Browser Statistics « The Bloom Media Blog

Web Browser Statistics

Posted by: Richard on Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Browser-Statistics Here are the current web browsing stats from sites using the W3Counter.

http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php

The highlights :

Operating Systems

At 60.55%, Windows XP is still three nearly 3 times more popular than Vista
OSX sits at 7.11%
Windows 7 is about to overtake Linux, and it’s not even out to retail yet
iPhone OSX sits between the deceased Windows 98 and server based Windows Server 2003. (I find it interesting that Server 2003 racks up a higher percentage than iPhone as by default it blocks trackers and cookies, also being a server OS, it typically isn’t used for web surfing)

Browsers

IE 7 dominates, with Firefox 3 lagging 6% behind
IE 8 is close on the heels of Firefox 3
The aging IE 6 is still hanging in there with 14% of the share
Buggy Firefox 3.5 is down in 5th place
Slow on the uptake, Chrome is way down in 7th place with a measly 3.23% of the share

Screen Resolutions

1024×768 is still top dog
VERY closely followed by 1280×800, which is a wide screen resolution, typically not found on new monitors having been superseded by :
1440×900 (as used by our office Dell desktops) which is in 4th with 8.68%, that’s a bigger share than the total OSX users – this will eventually overtake 1280×800 as the standard wide desktop resolution.

Summary
IE6 has double the market share of OSX as a whole. So let’s stop banging on about ditching IE6 and get rid of OSX instead.

Share and Enjoy:

Comments

stuartpturner says:

September 24, 2009 at 12:28 pm

Some unexpected nuggest in there Richard!

Great to see good old XP still leading the way, and surely proof (if any more were needed) that Vista does indeed suck.

Reply
Dom says:

September 24, 2009 at 1:28 pm

“IE6 has double the market share of OSX as a whole. So let’s stop banging on about ditching IE6 and get rid of OSX instead.”

I know you’re trying to poke the Apple bear, but really! I actually don’t think you really believe that, working in the industry that you do, and I sincerely hope that you’d secretly like to see internet technologies advance, not stagnate.

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Norton says:

September 24, 2009 at 1:40 pm

Chrome is at 7th place with a market share of 3.23% despite the fact that its only been out for a year! I think thats pretty impressive personally and the fact that they’ve signed a deal with Sony should only improve things!

Reply
Richard Griffiths says:

September 24, 2009 at 1:43 pm

Based on these stats, it makes more sense to continue browser testing for IE6 and for Widescreen resolutions than it does for Mac.

Fact.

Reply
Richard Griffiths says:

September 24, 2009 at 1:45 pm

It’s not that impressive really though is it Norton? IE8 has only been out six months and it has SIX TIMES the number of users.

Face it – IE wins every time. Let’s stop messing around with unstable 3rd party browsers and dead operating systems, and focus on the systems and hardware that people are ACTUALLY USING.

Reply
Norton says:

September 24, 2009 at 2:12 pm

I appreciate where you’re coming from but Microsoft forces those downloads for updated IE7 and IE8, whereas Chrome is a user optional download?

Not bad going although I appreciate the market share is tiny still!

Reply
Dom says:

September 24, 2009 at 2:32 pm

@ Richard Griffiths:

The internal debate that you are clearly referring to is whether or not we (developers and designers) should retire support for IE6 based on the amount of headaches it causes us and the complete lack of support it has for web standards. As the people who are forced to work with IE6 on a daily basis, I believe we are in a stronger position to say what should be dropped, and what should be sustained. The fact of the matter is, that IE6 is far too behind the rest of the internet, and too much development time is wasted bug testing and fixing IE6.

A lot of the big players have already, or are about to drop support for IE6 – including Facebook and YouTube.

While OSX may have limited market share, it does have the fastest and most cutting edge web browser and it is a very satisfying to code for.

Getting rid of IE6 (and all other out dated technologies) is the natural progression of the internet and one that you should be absolutely condoning, as you are in a position to shape the future of this medium. Think to the future, not the present.

Reply
Richard Walker says:

September 24, 2009 at 2:34 pm

The 1280×800 resolution will be hugely influenced by laptops, I think it’s fair to say that the most common screen size on today’s laptops would be 15.4” and the 1280×800 resolution is probably the most popular/practical on such screens thus where the statistic comes from.

Reply
Richard Griffiths says:

September 24, 2009 at 2:43 pm

Based on current stats it makes more sense to ditch Mac as a testing platform than IE6. That’s before even drilling down into individual browsers within OSX. The market share is so tiny it’s not worth thinking about.

I agree wholeheartedly that IE6 should be ditched, but by the same arguement developers should be dropping OSX as a test platform. Regardless of how good the OS may or may not be, the userbase is tiny and not worth catering for.

If you argue that OSX is worth catering for, then IE6 is also worth catering for given that twice as many people use IE6 than use any given version of OSX.

You can’t have it both ways

Reply
Norton says:

September 24, 2009 at 2:52 pm

I have to step in here and say that I don’t support your argument for IE6 Richard!

For one thing, IE6 is a browser that is effectively dying, while OSX is still alive, and growing! We should leave testing for IE6 in there for the time being but then ditch it when its finally coughing up blood and looking at you with a slight frown on its face!

