Firefox usage finally tops Internet Explorer - Good or bad?

[gabrielcrowe]

http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser_v...-200827-200951

Really, i dont know from a security standpoint if its good... I'v been annoyed at Microsofts arrogance in the browser market for some years now, but is this really a good thing?

[edit]
To stop from making a fool of myself i must point out that this is only for VERSIONS of Internet Explorer. Firefox 3.5 only tops the individial versions of IE. Not ALL versions. Internet Explorer (all versions of it) still dominate the market.

[Mike Hughes]

Ha, yes. Just a matter of timing though.

It looks as if firefox 3.0 users upgraded faster to 3.5 than IE7 users to IE8. As more IE7 users upgrade to IE8 that will change back in MS's favour again.

The funny thing is that if Firefox had stuck with 3.0 for a few more weeks they would have been the most used browser 4-5 months ago.

Overall as you say, MS still dominate:

Firefox 3.5: 22%
Firefox 3.0: 9%
Total: 31%

IE8: 20%
IE7: 21%
IE6: 14%
Total: 55%

Mike

[CymraegKev]

Seriously? I'm not sure about those stats. I've got over 50 sites running and FF, on average, accounts for around 8% of usage (top one is 13.4%). iPhone & Android interestingly is going up. IE is still around 80% though. Chrome is around 3% now up from around 1% six months ago.

I still don't know any "non-IT" people who use anything other than IE so I can't see the percentages changing that much to be honest either.

[Mike Hughes]

I have to admit the Firfox figures did surprise me, but then I tend to stick with what works so didn't consider myself representative.

My own stats are more like Kevin's:

Version
34.60% MSIE 7.0
33.40% MSIE 8.0
13.40% MSIE 6.0
9.80% Firefox 3.5.6
4.00% Chrome 0.2
3.60% Firefox 3.0.1
0.40% Safari 4.0.3
0.40% Safari 4.0.4
0.20% Firefox 3.5.5
0.20% Firefox xSP_2

giving

IE: 80%
Firefox: 12%
Others: 8%

I guess this means that statcounter, the source of the stats, tends to be used more on IT type websites.

My own stats, also on statcounter so included in the global stats above, are probably biased towards older, IT lagards so most likely not typical either.

Mike

PS. The search engine stats are impressive for Google. http://gs.statcounter.com/#search_en...-200811-200912