Uit een onderzoek van WebSideStory blijkt dat Internet Exploiter inmiddels drie maal zoveel gebruikt wordt als Netscape. Een trieste zaak dat zoveel mensen achter Bill's achterwerk aan blijven hobbelen:
Taking full advantage of its strategic placement and prominence on new US personal computers, Microsoft's [NASDAQ:MSFT] Internet Explorer is beating Netscape's Navigator in the Web browser wars. According to a study released today by San Diego, Calif.-based WebSideStory, an Internet trends analysis company, Explorer users outnumber Navigator users by a three-to-one margin. A similar study in March by WebSideStory found that Explorer users outnumbered Navigator users by a two-to-one margin."The browser race is all but over," said Jeff Johnston, WebSideStory marketing director. "When we reported that Explorer was beating Netscape in March, the two-to-one numbers were a huge story. This latest development is incredible."
Results of the study, which can be found at StatMarket.com (http://www.statmarket.com ), were culled from over 30 million Internet users visiting over 114,000 Web sites during the past four months. According to Johnston, the statistics provided by StatMarket are based on actual browser usage, not installed base numbers. Through August 2, 1999, Microsoft's Internet Explorer (all versions) accounted for 75.31 percent of the total market. Netscape has slipped to 24.68 percent.
Microsoft's version 5 of Internet Explorer has shown dramatic increase in usage since its beta release last March. It is up to nearly 25 percent from a 2 percent launch. Meanwhile, all other browser usage is either declining or has remained flat since the beginning of 1999. The 3.x browsers, both MSIE and Netscape, are plummeting - down 60 percent since January, while 4.x browser usage has eroded by approximately 25 percent. "Unless you're Microsoft, the numbers aren't great for anyone. But since March the news has really grown worse for Netscape," added Johnston. "You could make a case for Netscape if you were simply counting installed browsers, in which Explorer has a decided advantage. But the active use numbers are more embarrassing for Navigator." [break] Uiteraard heeft de groei niet zoveel te maken met het feit dat IE beter zou zijn dan Netscape, maar wel met het feit dat op zo'n beetje elke nieuw geïnstalleerde pc een kopie van IE te vinden is:[/break]
Could Explorer's popularity have anything to do with its prominent placement and easy access on new PCs? Most definitely, said Johnston. "I would say that people are using Explorer because that's what's there. Netscape is popular with business users, who are savvy about the Internet. But the moms and pops who look for browsers on the family PC use what's there. And in most cases, what's there is Explorer."
