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Microsoft Browser Usage Drops 50% As Chrome Soars (networkworld.com)
An anonymous reader quotes Network World's report about new statistics from analytics vendor Net Applications:
From March 2015 to February 2017, the use of Microsoft's IE and Edge on Windows personal computers plummeted. Two years ago, the browsers were run by 62% of Windows PC owners; last month, the figure had fallen by more than half, to just 27%. Simultaneous with the decline of IE has been the rise of Chrome. The user share of Google's browser -- its share of all browsers on all operating systems -- more than doubled in the last two years, jumping from 25% in March 2015 to 59.5% last month. Along the way, Chrome supplanted IE to become the world's most-used browser...
In the last 24 months, Mozilla's Firefox -- the other major browser alternative to Chrome for macOS users -- has barely budged, losing just two-tenths of a percentage point in user share. [And] in March 2015, an estimated 69% of all Mac owners used Safari to go online. But by last month, that number had dropped to 56%, a drop of 13 percentage points -- representing a decline of nearly a fifth of the share of two years prior.
In the last 24 months, Mozilla's Firefox -- the other major browser alternative to Chrome for macOS users -- has barely budged, losing just two-tenths of a percentage point in user share. [And] in March 2015, an estimated 69% of all Mac owners used Safari to go online. But by last month, that number had dropped to 56%, a drop of 13 percentage points -- representing a decline of nearly a fifth of the share of two years prior.
27% of microsoft users don't know how to install a program. Err sorry I mean app appiity app.
Maybe it's time for DOJ to start taking a closer look at Google. They're using their browser quasi-monopoly to push a lot of other products and services.
We need a Bane of the browser world. Someone who will crash the web with no survivors!
I'm sure the GNOME developers are up for the challenge.
In years past to use some web based software supplied by vendor you HAD to use IE or it wouldn't work. It's more and more that vendors are not requiring IE and have gone one additional step. They now recommend a different browser like Chrome or FireFox. I have run across a few packages that almost refuse to render correctly in IE.
Since MS replaced IE with Edge and Edge isn't even remotely feature complete, buggy and extremely crash prone, it's no wonder people are rushing to alternatives.
Firefox has all but given up trying to improve. That leaves Chrome and a plethora of browsers that use the Chrome rendering engine. We're going to see a one browser internet here pretty soon.
...so prepare for another fuckload of "product-information" about edge on Windows10...
The user share of Google's browser -- its share of all browsers on all operating systems -- more than doubled in the last two years
Let's all give Chrome a browser monopoly.
It worked out so well last time.
Does Google still advertise for chrome on their search engine? If so, then I think this explains the large market share.
People need to stop using Google as their search engine and use one that doesn't use adverts and doesn't block content for copyright or other reasons.
Post alternatives in replies to this please.
who finds summaries written like this to be a massively, hilariously inefficient way of presenting data that could have been expressed with a very small line graph?
Mac users need to stop using that deficient POS. It doesn't render modern styles properly. But what's worse is that there is no way to perform any compatibility tests because Apple has long stopped making a version of Safari available to users of competing operating systems. Don't use Safari.
that noone gives a shit about Google profiling your web use. You should give a shit about things like that.
I fire up Edge when I'm on battery power on my laptop. It definitely gets better battery life. I wouldnt use it for day to day though.
I stuck with IE/Edge as long as I could but it is just a behemoth. Everything chugs to a halt on my computer when I use Edge. Oh and sorry, Firefox is just as bad. Chrome has its own problems but memory and resources usage aren't among those problems.
Firefox is going to lose another point if it doesn't stop fucking up on me.
Any usage numbers from top web sites are going to be biased. For example, where I work we have about 40k users, and we looked at proxy logs to determine browser usage since we were having a few cross browser compatibility issues with our internal HR/payroll site and wanted to know which browsers to test against. The first report simply counted the number of occurrences of each browser in the logs. That showed >90% usage for Chrome. We knew that wasn't correct so we looked at usage by IP address (we have a two year DHCP lease so that measure is good enough), and we found that usage was closer to equal between MSIE and Chrome. The people that use the web a lot will be much more likely to use Chrome.
This study doesn't sound like they account for that since the article said they measured it by "sniffing the browser user agent string of visitors to its customers' websites."
