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After 100M IE7 Downloads, Firefox Still Gaining

Posted by kdawson on from the denting-the-monopoly dept.

Kelson writes "Internet Explorer 7 hit the 100 million download mark last week. Yet in the three months it's been available, Firefox's market share has continued to grow. InformationWeek reports that nearly all of IE7's growth has been upgrades from IE6. People don't seem to be switching back to IE in significant numbers, prompting analysts to wonder: has Microsoft finally met its match?"

6 of 425 comments (clear)

  1. 100M IE7 downloads by ReallyEvilCanine · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Based on my experience with corporate networks and home machines, about 85% of those were pushed via Automatic Updates. I expect a maximum of about 20% of those downloads to be intentional or wanted.

  2. A fair test? by mattpointblank · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is it fair to compare these stats? Most IE users don't choose to upgrade, it's simply foisted on them by Windows' Auto Update. When I returned home this Christmas both my mum and sister asked me to "fix the internet" because IE7 had been installed and its new layout confused them. They certainly didn't choose in the way that someone chooses to download and install Firefox does, so the victory is even more in FF's favour.

    Please note that this isn't a Firefox fanboy post (despite my love for it), merely pointing out the facts.

  3. How well would FF do if *it* forced itself out? by pla · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Internet Explorer 7 hit the 100 million download mark last week.

    Gee, perhaps that has something to do with Microsoft marking it a high-priority update, so everyone with automatic updates turned on will unwittingly get it?

    Not much of a claim to success to say that 100 million people, running an OS that has automatic updates turned on by default, have wasted bandwidth on a program they didn't even choose to download.

  4. Considering... by Bananatree3 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    that the 14% is coming from a huge group of volunteers and only a small number of dedicated, paid developers while that 80% is from the largest software monopoly in the world. Not to mention that Internet Explorer is shipped with practically every OEM machine in the United States.

    Considering these circumstances, it is amazing to see how well Firefox is doing considering the odds.

  5. Not the right time for comparisons by teslatug · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is not the right time for comparing IE7 effect on Firefox. The time will be when Vista comes out and new PCs come preloaded with Vista and IE7. At that time, people will get rid of the old PCs and we'll see whether they're sufficiently satisfied with IE7 that they won't bother with downloading Firefox. At the same time we'll also see if people used to IE6, when presented with IE7's new interface, might switch to Firefox. Whichever way the pendulum swings, that's when we should watch it.

  6. Re:Yay, I'm one of those 100 million by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The same can be said for many people that downloaded Firefox. They tried it out, didn't like it, and switched back to IE.