Microsoft touts 2.35 million IE9 downloads in first 24 hours

By Adam Rosenberg March 17, 2011

Microsoft dropped the latest update to its veteran web browser on Monday night with the release of Internet Explorer 9. While the application continues to be a market leader, its dominance has slipped a little in recent years due to the popularity of Mozilla’s Firefox and Google’s Chrome alternatives. As expected however, users still flocked to download the software update and Microsoft is pretty pleased with the results.

IE9 saw 2.35 million downloads in its first 24 hours of availability, Microsoft reveals on The Windows Blog. The number shakes out to roughly 27 downloads every second, or roughly 240 every 9 seconds. See, they gave the “9 seconds” statistic because it’s IE9 we’re talking about. Ah ha!

Related Videos

While 2.35 million is certainly impressive, it doesn’t even come close to the world record. In 2008, Mozilla’s release of Firefox 3 got more than 8 million downloads in its first 24 hours, gaining an official entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for that achievement. Despite the big Mozilla success several years back, the Microsoft browser continues to sit at the top of the heap in terms of its usage stats.

Web tracking site StatCounter lists usage of IE at 45.44 percent of the market as of February 2011, down from where it was exactly one year earlier at 54.5 percent. Mozilla, which releases its Firefox 4 next Tuesday, has held pretty steady, dipping only slightly from 31.82 percent in February 2010 to the current figure of 30.37 percent.

Google’s Chrome is the one that both of the top competitors should be wary of. The browser launched in late 2008 and it currently holds 16.54 percent of the market. While the figure might not seem impressive at first glance, it is more than double the 6.72 percent figure that Chrome was at exactly one year earlier and exponentially higher than the February 2009 figure of 1.52 percent. If the Google browser continues at this pace, the three-way stat race is going to be a much tighter one by this time next year.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Computing

Chrome 13 launches with Instant Pages and Print Preview

the google smartbook is already destined to fail chrome

With today's launch of Chrome 13, Google brings three new, major features to the popular Web browser as well as over 5,200 small improvements and bug fixes. The major addition to the new version of Chrome ties directly into Google search and is called Instant Pages. The feature takes educated guesses on the links that it believes the user will click after searching for a keyword in Google. Over the period of time that it takes the user to choose and click the link, Google Chrome pre-renders the page and loading times are reduced dramatically. This feature is very similar to pre-fetching that occurs in Mozilla Firefox, but takes the process a step further by loading style sheets and images as well.
Web developers can also direct Chrome to the assets that should be pre-loaded with a bit of customization. Users of Chrome have the option of turning off the Instant Pages feature within the settings page, but it's unlikely that the majority of users will turn their back to speed improvements. Another major feature added to Chrome today is a preview feature for printing. However, this feature has been available on other browsers for many years. Print preview is currently available to Linux and Windows users with Mac support in the works. The final major feature is an improved version of the address bar. When typing in a search keyword or Web address, the pop-up results in the drop-down menu should be more accurate for users.
There were also 30 security vulnerabilities patched today, nine of which were ranked high on Google's priority list. Google uses crowd sourcing for locating and terminating the security holes. They paid out $17,000 to people that reported the most severe problems. One user using the alias "miaubiz" has made over $22,000 since January 1 for reporting Chrome issues. For Chrome users interesting in upgrading today, click on the wrench icon in Google Chrome and select "About Google Chrome" in the drop-down menu. Chrome automatically downloads and installs the new version.

Computing

Google Chrome overtakes Firefox in UK browser market

google plus enhanced five must have chrome extensions

Move over Firefox, Google Chrome is now the second most popular web browser in the U.K.

According to web metrics firm Statcounter, Chrome became the favored browser on 22 percent of U.K. computers last month, edging out Mozilla's Firefox for the second-place spot in the browser hierarchy. As is the norm in most countries, Microsoft's Internet Explorer remained the top-rated U.K. browser with 45 percent of the market share — though its hold on the market is loosening, reported the firm.

Computing

Internet Explorer users have lowest IQ of all web surfers, study shows [updated]

internet-explorer-microderp-iq-2

Update: This so-called study was found to be a hoax by the BBC. Please, disregard.
Original text: A newly released study has found that users of Microsoft's line of Internet Explorer browsers have the lowest IQs, on average, than people who regularly use other web browsers. Conversely, Opera users have the highest average IQ.
The study (PDF) comes via Vancouver-based "psychometric consulting company" AptiQuant, who tested 101,326 people, from English-speaking countries, over the course of four weeks, using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale to determine their intellectual prowess.
"Because cognitive scores are related to tech-savviness," the researchers write in the study, "we hypothesized that the choice of web browser is related to cognitive ability of an individual."
While the study is not on par with, say, a scientific paper, and IQ is hardly the only factor in determining a person's full intellect, the report certainly does a lot to make non-IE users feel good about themselves.

Perched at the pinnacle of brainpower are users of Opera, who scored an average IQ of 126.5. Mozilla's Mac-specific browser, Camino, came in a close second, with a score of 124.4. As you might expect, the most widely used browsers fell somewhere in the middle: Safari users scored a 113.5; Chrome, 111.2; and Firefox, 108.7.
Crowded at the bottom of the brain heap are users of Internet Explorer. Of those, users of IE 9 had the best score, about an 87. And it just goes down hill from there, with each previous version's users scoring worse and worse. The plunge ends with IE 6 users, who scored about an 82.
"From the test results, it is a clear indication that individuals on the lower side of the IQ scale tend to resist a change/upgrade of their browsers," AptiQuant writes. The company also says that this information should add another nail to the coffin of the Internet Explorer line.
"It is common knowledge, that Internet Explorer Versions to 6.0 to 8.0 are highly incompatible with modern web standards," the company writes. "In order to make websites work properly on these browsers, web developers have to spend a lot of unnecessary effort.... Now that we have a statistical pattern on the continuous usage of incompatible browsers, better steps can be taken to eradicate this nuisance."