According to the latest Net Market Share numbers, Internet Explorer has actually increased usage in the last year. Internet Explorer remains the top web browsing platform with almost 60% of market share, with Google's Chrome climbing closer to the second place option, Firefox.
IE 8 still retains the largest piece of the Internet Explorer pie with IE 10, IE 9, and IE 6 (yes, IE6) following behind. The bigger story, though, is how close Chrome and Firefox sit on the chart. Over the past year, Chrome and Firefox have battled for second place, but Firefox has always won out. But, this report's numbers show that a solid month could finally put Chrome in the lead.
Once upon a time, Firefox was considered a strong competitor to Internet Explorer, but it steadily grew into a slow, bloated browser. That's ironic, because some of Firefox's original tenets to displace Internet Explorer was to be leaner and faster than the Microsoft browser. But, just like the old Netscape days, Microsoft woke up and produced a better browsing experience.
Internet Explorer is the primary Internet browser for many companies, set by corporate policy. It is easier to maintain, upgrade, secure, customize, and, of course, comes with Windows (also a corporate standard). If it weren't for the business aspect, 3rdparty browsers could have a better chance to eat into Internet Explorer's market share. Internet Explorer 11 will release with Windows 8.1 this fall, giving Microsoft an even larger opportunity to build a larger share of the web browsing market.
You can view the full report here: http://www.netmarketshare.com/
