Microsoft is bleeding web browser users, data shows

Shawn Knight

Posts: 15,240   +192
Staff member

Microsoft’s most recent hardware offerings may be the talk of the town but things aren’t quite as peachy on the software side according to NetMarketShare.

A quick look at the market share analytics firm’s desktop web browser trends must be quite alarming if you're Microsoft. Dating back to at least last December, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has been ceding users at a steady (and rapid) pace.

Digging in deeper, we see that Internet Explorer held 46.32 percent of the desktop browser market in December 2015. As of this past October, that figure has almost exactly been cut in half, down to just 23.13 percent.

With Microsoft’s Edge only gaining a 2.47 percent share over the past year and Firefox and Safari more or less remaining flat, where exactly are all of Internet Explorer’s former users going? Over to Google’s Chrome browser.

During the same span, Chrome’s market share went from 32.33 percent all the way up to 54.99 percent. That’s a mighty impressive 70.09 percent uptick. Microsoft’s combined market share (Internet Explorer + Edge) sits at 28.39 percent as of October.

It’s hard to put actual user figures behind the percentages but Computerworld has taken a stab at it. Using NetMarketShare’s data for browser and operating system user share in addition to Microsoft’s claim that roughly 1.5 billion PCs worldwide run Windows, the publication estimates that IE and Edge have lost around 331 million users since the beginning of 2016.

As always, keep in mind that these are market share estimates from a single analytics firm so take them with a grain of salt.

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Firefox is my primary browser, but sometimes I use Chrome if I need to. Microsoft can take their new "Edge" and got jump off a cliff.
 
I'm kind of offended the way Microsoft has been trying for force Edge on everyone, if I can go so far as to use that word without receiving backlash, lol. But, when I switch it from default it says something like, "Are you sure you want to do this without trying Edge first?" I'm like b*tch windows stfu and do what I want.
 
Web developers help it along big time, pushing the unified V8 engine (Chrome + Node.js) wherever possible. This unification benefits everyone.
 
I am probably one of the only regular readers of tech sites who actually liked IE. But when I "upgraded" to Windows 10, my IE11 got so slow as to be unusable. I tried Edge for a while, but it would crash and lock up the PC at least once per evening, and it was too stripped down. I finally started using Firefox again, and my wife uses Chrome on the same desktop.

I have since done a clean install of 10, and IE11 goes much faster, and I know they finally added extension support to Edge, but I don't feel any compelling need to go back.
 
I'm kind of offended the way Microsoft has been trying for force Edge on everyone, if I can go so far as to use that word without receiving backlash, lol. But, when I switch it from default it says something like, "Are you sure you want to do this without trying Edge first?" I'm like b*tch windows stfu and do what I want.

really? offended? so MS really wants you to use and like their product, and you get offended?
Apple can go around making mice with one button, remove optical drives, sd card readers, usb ports, and 3.5 jacks and we are all just so happy? oh, and what about when they dropped the powerpc thing and left people in the lurch? that was cool too.
 
I started having a lot of problems with Google on Windows 10. viruses, bugs...

I use TORCH browser.

I prefer it.

Works like google, but lets you download video clips. The Flash never has a problem like Google's does. Chromium barely works.

All that said: it's a damn shame Edge and Explorer don't work on Microsoft's own OS.
I had to stop using Edge because I was loosing all my chess matches. The 3 minute time kept timing out and I kpt loosing and couldn't figure it out. I use Torch - no problem...
 
I'm kind of offended the way Microsoft has been trying for force Edge on everyone, if I can go so far as to use that word without receiving backlash, lol. But, when I switch it from default it says something like, "Are you sure you want to do this without trying Edge first?" I'm like b*tch windows stfu and do what I want.

really? offended? so MS really wants you to use and like their product, and you get offended?
Apple can go around making mice with one button, remove optical drives, sd card readers, usb ports, and 3.5 jacks and we are all just so happy? oh, and what about when they dropped the powerpc thing and left people in the lurch? that was cool too.

Let's try to stay on topic here, were aren't talking about Apple.

He was referring to be forced into Microsoft's Edge, which is the default browser on windows 10. Microsoft has been on a tear lately forcing customers instead of asking them.
 
