Tech Strategy Trends » IE8

Putting the IE9 Launch Numbers in Perspective

Tony Bradley — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 15:38:54 +0000

Microsoft reports that Internet Explorer 9 was downloaded 2.35 million times in the first 24 hours following its official launch. That is almost 100,000 downloads per hour, or 27 downloads per second. It is impressive–but it is also only a quarter of the 8 million plus downloads of Firefox 3 on the first day it was available.

So, is IE9 only a quarter as successful as Firefox 3? No. Statistics are fun because they paint an entirely different picture when viewed through a different lens. So, let’s put the IE9 stats in perspective and see how it compares.

The Firefox browser is available for Windows…and Mac OS X…and Linux…and FreeBSD. Basically, Firefox is available to run on virtually all PCs in existence.

Contrast that with Internet Explorer 9. Internet Explorer has always been Windows-centric, meaning it is not available for platforms other than Windows. But, Internet Explorer 9 narrows the field even farther because it is only compatible with WIndows 7 and Windows Vista–not XP. That means that the audience for IE9 is restricted to only about one third of the PCs in the world.

If you try to draw an apples to apples comparison, you can take the 2.35 million IE9 downloads and multiply by 3 to make up for the difference in the number of potential PCs. Extrapolating the statistics–if IE9 had an equivalent audience, we can assume it would have had 7.05 million downloads.

Still quite impressive, but also still lagging behind the success of the Firefox 3 launch. And, odds are fair that the IE9 downloads are almost completely cannibalizing IE8 market share. To be fair, though, let’s give IE9 six months or so and then see how it compares against specific versions of Firefox or Chrome.

Countdown to the Death of IE6

Tony Bradley — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:33:15 +0000

Internet Explorer 6 was an awesome browser in it’s day. It helped establish Microsoft’s browser as the dominant leader among browsers, but it has outlived its usefulness. The time has come (actually the time already came a year or two ago) to kill IE6 once and for all.

The browser has been on a relatively steady decline, but nearly ten years following its initial launch it still holds the number three spot among browsers at 11 percent–even leading its successor IE7. The good news is that its share of the market has dropped from just under 18 percent just last April.

We are all rooting for the demise of IE6, and now we can monitor its progress into the grave. Microsoft has created The Internet Explorer 6 Countdown site, which tracks Internet Explorer 6 usage around the world (apparently China and South Korea are the major holdouts).

Check out the site. And, if you are one of those clinging to IE6–please download the IE9 RC, or at least upgrade to IE8.

Windows 7 Security: More Work to be Done

Tony Bradley — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 01:23:40 +0000

Microsoft’s Windows 7 is the most secure desktop operating system it has ever produced. Of course, why shouldn’t it be. It seems reasonable to expect that each new version of the operating system will build on the security features that work, address issues from its predecessor, and include new security innovations. Basically, it would be a huge failure if it wasn’t the most secure Windows yet.

Even with advances in security like ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) and DEP (Data Execution Prevention, the addition of BitLocker-to-Go encryption for portable USB drives, and the more secure Web browsing experience provided by Internet Explorer 8 (combined with UAC which enables Internet Explorer Protected Mode), there is still some work to be done if Microsoft is looking for ideas for Windows 8.

Security experts from nCircle and Sophos contribute their thoughts about what Windows 7 got right and what still has room for improvement–namely the Windows Firewall, XP Mode virtualization, and hiding known file extensions by default.