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Internet Explorer 9 downloaded 2.3 million times in first day; Firefox 3 managed 8 million!
Internet Explorer 9, in its first 24 hours of availability, has racked up a grand total of 2.3 million downloads. An impressive number, until you compare it to the latest major releases from Mozilla: Firefox 3.5 was downloaded 5 million times in 24 hours -- and Firefox 3, back in 2008, holds the world record for any piece of software with over 8 million downloads in one day.Of course it isn't an entirely fair comparison. The Internet is a different place today than it was back in 2008. For a start, Google Chrome burst onto the scene and has diluted IE's market share ever since. Then there's the fact that browsers are generally a lot better in 2011 than 2008. When Firefox 3 came out, the only other option was Internet Explorer 7! In contrast, Firefox 3.6, Internet Explorer 8 and Chrome are all good browsers -- in short, there's no compelling reason to upgrade to IE9.
More importantly, let's not forget that the Internet has grown massively in the last three years, gathering hundreds of millions of new users -- and all of those users need Web browsers! It's rather surprising, given the huge target audience, to see Internet Explorer 9 quite so far behind Firefox 3, and even Firefox 3.5. It's not like Microsoft hasn't spent an awful lot on marketing its new browser, and IE9 has received plenty of attention from the tech world, too.
Ultimately, I think, it comes down to the grass roots nature of the open source movement, and the zealous loyalty of Firefox users. Six years ago, millions of people celebrated the release of Firefox 1.0 with launch parties -- including me! -- but no matter how hard Microsoft encourages us to embrace the beauty of the web, I don't think any release of Internet Explorer will ever inspire people to gather in a bar and drink to the long and healthy life of the World Wide Web.
Comments
24
Subscribe to commentsFredMar 16th 2011 5:04PM
I think there is a significant reason to upgrade; security.
IE9 is much more secure than 8, and being an integrated component of the OS, I think that keeping it as up to date is extremely important.
That being said, w/o a built in spell check and no real addons means that my internet browsing experience will not be affected by upgrading or not.
NeoprimalMar 16th 2011 5:34PM
@Fred
I think he means there's no compelling reason to upgrade, with options like Chrome and FF out there, and while I don't think IE is anywhere close to as integrated into Windows 7 as for example, IE6 was integrated into Windows XP, I do agree that it's good to keep it updated, if only for the fact that it is integrated into WMP and the Office Suite as their browser engine of choice, no matter the default set on your PC.
It's definitely a welcome upgrade for people using IE as their main browser but for those of us on Chrome and FF, I am with Anthony - there's no dire need to upgrade from IE8.
Of course, I'm sure sooner or later it will become a critical update in Windows Update making that point moot.
APVMar 16th 2011 5:37PM
@Fred
I love IE9 too, my one big problem is the spell check... It's fast though, and looks very nice.
Sebastian AnthonyMar 16th 2011 7:42PM
@Fred Yeah, sorry, it seems a few people found my 'compelling' wording a bit vague. Neoprimal's reading of it is correct :)
FredMar 16th 2011 5:45PM
@Neoprimal True. Though i have to say that IE9 has replaced FF4 as my backup. FF takes so long to boot it's silly. IE 9 is almost as fast as Chrome on my M11x.
ChrisSskMar 16th 2011 5:58PM
You dont have to go back to 2008 to compare downloads. Opera with a tiny market share compared to IE managed to get 6.7 million download on the first day of Opera 11, 3-4 months ago.
I think this is another indicator that "tech savvy" users that like to have the latest technology have already moved on from IE.
ipodiousMar 16th 2011 8:38PM
@ChrisSsk
I think Opera only got that many downloads because of bacon.
JoeADMar 16th 2011 6:22PM
IE8 a good browser?
Hahahaha!! Literally LOL-ing my ass off.
Luis MatosoMar 16th 2011 6:25PM
Well, do launch parties for a browser it´s good for someone with nothing more to do in your life. Stupid i think. I do like IE9 much more than Chrome. More clean, faster and why not beautiful.
LarsMar 16th 2011 6:29PM
"When Firefox 3 came out, the only other option was Internet Explorer 7!"
Opera?
Sebastian AnthonyMar 16th 2011 6:36PM
@Lars Op...era? It rings a bell but...
KaushikMar 17th 2011 2:07AM
@Lars
I came here to post this but you beat me to it. I get annoyed how people continue to ignore Opera, even "educated" ones.
alarmproMar 16th 2011 6:57PM
The only reason I upgraded was for security purposes. I don't use IE.
XenoMar 16th 2011 6:58PM
wellity, wellity, wellity, looks like old man Internet Explore is getting pushed out the game. I Wonder how Firefox 4 will do on its first day.
'the zealous loyalty of Firefox users' - I'm in there some place! I've given all the top 5 web browsers a go and of course they are all very exceptional and highly capable, but ... they just weren't ♥ Firefox, you know.
Which makes me wonder just why it is that certain people tend to gravitate toward certain browsers.
Do you guys remember the days before 'tabbed browsing', OMG, hahaha! - You had to open a new window for ever single new deviating search path you wanted to make! nah, we can't go back to that.
pedrojoperMar 16th 2011 8:27PM
@Xeno
Opera brought tabbed browsing into the game in 2000. It took IE 6 years after that to do the same! I downloaded IE9 the on its first day but will keep using Opera for the foreseeable future, it has tons of features I'm not willing to lose!
jrsextonMar 18th 2011 2:18PM
@Xeno Lets not forget that IE still has the largest market share and it is the browser of necessity in the corporate world. I personally prefer Chrome, but until either Microsoft makes its other apps (Sharepoint for ex) play nice with Chrome and FF or they play nice with MS Apps, IE will always have the upper hand.
daveMar 16th 2011 8:16PM
Are you sure that it's not down to the fact you can't install it on XP ;)
XenoMar 17th 2011 10:19AM
@pedrojoper - @pedrojoper - 'Opera brought tabbed browsing into the game in 2000. It took IE 6 years' - hahahahaha, don't make me laugh. But I'm sure back then--paying costumers got the finest of things.
Everyone who has been using the internet for a least a decade, know how much of a pain Internet Explorer was.
Back in the day, I would keep Internet Explorer in reserve in the even that something serious happened to my main browser.
Back then if you only had IE and you some how lost it--how the hell would you get online! But now that times have changed; web browsers are so advanced that we don't even need to depend on IE anymore.
DMAN1092Mar 16th 2011 9:10PM
I have used all of them and like others have said, they each have their own strengths and weaknesses. I recently started using Chrome and liked it because it is fast. I didn't originally like the layout of Chrome but it grew on me.
I am sure that Firefox will beat IE for downloads. I use Firefox and I guess I just don't see what makes it so great over other browsers (I know I am going to take a beating for that). It has crashed on me just as much as IE or Opera. It doesn't really appear to be that much faster either.
I do have to agree with Dave that maybe it didn't get as many as Firefox is because it is limited to Vista and Windows 7. Lets face it, XP was a good OS but, it has lived it's life and it's time to let it go.
XenoMar 18th 2011 4:11AM
@DMAN1092 - I agree, with the part in your comment regarding Windows XP's hayday - its more than about time that people should have gotten off of XP and onto something more up to date because that OS is ancient!