Microsoft Internet Explorer Users Slow To Adopt New Release
As of 1 p.m. EDT Friday, usage of IE 8 accounted for only 1.56 percent of global Internet traffic, according to StatCounter Global Stats. That's up only slightly from 1.39 percent on Thursday.
"I suppose the kindest description of user reaction to IE 8's first public outing would be 'underwhelming,'" said Aodhan Cullen, StatCounter founder and CEO, in a statement.
StatCounter is a Web site traffic-monitoring service vendor. It analyzes Internet usage trends based on some 4 billion Internet pageloads per month.
Cullen contrasted IE 8's debut performance to adoption of the Firefox 3 Web browser when it was released last June. Usage of Firefox 3, which accounted for 7.8 percent of Web usage during its beta testing, more than doubled to 18.9 percent during a three-day period after its formal release.
IE 8 has received mixed reviews from testers and early users. There have been published reports that the browser has caused system crashes and some Web sites don't display properly using the software. The browser also has compatibility issues with Web standards, such as CSS, HTML4 and XHTML when tested with The Web Standards Project's Acid Test 3.
Microsoft is counting on IE 8 to help reverse erosion of its share of the Web browser market. Microsoft IE has been losing ground to competitors, such as Apple's Safari, Google's Chrome and the open-source Firefox from Mozilla.