IE is still there and as far as I can tell still the default in Win10. If I go to start in my Win10 install and type 'browser' it gives me IE.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
I decided to RTFA. The article is actually about the 13% decline in Safari's user share on Mac - the IE/Edge plummet is just mentioned as a small side note. But the submitter spun it to be about MS's browser.
Interestingly, the article says we can't know for certain what the users who've abandoned Safari have switched to... which seems odd. Sure, some Slashdotters may switch user agent strings... but it's hard to argue that average users do. So it should be a simple matter to determine if Chrome's Mac user base has increased commensurately.
#DeleteChrome
Microsoft is still the top large abuser. Google is rapidly becoming more abusive, destroying its reputation.
Biggest abuser, considering all sizes? Apparently Adobe Systems.
F U C K C H R O M E
Firefox became a bloated monster (built in weird chat client, seriously?). Microsoft ... well, yeah.
Opera became ... skinned Chrome.
What's left? Chrome.
What's 50% of 1%??
The only thing I ever used Internet Exploder for was to download Firefox. You mean it can browse the web too?
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Although Edge supports extensions, and Chrome extensions can be easily ported, Microsoft still hasn't fully opened submissions to their extension gallery. At the moment you have to be invited to submit, and there are currently only 23 listed.
That means 27% users are not computer aware enough to install and use another browser.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
It seems whenever a tech journalist is board they write another browser story. Of course each month another previous month of stats comes out leading to more browser news. I think its very clear, Google Chrome is killing it, Firefox lost its mojo and Edge is DOA and can't be revived. The rest make up a very small percent of users which is rather insignificant. While this may change months or years from now I think writing stories every month on the browser situation is plainly over kill.
If a certain browser works for you, then that's the one to use.
The only reason I use Edge is because Netflix only offers 720p on Chrome.
I'm typing this in MS Edge -- and I agree with your sentiments. It reminds me of the 'Phoenix' days of Firefox (are my grey hairs showing?). It is rough around the edges (no pun intended). However I'm hoping things will improve over time, while other browsers stagnate with their bloated code base (I'm looking at you FF).
In the last 24 months, Mozilla's Firefox -- the other major browser alternative to Chrome for macOS users...
Umm, Safari, anyone? I guess that's probably true if we ignore Safari, but that would be like ignoring IE on Windows. (This makes a bit more sense in the context of TFA, from which the editor and/or submitter carelessly plagiarized this paragraph, as the article as a whole is talking about Safari's recent 13% decline on macOS...but you think someone might have read this before posting.)
R.Mo
I use Firefox because it does not try to take over my computer and direct me to stuff I never use. Hate the new MS Edge. Every time I get a Win10 update, I need to re-do my program settings. If I really wanted Edge to open my PDF files, I would not pay for Adobe.
Want to use a free and open browser, but don't want to be subjected to security vulnerabilities like openSSL (Firefox). Want to use a fast browser with good js performance, but don't want to be spied on (Chrome). Want to use a browser adding innovative features and supporting open web standards, but don't want to use proprietary software owned by the Chinese (Opera). Want a web browser, but not one from a company with a history of trying to break and subvert open standards (IE). Advice?
Chrome is at a position which IE6 used to be. They don't care.
They first killed NPAPI plugs so that Java Applets don't work. So we moved to JNLP. Then they have a bug by which JNLP cannot be autolaunched in Chrome like it can in IE & Firefox. So if it's a weblaunched JNLP, users have to save the JNLP file & then run it which is troublesome for a lot of lay users. This bug exists for 4-5 years & there are multiple bug ids for it. But it never get fixed. Then there is another bug by which when you save the JNLP files after 99 JNLP files - no more can be saved & or run.
Chrome doesn't care to fix these bugs because what do they lose if they don't fix it.
Seriously; M$ should just try to be a great OS. And not this broken wanna be thing it is now.
Things in an Windows OS that are sorely lacking and have been since, like, forever:
* Excellent file management. I'm not talking about this garbage that explorer is, I'm talking about being a tool for file copy etc with full command and control across networks and 'other' filesystems with full resume from interupted processes. OSX has it, wtf does Windows not?
