IE back to losing share, Firefox gains a little, Chrome still surging

Emil

Posts: 152   +0

I used to do regular browser market share posts, and now that IE9, Firefox 4, and Chrome 10 are all out, I think it's a good time to start again. The second browser war is upon us.

Between February and March, Internet Explorer dropped 0.85 percentage points after gaining share the previous month. Firefox, meanwhile, edged forward a mere 0.06 percentage points. Chrome gained 0.64 percentage points, making it last month's biggest winner. Safari was up 0.25 percentage points and Opera didn't move at all.

At 55.92 percent, Internet Explorer has once again hit a new low. This latest drop comes despite the release of IE9. Speaking of which, IE9 last month captured a decent 1.04 percent. IE8 lost 0.54 percentage points, but it's still the world's most popular browser. IE7 fell 0.18 percentage points and IE6 fell 0.36 percentage points. We're hoping that IE6 will fall below the 10 percent mark in the next few months.

At 21.80 percent, Firefox is still below the peak it reached last year (24.72 percent). This month we will see how the new version affects the browser's overall market share. Speaking of which, Firefox 4 last month captured a decent 1.68 percent. Firefox 3.6 lost 0.64 percentage points and Firefox 3.5 lost 0.22 percentage points.

At 11.57 percent, Chrome has hit a new high. The browser's built-in updating system is working wonders for Google. Chrome 10 gained 6.38 percentage points last month. Chrome 9 fell 4.07 percentage points. Chrome 8 dropped 1.86 percentage points. The result is that Chrome 10, the latest stable version, already has the largest market share for Chrome.

The data is courtesy of Net Applications. For next month, I'll try to get data from TechSpot itself as well.

Permalink to story.

 
CHROME IS A BEAST OF SPEED!!!! I love Firefox..but I cant live without Chrome..~smile~
 
Chrome may be a beast of speed.... but if it crashes on me one more time, I am looking for an alternative. Chrome cant seem to keep up multiple browsers with flash running. Granted I havent experienced the same thing with other browsers, I am getting frustrated and will find out if other browsers have this same issue.
 
Guest said:
CHROME IS A BEAST OF SPEED!!!! I love Firefox..but I cant live without Chrome..~smile~

Too bad that to be the best browser you don't have to be the fastest.
 
There is something wrong with the firefox market share graphic. It shows firefox twice, and IE's 55% is less then 50% of the pie.
 
I find that I almost exclusively use Chrome nowadays. Yes it is feature limited but is surefooted and fast. A lot less frustration than IE Explorer.
 
The 2nd pie chart as two firefox wedges, and IE as 55%, but clearly less than half of the graph.
 
trillionsin said:
Chrome may be a beast of speed.... but if it crashes on me one more time, I am looking for an alternative. Chrome cant seem to keep up multiple browsers with flash running. Granted I havent experienced the same thing with other browsers, I am getting frustrated and will find out if other browsers have this same issue.
on my desktop, chrome never crashes.
on my laptop, chrome crashes when i am running multiple tabs with flash, like you said.
on my laptop, when FF crashes it brings my computer down with it
 
there is nothing wrong having all 3 of them installed on your computer. when one is 'busy', i will use the other. usually when someone borrow my computer and leaves their tabs open... but my primary browser is still FF4.
 
I never had Firefox crash on any computer unless allowing addons that are not approved for this version. What hardware are you using? I use mainly Toshiba and Asus, and do LOTS of browsing - hours of different sites.
 
For me personally, Chrome is the fastest and has never crashed on me which is impressive. I downloaded IE9 and its pretty nicebut Chrome is still better. I use to use Safari, and still have it installed but wow it was bad as it will crash every other time I use it and the speed is half of chrome. I think firefox has gained alot of support with business because even my college has firefox on all their computers, although I don't use it because it's so slow on them. Firefox is a good browser but not better than Chome in my opinion, Iv downloaded them all even Opera, and Chrome takes the Gold.
 
I used to be a Firefox fan but to me Chrome is the fastest browser hands down.I use 5-10 tabs all the time and the multicore CPU's seem to perform well used by Chrome browser since each tab utilizes another chrome.exe process making it better for multicore machines.

