IE 8 Is Top Browser, Google Chrome Is Rising Fast 319
Posted
by
kdawson
from the trend-is-your-friend dept.
from the trend-is-your-friend dept.
An anonymous reader points out that the latest Net Applications numbers show that MSIE 8 has become the world's most-used browser, taking over from IE6, which has been hit by the decline in the use of Windows XP. PCMag.com emphasizes another angle on the numbers, which is that Chrome is the fastest-growing browser. Firefox's market share has stalled just below 25%. Chrome is now in third place, ahead of Safari. The Guardian's article reminds: "There's no guarantee that NetApps' numbers are accurate, and they are very unlikely to be correct to two decimal places. However, they do appear to be a good indicator of market trends."
Re:Going by rendering engines... (Score:5, Informative)
To be pedantic since you're talking about Gecko and Webkit, the layout engine for Internet Explorer is called trident, and Opera's is Presto.
Re:I'm using Chrome (Score:2, Informative)
...and with the lack of features, the memory footprint isn't that much better than FF or Opera. Chrome is tricky though, every time you open a tab, Chrome creates a new process, so if you're not paying attention, it looks like Chrome has a smaller footprint than the other two.
Chrome isn't impressive at all. FF is still my champ.
Re:Who are these people? (Score:3, Informative)
Everybody where I work outside engineering uses IE. At the most firefox might be kind of a perversion they might dabble with one day if they want IT to know they are a rebel. I am sure that most big workplaces with big, professional IT departments will only use IE.
Re:Who are these people? (Score:2, Informative)
Most of that Miscellania will be Webkit (Score:3, Informative)
Since it will largely be mobile browsers from iPhones, Android, and Palm, which are all Webkit based.
This confirms what I said earlier ... (Score:1, Informative)
From TFA:
IE8 works just fine on Windows XP. There's no need to upgrade to Windows 7, which requires you to buy new hardware as well. It's all a big scam to boost sales.
This just confirms what I wrote in an earlier post:
-----
It's not up to Microsoft how Windows is installed on a computer delivered to an end-user. It's companies like Dell, HP and computer shops who actually install Windows.
They (Dell, HP and computer shops) need to learn to install Windows properly: ntfs, no automatic login to admin user, least-privileged account, install latest version of a web browser (whether it be IE8, or something else), etc, etc, etc.
And power-users don't use pre-installed OSes anyway, correct? So the main problem is with users who use computers with a pre-installed OS.
-----
I am so sick and tired of it that end-users are tricked into believing they need to buy a new computer with a new OS, just so they get a more secure internet experience.
Wake Up, people! Your current OS, if properly setup, maintained and used, will work just fine.
And here's some more food for thought: we should all be logged with a least-privileged account when using our computers. But the automatic update feature of most software requires you to be logged in as admin. If you're logged with a least-privileged account, the automatic update feature does not work and is disabled. Example: Firefox.
Which brings me to the conclusion that the automatic update feature is contradicting basic security recommendations and therefor sorta useless and that it's really up to the user to properly maintain and use their computer.
Well - I could just go on and on about this ... y'all get the point, I hope.
Re:the more prevalent it remains, the bigger the r (Score:3, Informative)
IE8 sucks. It particularly sucks on XP, but in general, in a slow, bloated pile of garbage. I've given up any hope that Microsoft has any capacity to build a browser that isn't pure unadulterated shit.
Re:I downloaded Chromium a few days ago (Score:5, Informative)
Strangely, now that I no longer browse Slashdot with Firefox, Firefox behaves significantly better than it has been. Apparently, one of the absolute worst sites for the overall performance of Firefox is this one.
Do a validation test on this page. I just got: 104 Errors, 2 warning(s)
*whew*
I'd get fucking FIRED if I put out that kind of crap at work.
Re:Going by rendering engines... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I downloaded Chromium a few days ago (Score:3, Informative)
I agree, Chromium is way, way faster than Firefox on /., and Opera is significantly slower than Firefox on /..
The ads/popups/etc on some sites make me want to shut down Chromium, whereas trying to browse Slashdot makes me want to shut down Opera.
Re:I downloaded Chromium a few days ago (Score:3, Informative)
Though I still really wish I had Ghostery and NoScript.
IMO there is no need for them with a good HTTP proxy like Privoxy [privoxy.org]. Add a bit of Incognito use and a good user.action file, and all is great. I made my own user.action file ages ago from the MVPs.org hosts file [mvps.org], and ever since the world has been good. It's here [rapidshare.de] if you are interested.
Re:Can someone please answer this? (Score:2, Informative)
If I remember the articles what you said is correct. There were accounts that were hacked through phishing and bugs in IE6. Actual attacks on google did not succeed and had nothing to do with IE6.
Re:Can someone please answer this? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Can someone please answer this? (Score:5, Informative)
It's also a pain to use. It BSODs on boot in KVM, you have to first boot it in another hypervisor, run mergeide, and then it'll run normally. Plus they expire every few months, so you get to do it all over again. Ultimately easier to just fly to bird to IE users.
