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For the past few years, it looked like Microsoft's Internet Explorer was well on its way to being usurped by spunky fan favorites. Early on it was Mozilla's Firefox that presented the biggest threat to IE's reign in the browser market, but more recently it's been Google's shiny Chrome browser that appeared to be on its way to the top, perhaps taking the lead this year. But then a funny thing happened. IE's share started to rise while Chrome's has been eroding.
Overall IE usage is up for the second time this year, closing out March 2012 with a 53.83 percent of the browser market, according to data compiled by Net Applications. That's the highest it's been in six months, dating back to September 2011 when IE's share was 54.39 percent.
"With a gain of .99 percent last month and a net gain of 1.2 percent global usage share over the last five months, Internet Explorer has stabilized and even reversed its usage share declines of the last few years," Net Applications noted.
While IE has been slowly reasserting itself as the world's most popular browser, Chrome's share slipped for the third straight month. Chrome closed out March with an 18.57 percent share of the market, down from 18.9 percent in February and 18.94 percent in January. Google's browser has yet to post a gain in 2012.
Firefox, once the biggest threat to IE's browser dominance (and in terms of positioning, it still is), ended March with a 20.55 percent share of the market, down from 20.92 percent one month prior, and down from 22.75 percent from one year ago.
Which browser are you using these days?
Comments are closed on this article
jihnn
April 03, 2012 at 9:31am
WATERFOX for windows 64 bit....chrome not gonna use any google product since their security change and i actually like waterfox better
thematejka
April 03, 2012 at 5:31am
I am a fan of Chrome's overall simplicity and speed. It boots fast, looks clean (without having to add a theme), loads things fast, and the app market for Chrome is slowly widening to the point where I can get some of my favorite Firefox apps on Chrome now. I'm a personal fan of Google and their products that I use.
TechLarry
April 03, 2012 at 5:26am
I think there is some monkey business going on with the numbers.
IE sure as hell hasn't improved. From an interface standpoint, it's gotten worse.
Sadly, so has FireFox. It's rapid release nonsense has shattered reliability. If it weren't for extensions, I would have dropped FF months ago. I've been using FF for years and years now, and I'm about ready to give up on it.
KoiMaxx
April 02, 2012 at 10:16pm
I've pretty much stayed with FF for the longest time. On occasion I install any one of the other browsers just to have a feel for something different. I can't disagree with Chrome's performance, and I was pretty impressed how much IE10 (on Win8 CP) has improved, but eventually I still go back to Firefox. Maybe it's familiarity, and there are these little things I find I really like on Firefox that the other browsers haven't implemented. Not to say that it's been perfect, but for the kind of work (and recreation) I do, it's as close as it can get.
JoshThe3D
April 02, 2012 at 4:09pm
I have and I'm sure many others have thought that Internet explorer <8 have been pretty bad. I have used Firefox than Chrome and now IE9. IE9 is amazing. It's truly amazing. It is extremely fast, clean, beautiful and unique. I like it because it is nothing like any other browser. It's style is clean and modern. Thats something no other browser has without trying to install some theme that you have been searching hours for. The world is teck world is changing. People are in for more needs. IE9 covers your needs.
- Youtube.com/JoshTheCoder
- uJump! - Available on the App store now
- Josh
Gman3968
April 02, 2012 at 3:19pm
The browser still hogs too much memory, making navigation like old people make love, Slow and Sloppy. I just can't endorse a product that still is a piece of crap.
Baer
April 02, 2012 at 2:41pm
I don't trust Chrome and I do not want extra Google stuff on my computers. How much faster can it be anyway? Web pages open for me in under a second. I am one of those that went to FF, then tried Chrome and am now back using IE9
fry
April 02, 2012 at 2:22pm
Used Firefox forever, then went to Chrome for about a year, and now I'm back on Firefox. Haven't really used IE since v6.
ApathyCurve
April 02, 2012 at 10:11am
Beat me to it, major. Statistical trends in the browser market on any scale smaller than one year are meaningless blips. Having said that, I'm no fan of either IE or Chrome. Both are WAY too advertiser friendly for me, giving me no effective way to block annoying flashy-adds, interstitials, etc.
I realize MaxPC and others make their living from advertisers, but some are just too irritating to tolerate. I will not blanket block all ads from a site, but I will block the PC equivalent of the EXTREMELY LOUD television ad "featuring" a greasy-haired ambulance chaser who looks like a frustrated pedophile.
TommM
April 02, 2012 at 9:08am
I use Chrome at home and have to use IE at work. No matter how I tweak IE and fuss with it, I can't ever get it to work as well as Chrome.
Used to use Firefox, but about a year ago with one of their updates, the colors turned all garish. Very annoying and again, couldn't tone the coloring down without washing out videos/pictures on websites. Weird.
Zoandar
April 02, 2012 at 8:41am
Perhaps the numbers are affected by all those who ditched Firefox due to its loss of stability when they launched their inane "rabid update" project. (Not a typo).
digitaldoc77
April 02, 2012 at 7:11am
At work they recently "upgraded" from IE6 to IE7, so this includes all this usage. Firefox is still my favorite though.
chipmunkofdoom2
April 02, 2012 at 7:39am
Eeeh I dunno about that. If you look at the break down of the browser versions, it includes all IE versions in that total, meaning a user would jump from the IE6 stat to the IE7.. still counts under the same IE.
I do agree about Firefox though. I have never had good experiences with Chrome on my desktop(s)/laptop(s). I've always had some kind of freezing/performance issues that I've just never had with Firefox. Maybe it's just my configuration. I'm not knocking Chrome.. I just think people in the tech sector are sort of bandwagon-ers. As soon as something bigger, better, shinier and "faster" (I put that in quotes because regardless of speed reports, Firefox is still faster for me because it doesn't crash) comes along, they can't wait to try it and say it's the best thing ever.. probably just so they can brag that they're bleeding edge to family/friends/relatives/etc. Firefox works for me, so I'll keep using it. The day Chrome starts working better, I'll switch.
HeroOfCanton
April 02, 2012 at 12:29pm
You must be forgetting the dark days of FF4, when Chrome was much faster because FF was dog-slow and leaked memory like a sieve. Personally, I've never had any significant stability issues with Chrome. Maybe it was an extension/theme? Thankfully, the latest FF is on-par with Chrome speed-wise (I use both at work). I think FF's features and extensions work better for me, which is why I stick with it.
Supall
April 02, 2012 at 6:41am
Interesting. The browser wars are shaping up nicely. Microsoft is starting to push back by promoting IE9 via marketing and the one I see in theaters is definitely leaving an impression on me. Good for Microsoft to keep things competitive.
Now...if only all of the browsers managed to adopt one set of standards for HTML5/CSS3, we'd be all set...
majorsuave
April 02, 2012 at 6:19am
Wild guess: the spike in IE usage is due to the preview of Win 8 which might register access to any service as made with IE.