Intel i7 920 6GB RAM
Asus P6T
 
Zecias, many instances of Firefox crashes are related to bad add-ons and plugins. I turned off the plugins I didn't need and my RAM usage dropped 200 MB. It is surprising how many applications manage to install a part of themselves into Firefox.
 
Same, felt compelled to stay with FF but it was just nostalgia holding me back, the later versions of Chrome really do rock. Wish Google new how to make a decent browser for their Android OS : (
 
I'm running IE8 without problems except it is a memory hog and I feel it slows sometimes. I tried IE9 (not beta) and Chrome and both crash alot alot alot. So, I'll stay with IE8 until IE9 or Chrome get fixed.
 
There will always be someone fighting for Firefox/IE/Safari/Opera claiming how Chrome's ductility is so low, how it crashes so much and how it takes so much memory. Well, here's what I think:

1) If you think the best browser is the one that has the greatest level of customizablity - use Firefox.

2) I suppose the "stable" versions of Chrome crash more often than the beta/dev versions then, since the last time Chrome (dev channel) actually crashed for me was like 2 months ago. Otherwise it seems to be the more "experienced" you are the less it crashes. But if you don't like the crashing that has begun with the latest version of whatever browser you are using (a good example is this guy above me) then the stupidest thing you can do is to keep using the old one.

While the new browser releases mostly just bring new features and improvements they also fix critical bugs and security risks noted in the previous release. So if eg. IE 9 is crashy (which I doubt, despite having used it only for testing) then for chrissake at least _don't_ keep using IE 8. Just go find another browser - it will always be a better solution than using software that has more security holes than Swiss cheese.

3) If you don't like the fact that Chrome takes so much memory, either use the "--single-process" flag or use something like Safari, which takes like 11M RAM.

Browsers are concentrating on a little different stuff anyway, so the "best" browser depends on what _you_ like. Chrome's aim is mostly on its performance and that is exactly why I use it. Performance is being invested in all the other major browsers too but I suppose IE's aim is mostly on its GPU acceleration and viewing web sites correctly, Opera beginning to put more efforts on the GUI than the 'web site correctiness' it has since day one, with Firefox being pretty much the same - including GPU acceleration work. Safari I'm not too sure about.
 
great article, good to see competition and awareness in the market. People getting around to using browsers other than IE. Personally I am a Firefox fan :)
 
Ya that Chrome .00000000001 second speed advantage over Firefox is sooooo worth it. i think people who see any difference between the browsers anymore must have crappy computers. They all seem the same to me..but Firefox is the best due to customizations. If IE would allow ad ons it would actually gain market share...keeping things tired down only hurts it. I tell everyone I know....don't surf the net without Firefox and adblock plus unless you like viruses. Plus I think this info might not be current..FIrefox 4 had over 54million downloads since release......wow!
 
CHROME all the way for me.
Everytime i try a different one I immediately come back to Chrome
 
If your browser has to load ads, flash, etc. from other sites = slowdown
If your browser uses too many plugins = slowdown
If your internet connection is not optimal = slowdown
If your operating system is not running optimally = slowdown
If one of the servers from point A to point B is not optimal = slowdown

Use the browser you like and forget all this "fastest browser crap". There are too many variables.
 
zecias said:
trillionsin said:
Chrome may be a beast of speed.... but if it crashes on me one more time, I am looking for an alternative. Chrome cant seem to keep up multiple browsers with flash running. Granted I havent experienced the same thing with other browsers, I am getting frustrated and will find out if other browsers have this same issue.
on my desktop, chrome never crashes.
on my laptop, chrome crashes when i am running multiple tabs with flash, like you said.
on my laptop, when FF crashes it brings my computer down with it

...and I was considering going to FF. Hope I dont get the same issue... thanks.
 
Do not believe these fictional Research! Try ChromePlus 1.6.0.0 browser and you will see that truth is another!
 
what that fuss about speed? does it really matter if a page draws in 0.01 sec or in 0.001 sec? Download speed and dns lookup speed don't depend on browser at all.
 
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