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Chrome Beats Internet Explorer On Any Given Sunday
tsamsoniw writes "Over the past three weeks, Chrome has beaten out Internet Explorer as the No. 1 browser in the world — but only on Sundays. In fact, according to data from StatCounter, Chrome usage is higher on weekends than it is during the work week, whereas IE usage drops on Saturdays and Sundays. Evidently, end-users prefer Chrome at home, which might be helping the browser get a foothold at work." (So apparently it's not just a freak occurrence.)
There's a simple reason for this. Google has been heavily pushing Chrome to end-users via advertisements, their search engine, YouTube, and by making deals with computer manufacturers and software authors (adware) by paying them to spread Chrome. On workplaces this tactic doesn't really work as individual workers are often unable to install adware and other malware on their computers as IT knows what they are doing and have restricted that. It is quite similar to why most spam is sent from home computers - users don't know how to secure and maintain their systems.
Evidently, end-users prefer Chrome at home, which might be helping the browser get a foothold at work.
Or, my employer won't let me install any software on my work machine so I'm stuck with IE(6).
Summation 2
They could do this with LotusNotes too. Lots of people use shite that's not fit for purpose at work.
The Infoworld article is pretty funny, and confirms what many have long assumed. However, while I'm just as anxious as anyone else to see earlier iterations of IE get their deserved due, a wider breakout shows something else: http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser_version-ww-daily-20120101-20120402
In linked three-month period by browser version, notice that IE9 also has the same corresponding spikes (albeit smaller) on weekends. Possibly that reflects no active choice on part of home users who just use the default install (while corporate continues to play catch-up). But it might also represent a segment that simply continues to prefer IE (the "web-compliant" kind).
Does StatCounter take in account Chrome's page views inflation caused by its Instant Pages prerendering feature?
I'd be surprised, since even Google Analytics itself is affected...
Anyway, please be careful before announcing "Chrome usage surpassed this or that" :P
There's a browser safer than Firefox, it is Firefox, with NoScript
My workplace requires IE for one specific (but very important) reason. Everyone here uses Powerpoint (way too much, IMHO, but that's another issue), and Powerpoint has a built-in tool for converting presentations to webpages (meaning they can be posted on our intranet with forms and other pages). But those webpages only look right in IE. Pretty sneaky on MS's part. The alternative would be trying to convert tens-of-thousands-of-slides worth of presentations into html by hand. So it's a lot easier to just force people to use IE rather than having to deal with either the conversion costs or 2,000 phone calls with conversations like this:
Caller: "These slides don't look right"
Tech: "What browser are you using?"
Caller: "I'm using the internet"
Tech: "What is the picture you click on to get to the internet look like?"
Caller: "I don't know, JUST FIX IT!!!"
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
I know why I originally switched from FF/IE (work) - Chrome was noticeably faster. Not in some "I've checked the benchmarks" kind of way, in the "I've installed it and this is clearly faster and more pleasurable to use."
After the initial speed thing, it was the UI that's kept me. Dragging tabs to windows, pinning tabs, scrolling tabs, bookmark sync, add-on/app sync, background update etc etc. Also simply installing Chrome on a new machine, simply giving it my google login and the Chrome that appears on the new desktop immediately resembling the version on my home machine.
Reading through the above, it's probably the background update that was the killer bit. I genuinely have no idea what version of Chrome I'm currently running. I installed it years ago and it's just been there ever since. My entirely subjective opinion is that the features and improvements silently appear before I ever even realized I need them - so I remain 'happy' and 'content' (and would have to see some utterly novel, ground-breaking feature advertised on another browser to even bother to download it)
By auto-update I don't mean like thunderbird or itunes, where an attempt to launch it suddenly triggers update popups, delays and release notes. I mean I don't even know it's happened. If this approach could just be extended to OS, drivers as well as apps, I'd be happy as Larry.
You're out of touch with reality - ActiveX is a dead technology and people will migrate away from it, not the other way around.
I doubt they measure number of pages when measuring market share here.
Wrong, that's exactly what they do: Why do you base your stats on page views rather than unique visitors?
And yes, they're aware of the prerendering Chrome stats inflation problem, even though they believe it doesn't significantly skew their stats, for some reason they're unable to explain themselves (sounds like "faith" or "we're too lazy to adjust our data even though we could").
There's a browser safer than Firefox, it is Firefox, with NoScript
Answer is here:
http://gs.statcounter.com/faq#pre-rendering