Internet Explorer and European Users at Odds
December 24, 2008
Update: December 25, 2008–You will want to read this useful analysis of Microsoft’s brower market share woes here. Wolfgang Gruener has done a good job in his article “How serious is the market share loss of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer?”
Original Post
PCWorld ran a story called “IE Loses European Market Share” here. Certain types of data interest me, and I fancy statistics that chart the ups and downs of certain software giants. Microsoft is fun to watch. It offers what I call the “ejecting executive game.” The idea is to count the number of executives who leave the company’s search and content processing units. Another interesting activity is watching the company’s share of the Web search market. The Microsoft Web search 8.3 percent market share is documented here. Ouch. I found the data about Internet Explorer’s market share even more interesting; to wit:
Microsoft’s browser dipped under 60% for the first time in August, rallied slightly in September, but then dipped below that bar again during October and November, said XiTi Monitor, a Web measurement site operated by Applied Technologies Internet of Merignac, France.
Why the slip? Internet Explorer lacks those nifty plug ins and the cachet which seems to surround Firefox. I use Firefox portable, and I am delighted with its speed. I find it intuitive. The weird focus changes in Internet Explorer drive me wild with the opportunity to retype certain strings.
Add up the declining share of the Web search market, toss in a few ejected execs, and the loss of Internet Explorer users in Europe. Ask yourself, “What’s this mean?” And let you mind conclude that Microsoft has trouble in the old country.
Stephen Arnold, December 24, 2008
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