While I am really impressed with Windows 7 (Dom will have the kitchen knife in his hand tonight but he knows this already), I still cannot help preferring Firefox to IE8. Unfortunately, I believe that Firefox still has to develop its browser to support Windows 7.

Lastly, I do not believe that these statistics really reflect actual user opinion, because of the fact that the Internet Explorer downloads are forced on you when you buy Windows, upgrade etc. There are still a great many people out there that simply don’t know the difference and will just use what is available anyway (and won’t even know how to download Firefox!) I strongly believe that if IE became an optional download (which Microsoft are pondering I believe), Firefox will stab IE in the heart

Reply
Norton says:

September 24, 2009 at 2:58 pm

PS. Don’t hurt me!

Reply
Richard Griffiths says:

September 24, 2009 at 3:04 pm

I had my tonge firmly in my cheek when I posted up the Save IE6 page, if you have a look at the site, you’ll see that it’s actually a satirical site. Worth a read! It’s very funny

You’re right on many points there Norton, but the real point here, my underlying not-so-hidden agenda is that it’s a totaly waste of time and effort doing browser testing on what is really a statistically insignificant and essentially dead operating system. (or at least, it will be when Win 7 hit’s the shelves!)

My comment on ditch Mac before IE6 was more of a global plan for the world. Together with open hardware and Windows 7 we can stamp out this Apple nonsence once and for all.

Vive le Windows!

Reply
Richard Griffiths says:

September 24, 2009 at 3:06 pm

Oh, and you can get Firefox for Windows 7 now.

But to be honest, I prefer IE8. It’s faster and far more stable.

Reply
Richard Walker says:

September 24, 2009 at 3:12 pm

I’d agree there has to be truth in the whole Microsoft spoon feeding with IE. I also think Firefox will be the daddy one day, since IE7 & IE8 had to follow their lead with Mozilla’s quite brilliant success of setting the standard for ‘standards compliant browsers’. You have to take your hat off to their success and for that reason everyone should use it. Although, I’m having trouble with some aspx pages working in Firefox – which is a bit of a downer.

I have to say – although you may have it in for Mac’s, as small (in comparison) as there user base is it will always be a solid, loyal one, which would be foolish to dismiss.

Reply
Dom says:

September 24, 2009 at 3:19 pm

You are incorrectly assuming that my only reason for dropping IE6 support is due to it’s low market share, when in fact that is only a very small part of the picture. My main desire is to tactfully nudge the planet’s sys admins into upgrading their outdated networks and get with the times. Even one Agency like ours can make a difference! Collectively, we can change the entire internet landscape. Will you help fight the noble cause, or are you happy with the Status Quo?

OSX is a perfectly valid platform with more than sufficient users to warrant graceful support. I will certainly will not stop developing for it, and I take exception to anyone in favour of doing so.

One other thing you, perhaps, haven’t considered is that IE6 market share is in decline and OSX market share is on the rise.

Reply
Dominic Kelly says:

September 24, 2009 at 3:30 pm

“I have to say – although you might have it in for Mac’s, as small (in comparison) as there user base is it will always be a solid, loyal one, which would be foolish to dismiss.”

@ Richard: Please feel free to feed and poke the Microsoft troll as much as you like.

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Richard Griffiths says:

September 24, 2009 at 3:36 pm

IE6 is on the decline as it has been superceeded. Eventually everyone will upgrade to IE7 or IE8 and IE6 will pass away as you wish.

OSX is on the rise in an inversely proportional scale to that of Windows Vista. We can deduce from this (as most of the industry agrees) that Microsoft lost many customers due to the appalling excuse for a replacement to Windows XP.

Prior to SP1, Vista was unstable, unruly and gave a terrible user experience. It’s a fact, they upset people, and rather than use the aging XP, some people (with money to burn) moved to Apple Mac.

Thankfully, they’ve now put that right with Windows 7. I have no doubt that Microsoft will not only reclaim their lost sheep, but regain even more ground over Apple’s overpriced toy.

So maybe one day we’ll both see our dreams come true.

Reply
Richard Griffiths says:

September 24, 2009 at 3:52 pm

@Richard Walker
I think you’re right, that is probably where those stats come from. WGA/WXGA screens were first seen on laptops, so it makes sense that they should peak first.

As desktops are now generally shipping with wide TFTs as standard, I still expect to see higher resolutions like 1440×900 making it to the top of the list.

Time will tell!

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Phil Jefferies says:

September 24, 2009 at 4:05 pm

I say ditch the lot in favour of Linux !

The future is penguin shaped !

.______.
/ \
| O _ O |
/ \_/ \
.’ / \ ‘.
/ _| |_ \
(_ / | | \ _)
\ /
__\_>-<_/__
~;/ \;~

Reply
Dom says:

September 25, 2009 at 11:56 am

“Thankfully, they’ve now put that right with Windows 7.”

All this intelligent debate is becoming somewhat tiresome. At the end of the day Windows sucks!

Reply
Dominic Kelly says:

September 25, 2009 at 2:48 pm

@Phil – that’s the strangest looking Penguin I’ve ever seen! You been at the real ale early or something?

Reply

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