]

4. Hey Apple, are you listening? You released iTunes for PC, why not Safari?

[illflem]

6. How can there be a browser "market"

and why does it even matter when browsers are for the most part free?

[SheepyMcSheepster]

8. i wonder the same thing my self?? nt.

[fedsron2us]

10. Most people access the internet via a browser

They are also used to front end a lot of commercial software applications on corporate and government intranets. Even ancient old 3270 IBM mainframe applications can be run through them now days. Believe me controlling this element of the desk top is important.

[MeDeMax]

16. it matters for cross platform development

when Firefox, Mozilla, Netscape, Opera, Safari etc gain a marketshare that is in the teens or twenties then websites (in an effort to be cust friendly) will make their content better compatible with multiple browsers.

which in turn means they'll stop using microsoft specific extensions and stick to html standards, which in turn means safer content for windows & IE users.

while people using other browsers can switch operating systems, staying with the same browser, and not notice a difference.

:D sorry for the long winded ans.

-max

[Anakin Skywalker]

9. FireFox User Here!

Been using Mozilla for a long time before they came out with FireFox. I am happily using v. 1.0 now.

[Renew Deal]

11. Safari is very good.

Unfortunately it's mac only.

[raysr]

12. Try Opera

folks, it's free but has a banner ad. Drive it around for awile. It's worth the 25 bucks, has an e-mail client built in (pop3). Free to try it, I've been using Opera for a few years.

[Renew Deal]

13. Firefox is good enough.

I use that and IE. I don't like how Firefox loads images.

[donheld]

14. I love firefox

it's priceless.

[Melynn]

33. I like Firefox too.

On my PC, Firefox is faster than IE and more secure too. What's not to like?

[w4rma]

18. Firefox is the best webbrowser I've ever used.

It's fast, easy to use, and seems to use less RAM than IE. It's also stable. Unlike IE, Firefox hasn't crashed on me a single time since I started using it.

[Emboldened Chimp]

19. Man, nobody mentioned my sly Blue Oyster Cult reference...

I'm so bummed.

[Steely_Dan]

24. Where is it!!!????

[Emboldened Chimp]

29. It's at the very top, above the article

I'll put it in italics.

[NuttyFluffers]

38. think song 'Godzilla'.

you'll get it then.

[Steely_Dan]

40. Ah...should have seen that

Nice one...

[Igel]

26. I didn't get it first time 'round,

but once it was pointed out ... I wasn't a big BOC fan, but I still like "Godzilla". Bought the CD because of it.

[mcscajun]

23. Mozilla 1.7.2

No worries, mate.

[Steely_Dan]

25. Safari...the only way to browse...

...simple and intuitive. Like most of Apple.

-Paige

[Igel]

27. Firefox.

Recommended by Distributed Processing--Europe. IE handles Unicode and their user interface very, very weirdly.

[raysr]

28. There's another one

based on Gecko call "K-Meleon", very much like FF but lighter.

[raysr]

30. Found this in

"Mozilla afer dark" forums, http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=204548, this is why I don't use FF, too many freepers in the help forums.

[SteveG]

31. Mozilla 1.8a6

The current alpha version is working great for me.

[TroubleMan]

32. Oh, poor wittle micwosoft...only got a wittle 90% market share...

awwww.....poor wittle baby!!

[kineneb]

34. well, duh!

IE has more holes than a swiss-style cheese.

As a fan of the Penguin, I have not used IE for years. I use either Konqueror or Mozilla. Both have their quirks, but I have not had any problems from the web.

Happy Penguin w/Suse 9.0

[fshrink]

35. If ONLY windoze could follow..! nt

[Cori Cycle]

36. I Like IE

actually. Running Mozilla or Firefox cause more splitting headache than IE. I noticed Mozilla hogs memory like no other web browser. Plug in doesn't work, and installation of whatever extra thing I need require trip to help pages, then posting question on forum. I think a software (like web browser) shouldn't require user to read anything before it does what it supposed to do. Program like web browser should be easy to use like a toaster.

IE is intuitive and works great for me. I like my XP SP2 as well.

[0rganism]

37. That's still about 89% too much, IMHO

Beyond any grudges against M$, no matter how richly deserved, something so pervasive as the browser market needs to be richly diversified and competitive to spread the cracks and exploits around more evenly.

Microsoft's obscene market share isn't just annoying, it's hazardous to users.