Re:Going by rendering engines... (Score:5, Informative)
The reason I remember that engine is that, for ~1 year in 1999-2000, I had an Macintosh (bought it used, the new ones were horribly expensive here).
Well, my knee-jerk reaction was to use Netscape. But the machine ran OS 7.5 and had mere 16MB RAM, and Netscape was - really - slow and unstable (the usual result of software crashes in Macs, back then, was system reset).
Then I tried MSIE "Microsoft - yuck" for Mac. Well, not only it rendered the pages beatifully (it even did a perfect dithering job in order to simulate 24bit colors in a 15bit display), not only it was much faster but it was really stable.
That was the day I realised "man, there _are_ talented people working in Microsoft".
Also strange, it's the fact it was better than contemporary Windows' MSIE. For a couple of years I was puzzled why was that so, until I learned about the fact it used a different engine.
Well, better stopping here before getting beaten, accused of treason. I'm a Linux user, it seems I'm not supposed to say anything positive related to Microsoft.
Re:the more prevalent it remains, the bigger the r (Score:4, Informative)
You can use Webapps and that's pretty much it (although their enhanced with HTML5 local caching and such so they can be useful even in offline mode).
It's limited to me, but it would be more than enough for many of my relatives.
Re:I downloaded Chromium a few days ago (Score:3, Informative)
Because most of the threads are i/o threads. Low CPU usage, high latency, tend to be blocked on stuff. You don't want those operations on the same thread as your UI.
Most of the cpu-intensive stuff Firefox does (e.g. layout) does in fact happen on one single ui thread at the moment.
Re:I'm using Chrome (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Chrome (Score:2, Informative)
This is not a flattening curve.
IE below 50% at W3Counter (Score:3, Informative)
Yet another angle on it, is that all IE combined has been on a steady decline for a good while, now also in January.
Now for the FIRST TIME, w3counter puts IE below the 50%-line, which means that slightly over half of all users now actually DO run a more sensible browser.
In my mind, that's a sign of a fantastic, and unexpected awareness amongst computer users.
Re:Can someone please answer this? (Score:1, Informative)
MS has "free" ready-to-run virtual pc images for IE6 compatibility testing. No need to infest any real machines with it.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=21eabb90-958f-4b64-b5f1-73d0a413c8ef&DisplayLang=en
Re:Going by rendering engines... (Score:3, Informative)
A lot of folks don't remember it, or choose not to, but Internet Explorer 5 was once the best browser you could get and 6 was better still. The period between netscape 4.9 and a functional Mozilla build(let alone the rise of firefox among the great unwashed) was a long and dark one though, and Microsoft got complacent and let it rot.
Re:I'm using Chrome (Score:1, Informative)
1e100.net is for checking for phishing/malware sites. You can turn off that feature if you desire.
http://superuser.com/questions/75841/what-is-1e100-net-and-why-do-i-have-tcp-ports-open-to-it
Re:I'm using Chrome (Score:1, Informative)
[rb@Aiur ~]$ whois 1e100.net
Whois Server Version 2.0
Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
Domain Name: 1E100.NET
Registrar: MARKMONITOR INC.
Whois Server: whois.markmonitor.com
Referral URL: http://www.markmonitor.com
Name Server: NS1.GOOGLE.COM
Name Server: NS2.GOOGLE.COM
Name Server: NS3.GOOGLE.COM
Name Server: NS4.GOOGLE.COM
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientRenewProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Status: serverDeleteProhibited
Status: serverRenewProhibited
Status: serverTransferProhibited
Status: serverUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 13-oct-2009
Creation Date: 25-sep-2009
Expiration Date: 25-sep-2019
>>> Last update of whois database: Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:57:48 UTC
NOTICE: The expiration date displayed in this record is the date the
registrar's sponsorship of the domain name registration in the registry is
currently set to expire. This date does not necessarily reflect the expiration
date of the domain name registrant's agreement with the sponsoring
registrar. Users may consult the sponsoring registrar's Whois database to
view the registrar's reported date of expiration for this registration.
TERMS OF USE: You are not authorized to access or query our Whois
database through the use of electronic processes that are high-volume and
automated except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or
modify existing registrations; the Data in VeriSign Global Registry
Services' ("VeriSign") Whois database is provided by VeriSign for
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for in
Re:Most of that Miscellania will be Webkit (Score:4, Informative)
iPhones, Androids, and Palms are trendy.. but they are still a minority.
Re:skinning the goat (Score:3, Informative)
Just to complete the picture after using the same Data presented in the article and summing up all internet explorers and all firfoxes we get
ie first column firefox the second chrome third and others fourth
as you can see in past months ie has steadly lost market share( lost 12 %) while firefox...has been..actually pretty steady.
Chrome is the biggest winner in past few months