Used Opera once I got my own computer in 2005. Switched to Chrome a few years later.
 
really? offended? so MS really wants you to use and like their product, and you get offended?
Apple can go around making mice with one button, remove optical drives, sd card readers, usb ports, and 3.5 jacks and we are all just so happy? oh, and what about when they dropped the powerpc thing and left people in the lurch? that was cool too.

lol I just knew I'd get a post like this in reply to that. lmfao
 
Edge is good enough for me, as far as I'm aware it is the only browser that lets me cast web content directly to my tv, no hardware required.
 
I'm kind of offended the way Microsoft has been trying for force Edge on everyone, if I can go so far as to use that word without receiving backlash, lol. But, when I switch it from default it says something like, "Are you sure you want to do this without trying Edge first?" I'm like b*tch windows stfu and do what I want.
I'm monumentally offended by the way M$ is trying to force everything Windows 10 down everyone's throat.

As near as I can determine, trying to run this Windows 10 sh!t. is like trying to argue with the HAL 9000:

 
I think many web developers who remember the bad old days of "If running IE5-7 then use 1,001 browser specific detection fixes to avoid making it look wrong" will not shed a tear. Not to mention nervous-twitch inducing memories of "ActiveX". All the time IE was coasting with +80% of the market, Microsoft really didn't care about web standards, render issues or failed Acid tests. Cross platform compatibility? How "quaint"...

As for users ditching it en masse today, part of that is down to Microsoft being 2-3 years behind everyone else in figuring out no-one wants platform-locked software when they have multiple devices that span multiple platforms (Edge = Windows 10 only, Firefox / Chrome = Windows (all versions) + 1.4bn Android devices). They gambled on both Windows phone taking off and Win 10 being universally adopted, and since the first flopped (and 2nd half-flopped), using IE / Edge has ended up like buying a new set of luggage that refuse to work with 4/5ths of the world's airports...
 
I'm kind of offended the way Microsoft has been trying for force Edge on everyone, if I can go so far as to use that word without receiving backlash, lol. But, when I switch it from default it says something like, "Are you sure you want to do this without trying Edge first?" I'm like b*tch windows stfu and do what I want.

Ah, so you weren't forced to keep using Edge, since you were able to switch your default browser.

And at least it just asked you the one time. Most of the other browsers -- Chrome, Firefox, etc. -- will keep pestering you if you don't set them as the default unless you remember to check the box to quit asking. Not to mention that it's good when an app asks you if you want to deselect it as the default...or asks if you really want to uninstall it before doing so...or asks you if you want to change file associations when installing it.
 
IE/EDGE lost our trust a long time ago. If you're gonna give us a slow crappy browser for so long don't expect users to come back after they get used to using good browsers like Chrome and Firefox for years.
 
Firefox is my primary browser, but sometimes I use Chrome if I need to. Microsoft can take their new "Edge" and got jump off a cliff.
I think that serving both edge and IE together was not a good move. Edge feels so different for being the "successor". Chrome is winning the race since it bundles the explorer with every service it provides "It will be faster on chrome" or even "auto-updates". My main explorer is Firefox at home but do use all of them and even edge every now and then.
 
Haha, now I get why Edge pops up these little notifications when I run Chrome once in a while, basically advertising / begging me to try Edge instead. It's so... "pathetic" I guess is the best word for it. Well, that and "irritating" maybe. I just don't need MS chiming in every time I choose to use a browser that isn't theirs.

Funny thing is, I use Edge occasionally. And I find it works better than Chrome on my media PC that has slower processors and a very small memory capacity.
 
I am using Waterfox and have absolutely no reason to switch. Once in a great while, I get some page that does not render properly in Waterfox, and then I'll use the IETab plugin for the most part.

I would not be surprised if someone discovers that Edge keeps way more data on its users than M$ currently admits and that that is the primary reason that M$ want everyone to use it since they can then sell the data in some format to advertisers or otherwise make money out of it.

I also rarely use Gagme, and therefore have little to no reason to use Chrome. My bet is that even though gagme gives the impression that Chrome does not spy on people, it really does for the same reasons that I gave for M$. Sorry, but I just do not trust gagme.
 
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