As a person who is a little OCD about making sure I have the latest updates to all the software I use commonly, I jumped on the chance to grab Internet Explorer 8 back during the beta days and upgraded with each release up to the official release. I’m not going to go into details of all the features and give benchmarks. If you want any of that just search for it online, trust me they’re out there. I’m not going to sit here and boost Internet Explorer 8 nor am I going to down play the browser and claim some other browser is better. I have my reasons for using only Internet Explorer just as every one of you readers have your reasons for using whatever browser you are currently using. So, what is the post about then? Well, I’ve been reading quite a bit online about how surprised people are about Internet Explorer 8’s slow adoption rate. Here is an excerpt from a site that pretty much sums what I’m reading often online (http://gigaom.com/2009/03/20/slow-uptake-for-ie8-in-early-days/):
According to data collected byStatCounter, a web traffic measurement start-up, IE 8 saw global usage the first day of launch (March 19) of 1.39 percent, rising to just 1.56 percent the next day. That strikes me as an awfully low adoption rate, especially considering that Microsoft “owns” the desktop. In comparison, Statcounter data shows that usage of FireFox 3 “more than doubled” following its launch in June of 2008, to 18.9 percent over a 3-day period from 7.8 percent at beta testing. (Track how IE 8 is doing on Statcounter web site.)
Now mind you, this is just going to be my opinion. First off, I don’t think Microsoft “owning the desktop” market has anything to do with the browser market. Yes, it does help in their favor but it is not a determining factor. So, let’s just assume the author meant “owning the browser” market. Okay, I can see this. Microsoft still owns a large part of the browser market despite decline over the years.
So, why has FireFox users adopted version 3 at a faster rate than Internet Explorer users adopting version 8? I believe the issue is with the way these two different companies provide updates. FireFox prompts all of its users to upgrade to the latest version that is out. The user can ignore it or upgrade. Either way, the user is shown there is an update to the product. Also, FireFox users, at least most of them, are a little more in-tune with the online world so even if they missed the upgrade prompt in the browser itself they will see online the newer version.
This is NOT the case with the average Internet Explorer user. Yes, the tech savvy or more in-tune online users who use Internet Explorer may have already upgraded but what about the rest of the users, the majority of the online world? I believe the fault lies in Windows Update. This tool could be so much more powerful and much more useful in distributing updated versions of Microsoft software to users. The problem is that WHEN Internet Explorer 8 is put up on it probably won’t be marked as a critical update and therefore won’t ever download for users. Yes, I understand that if you invoke Windows Update and manually look at the updates you may see it there BUT that is the problem right there. Most Windows users DO NOT MANUALLY UPDATE, in fact most do not even update at all. If they do get an update it is because Windows Update is scheduled to run at set times and will only grab critical updates for the user.
I believe Microsoft needs to re-work the Windows Update application to provide users with information of all critical security updates, all optional updates, and all software updates. Microsoft really needs to give the users a reason to use the Windows Update tool. For instance, combine Windows Update with Add/Remove programs. Make this application the one-stop place to install any microsoft product, remove installed applications, and at the same time show the users new products and newer versions. I believe when/if Micrsoft ever does this we’ll start to see a much faster adoption rate of products such as Internet Explorer 8 for all the average users out there.