Chrome Beats Internet Explorer On Any Given Sunday

tsamsoniw writes "Over the past three weeks, Chrome has beaten out Internet Explorer as the No. 1 browser in the world — but only on Sundays. In fact, according to data from StatCounter, Chrome usage is higher on weekends than it is during the work week, whereas IE usage drops on Saturdays and Sundays. Evidently, end-users prefer Chrome at home, which might be helping the browser get a foothold at work." (So apparently it's not just a freak occurrence.)

Chrome vs IE

[Johnny Mister]

There's a simple reason for this. Google has been heavily pushing Chrome to end-users via advertisements, their search engine, YouTube, and by making deals with computer manufacturers and software authors (adware) by paying them to spread Chrome. On workplaces this tactic doesn't really work as individual workers are often unable to install adware and other malware on their computers as IT knows what they are doing and have restricted that. It is quite similar to why most spam is sent from home computers - users don't know how to secure and maintain their systems.

Re:Chrome vs IE

[The MAZZTer]

Not bad considering Microsoft pushes IE to end-users via it being pre-installed on their operating system...

Re:Chrome vs IE

[Anonymous Coward]

IE may be "cheapest" until you realize that Chrome makes the computer seem so much faster that you can skip an upgrade cycle. IE is dog slow, so are Firefox and Safari.

Inflated Chrome stats because of page prerendering

[Giorgio Maone]

Does StatCounter take in account Chrome's page views inflation [google.com] caused by its Instant Pages [blogspot.it] prerendering feature?

I'd be surprised, since even Google Analytics itself is affected...

Anyway, please be careful before announcing "Chrome usage surpassed this or that" :P

Re:Chrome vs IE

[Anonymous Coward]

I maintain several internal websites for a parent company and it's 9 child companies, and somehow I seem to manage to test for at least IE7,IE8,IE9, Chrome, Safari, Firefox. I just consider that good practice for the industry that I am in, and as a web application developer. 99.9% of the fixes I have to do are for IE not the other browsers. Our company is pretty standardized on IE, but I still take pride in my code working in all browsers, it might take some upfront work, but every site I have kept that standard with has been easier to migrate forward. Example, back when IE6 was the standard that's what most in out company coded for, I coded mine for IE6, and Firefox, and as IE7 came out I started testing against that (even though the company wasn't looking to move to IE7) when the company changed to IE8 as the standard all the other web devs were scrambling and banging their heads on desks, and I have maybe 20 minutes worth of changes across many sites. some of the other IE6 sites still won't work properly. so in the end I saved myself time and headache, and saved the company money by not just coding for IE... I suggest all web devs do the same if they have any pride in their work.

Have you considered Chrome is just 'better'?

[goldcd]

I know why I originally switched from FF/IE (work) - Chrome was noticeably faster. Not in some "I've checked the benchmarks" kind of way, in the "I've installed it and this is clearly faster and more pleasurable to use."
After the initial speed thing, it was the UI that's kept me. Dragging tabs to windows, pinning tabs, scrolling tabs, bookmark sync, add-on/app sync, background update etc etc. Also simply installing Chrome on a new machine, simply giving it my google login and the Chrome that appears on the new desktop immediately resembling the version on my home machine.
Reading through the above, it's probably the background update that was the killer bit. I genuinely have no idea what version of Chrome I'm currently running. I installed it years ago and it's just been there ever since. My entirely subjective opinion is that the features and improvements silently appear before I ever even realized I need them - so I remain 'happy' and 'content' (and would have to see some utterly novel, ground-breaking feature advertised on another browser to even bother to download it)
By auto-update I don't mean like thunderbird or itunes, where an attempt to launch it suddenly triggers update popups, delays and release notes. I mean I don't even know it's happened. If this approach could just be extended to OS, drivers as well as apps, I'd be happy as Larry.

Re:Chrome vs IE

[Haedrian]

Beat me too it. I'm still using Firefox 4, but it's ridiculous I can't run it on a 1/3rd gig laptop without having to reboot firefox every hour (memory leak). .

So you're complaining that an old version has a bug which they fixed in the future?

Update.