• Internet Explorer 8 Hits Initial Road Blocks

    Internet Explorer 8 Hits Initial Road Blocks

    Techtree News Staff, Mar 25, 2009 1812 hrs IST

    Market share sees a consistent drop

    mail share

It's been just a week since Internet Explorer 8 was launched and it's time for the initial bug reports to filter in.

Let's face it. The IE8 is undoubtedly one of the most feature packed browsers out there. Moreover, initial reviews of the browser have left users impressed. However, according to latest data, post the initial hype, a sizable number of users have quietly switched back to the browsers of their choice, in many cases, past versions of IE seem to be more attractive for a good number of users.

As for the bugs noticed, these include issues related to printing from websites, image related issues and the fact that it takes almost 4GB of disk space. IE8 was released last Thursday and by Sunday, it had managed to garner a 2.59 percent market share that has since then fell steadily to reach 1.86 percent by Monday. Most dedicated IE users seem to have downgraded to the now reliable and stable IE7.

The overall market share captured by IE, however, stands at 67 percent, followed by Firefox with 22 percent. While that might sound substantially higher, IE has been steadily losing ground to Firefox over the years and IE8 was Microsoft's trump card to prevent the share from sliding further. Microsoft seems to have gotten it right as far as the features are concerned, but, as of now, it seems people are still in the "getting used to it" mode. And to be honest, some of the features of the browser are a tad difficult to adjust to, even for an advanced user.

We might see the share picking up once Microsoft starts offering the browser through automatic updates. As of now, the only way to install it is a manual download from the Microsoft website.

Follow Techtree on Twitter

Related Links
Microsoft Bows Down, IE-free Windows 7 for Europe
Internet Explorer Losing Market Share in India
Microsoft to Start Pushing IE8 with Auto Updates
Tag keywords
IE8 Internet Explorer 8 Internet Explorer Firefox browsers



Discussion Board
(11) Comments
Jay
,London, on Mar 31, 2009 10:24 PM
the only IE I use and recomend is IE7. IT works great and thats it! i like Firefox but prefere IE7. If somebody ask me for IE 8 i say ******* **** ! But i gues its like with everything new this days. Vista used to be a nightmare, remember? For now I'll stay with IE7 thank you very much! :)
Report abuse
maria lawson
,emu heights, on Mar 30, 2009 11:24 AM
I am so unhappy with internet explorer, it drives me crazy. Lately it has been getting worse and worse. The usual uni sites at uws that I look at often are not coming up.. I can't even access my email..... It is veryFRUSTRATING!!!!!!!!!!
Report abuse
Alan Wright
,Nottingham, on Mar 29, 2009 10:49 PM
I have downloaded IE8 and cannot now run IE at all it says it has problems but windows is not coming up with a solution. This has only happened since this download.
Report abuse
Mark
,Orlando, on Mar 27, 2009 03:29 AM
I'm a Firefox fanboy myself, but aren't these numbers more likely attributable to weekend surfers? Experimenters download IE8 over the weekend and during the week they use IE6/7 at work. Surely the numbers will go back up over the weekend.
Report abuse
Gadget Guy
,Hyderabad, on Mar 26, 2009 02:26 AM
I have been Using IE8 Since last week & it seems to be working fine.. there are some really good new features that have been implememnted but it still fells more of a feature upgrade to IE7 than a new version.
Report abuse
Re: GadgetGuy
,Hyderabad, on Mar 26, 2009 12:07 PM
IE8 is completely different from IE7 in a lot of things unknown to the normal user. It's most standard compliant IE browser which is a leap ahead of IE7.
Report abuse
We get it - Tec
,Bangalore, on Mar 26, 2009 11:28 AM
I've been using IE8 since its official launch. I believe it is too early for this opinion piece. But, since you bring it up, IE8 works great on my PC. I have XP and Vista dual boot. IE8 works fine on both. Its no Opera but I find myself using IE8 more than Firefox 3, simply because its much faster. I don't hate Firefox, but, your relentless promotion of Firefox grates on my nerves. When a junk browser (hint: Firefox 3) is the only application on my PC that takes up 70% of 1GB of RAM, I'd say it sucks. :) Besides, FF3 has huge issues with rendering text. Uggh! "And to be honest, some of the features of the browser are a tad difficult to adjust to, even for an advanced user." - are you kidding??!!! This, from a bunch of guys who love a browser because you can install EXTENSIONS! Such drivel!
Report abuse
Ashish
,Gurgaon, on Mar 26, 2009 10:19 AM
IE8 takes too much of memory.Have been using Firefox.its much more stable.
Report abuse
Bookoon
,Navi Mumbai, on Mar 25, 2009 10:37 PM
there is definitely some bug inside IE 8. I had installed IE8 RC1 about a week back... system was hanging very often.. IE8 application failure. I went back to IE7 the next day :)
Report abuse
Sandeep
,Chennai, on Mar 25, 2009 09:06 PM
Ummmm.....There seems to be a mistake in one of your sentences: " and the fact that it takes almost 4GB of disk space." Seriously?
Report abuse
Elmar Jansen
,Amsterdam, on Mar 25, 2009 07:02 PM
" it had managed to garner a 2.59 percent market share that has since then fell steadily to reach 1.86 percent by Monday. Most dedicated IE users seem to have downgraded to the now reliable and stable IE7". That's too fast... Probably the 2.6% is made up by tech-savvy users who tried out IE8 when it came out and now switched back to the browser of their choice, probably either FF, Chrome or Opera.
Report abuse

Opinion Poll