* Full resume of the desktop from shutdown, OSX has it, wtf does Windows not? Wtf do we have to 'save' anymore these days? Seriously, bugs the shit outta me esp with the whole Office experience. Fail on MANY levels. Time progress saves should be built right in.
* Gimme be updates "I want to install WHEN I WANT!"
* Stop fucking spying on me. I only use your shit to play games and maintain a national windows networked environment. I do this from my mac, suck ballz.
* Exit the internet browser game now, you suck at it and have devolved your OS in the process.
* Do more to protect not only the kernel core but the fucking PEBCAK from illicit runtimes 'encrypting fucking user space' like wtf. Concentrate on being a solid OS everyone can use and bank on without fear of a fucking hyperlink or some dumb fucking javascript code taking a hold of a billion dollar OS. It's a fucking joke.
* Be fucking nice to your customers, not fucking cunts.
by grouping mobile it clouds the real # when comparing against desktop Windows users.
I'd give Microsoft a chance with new versions of IE or Edge, but they never f*cking learn.
https://tech.slashdot.org/stor...
No pitty. Better luck on the next time Microsoft renames the browser yet again to try to erase it's bad fame.
IE never implemented SMIL for SVG animations, in effect ruining it for wider adoption. With IE's demise the water looked safe for deploying full-spec SVG. Then along comes Edge *still* not supporting SMIL. Some SVG heavy sites even turn Edge users away. ... for now.
Chrome was threatening to drop SMIL then backed down and decided to keep it
It might be due to the following.
-Microsoft Announced that IE v11 is the last release on Windows. This for a reason led a number of IT now installs new Windows with Chrome (maybe for security reason?).
-New Android phone default browsers are Google Chrome. We all know the sheer number of in Android market.
At least none of my searches on those key terms found anything, though that's the main exposure to "Edge" that I've seen. Actually seems to be increasing lately. Not that I actually use Outlook. No compelling reason, and the negative feelings towards the google are not significantly different from my sentiments towards Microsoft.
My feelings towards Edge are much worse, and the nagging isn't helping. However it seems that no one on Slashdot has noticed. Or maybe none of them are using Outlook.com or seeing any Edge plugs anywhere else?
No funny posts either, but the target wasn't rich this time. Microsoft has become too boring to be funny.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
Firefox needs to get a faster renderer or Chrome needs to get better extension support (NoScript, Sidebar Tabs).
Who cares about IE?
Actually, they used their quasi-monopoly on search to push their browser. Anytime you visit Google with a non-Chrome browser it tries to push Chrome on you.
Funny you mentioned that... because every time I fire up Chrome in Windows 10 it gives me some Ad pop-up saying how much faster Edge is than Chrome or how much safer it is. I think things are getting pretty bad for the Edge browser stats... if they have to get the OS folks push their browser.
Demographics are for businesses, not developers. It's certainly not data that I would normally consider part of a technical solution. But yes, if Mozilla was so inclined to throw away large sums of money on an advertisement campaign, this data would be useful. Even then, entertaining your position, you don't make conclusions from statistics, afaik, you make an *induction*.
It's not like Browsers are a solution in search of an audience. They're a fuzzy language parser and presentation layer. The problem Firefox and other browsers face isn't first, a technical one. It's not a marketing issue either.
The issue is with the standards bodies and how web standards are developed and how they're implemented. They have become a weapon that tech firms use to leverage complexity as a weapon against competing firms. The standards in use today are there because of economic momentum, not because they're a good solution. I'm sure outside of the commercial web, HTML1/2 is the number one language used by a majority of web content. If someone releases a good tool chain that can undercut the current zeitgeist of web dev, the game is all theirs. Nobody but these large multinationals are going to have the resources to make sure such a toolchain can gather enough mindshare. So here we are with competing toolchains, languages and "living standards" that are mostly built by the big 3, and updated whenever they can get together and agree to put their collective boot in the face of the little guys.
i was one of the people that aided them getting netscape communicator 5 source FREELY OUT...
if not for that, you'd be paying for browsers
Microsoft made it hard to change the default search engine. I believe most users put chrome in by accident, but start using it because google is much better than bing.
To go online and pay my bill, I can no longer get Firefox to work and had to load Chrome (might have been able to use Opera or similar and this was in Linux, so no IE or Edge option.)