Posts Tagged ‘Internet Explorer’

More browser users take a shine to Chrome

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Google’s Chrome browser continued to make inroads into its rivals’ share of worldwide browser usage in May, new statistics show.

Chrome rose 0.3 percentage points to take seven per cent of the market, said Net Applications, which monitors browser usage on a network of Web sites.

The statistics reflect activity, not the number of people using a browser, as people load up about 160 million pages each month on sites Net Applications monitors. Because Web usage is increasing, the absolute number of people using a browser can increase even as its fractional share of usage drops.

Drops in market share were recorded by Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which dropped 0.3 per cent to 59.75 per cent, and Mozilla’s Firefox, which slipped 0.2 percentage points to 24.3 per cent. Fourth-place Safari from Apple rose 0.1 percentage points to 4.8 per cent, and Opera rose by the same margin to 2.4 per cent.
 
The browser market has become highly competitive as new features are built in to support new Web standards. Even Microsoft, long considered a technology laggard despite the dominant market position enjoyed by its browser, is fighting back, with extensive development work taking place on IE9.

Microsoft has been trying to rid the world of Internet Explorer 6, introduced in 2001 and now considered outmoded, slow, and insecure. Another analytics firm, StatCounter, reported IE6 use had dropped below 5 percent in the United States and Europe and to 9.8 percent worldwide.

“At these levels, Web developers now have valid justification not to support IE6 in the future,” StatCounter Chief Executive Aodhan Cullen said in a statement. The company collected its data from 15 billion page views of web pages in May.

Net Applications also released statistics for iPad use, showing the Apple tablet’ making gradual progress. With the iPad now for sale internationally, usage peaked May 29 with 0.17 per cent.
Net Applications’ data shows the iPad is relatively popular at weekends, when browsing using it roughly doubles.

The company also tracked mobile phone browsing usage. Java ME, a mobile phone version of the technology from Sun Microsystems and now owned by Oracle, took the top spot with 40 per cent of usage share.

Next in line was iPhone OS with 32.8 per cent, Symbian at 14 per cent, Android at 6.2 per cent, and BlackBerry at 3.6 per cent.

One commenter on the story, when it appeared on technology news website CNet, said the appeal of Chrome was simple: “I like Chrome for one reason: speed. It’s so much faster than Firefox when it comes to loading web pages,” he said.

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Posted in Apple, Browsers, Google, Internet, Mircosoft, Mobile, News, Online, Uncategorized, search, searches | No Comments »

Chrome tops seven per cent market share as Microsoft’s IE continues to dive

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

Google’s Chrome internet browser has managed to increase its share of the global market to over seven per cent, according to data from Net Applications.

The research company said Chrome increased its share from 6.73 per cent in April 2010 to 7.05 per cent at the end of last month, to retain third place with regard to total market share.

Microsoft continued to lose out, dropping month-on-month from 59.95 per cent to 59.69 per cent.

Firefox remains in second place with 24.35 per cent of the market, dropping from 24.59 per cent in April. Fourth place Safari has 4.77 per cent of the market while Opera took 2.43 per cent.

By Richard Morris

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Posted in Tracking, searches | No Comments »

Internet Explorer sees market share dip below 60 per cent

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Microsoft saw its Internet Explorer web browser claim less than a 60 per cent share of the market in April.

IE, which was by far and away the most dominant browser in the late 1990s, has now lost market share for 10 months in a row according to data from Net Applications. Although IE easily retains its position as the world’s most popular browser with a 59.95 per cent share, competitors are fast encroaching on its territory.

For the month of April, FireFox claimed second place in the browser market with a 24.59 per cent share – up 0.07 per cent from March. Google’s Chrome also continued its assault on IE, increasing its own share by 0.6 per cent to 6.73 per cent.

A report by the BBC said back in 2003 Microsoft had almost total dominance, with a 95 per cent share of the browser market.

The company has taken a number of major knocks in recent weeks and months however. In March, users of Microsoft Windows were made aware they could choose between various available browsers and did not have to remain with Internet Explorer which came as Windows’ default browser. It followed a ruling by the European Commission.

In another blow earlier this year, the French and German governments advised internet users to switch away from Internet Explorer due to security issues.

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Posted in BBC News, Technology | No Comments »

Online petition to oust IE6

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

An online petition is calling for the UK government to move away from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6 in favour of a more up to date web browser.

Microsoft’s browser has come under increasing pressure during recent weeks, following reports that a weak link in version 6 allowed hackers to infiltrate the Google email accounts of Chinese human rights activists. The company was forced to issue an emergency patch to help address the issue.

The online petition has been submitted to the Number 10 website by Dan Frydman of Inigo Media Ltd.

He said IE6 has some security flaws that leave users vulnerable, and so the UK government should follow the lead of Germany and France and encourage people to upgrade.

Frydman said: “When the UK government does this, most of Europe will follow. That will create some pressure on the US to do so too. Most creative and software development companies are forced by government department clients to build websites for IE6 when most of the industry has moved on.

“Companies insist that they need IE6 support because government departments use it and won’t be able to see their sites or services without it. Upgrading would be a massive task for government, but if the public is encouraged to lead the way and the government follows, that would create the momentum needed.”

According to a report by the BBC, the petition had around 70 signatures this morning. This had risen to almost 3,400 by Tuesday afternoon.

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Posted in Google, Security | 1 Comment »

IE and Firefox lose out as Google's Chrome gains market share

Monday, February 1st, 2010

Chrome, the internet browser from Google, has increased its share of the market according to new research published today.

Data released by California-based Net Applications, shows that by the end of January, Chrome’s share of the browser market rose to 5.2 per cent, up from 4.6 per cent at the end of December.

Chrome was already beating Apple’s Safari browser, which currently stands in fourth place with a 4.51 per cent share.

January saw Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, the world’s most popular browser for surfing the internet, lose just over half a per cent, ending the month with a 62.2 per cent share.

Mozilla’s Firefox browser, the second most popular programme next to Internet Explorer, also lost out in January, falling 0.2 per cent to 24.4 per cent.

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France weighs in with own Explorer warning

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Fresh concerns have been raised over the security of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) browser.

The warning comes from French government agency Certa, which said that pending a patch to update Internet Explorer, it recommends using a different browser.

This is the latest blow to Microsoft, following on from the German government’s similar recommendation that internet users should switch to an alternative browser.

The American software giant has already admitted that a weak link in its programme was used by internet hackers in China to gain access to the Google email accounts belonging to human rights activists.

Google is now considering its position in the country following the attack and is expected to hold talks with the Chinese government in the near future.

Speaking to the BBC however, Microsoft’s head of security, Cliff Evans, described the risk as “minimal” and said IE8 is “the most secure browser on the internet”.

He added that so far there have only been cases of malicious code targeting older versions of the software.

Microsoft is now working on a patch to cure the problems, but a release date has not been issued.

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Posted in Hacking, Security | No Comments »