Microsoft: IE 9 Hits 20 Percent of All Windows 7 Users

Microsoft today revealed that Internet Explorer 9 is now used by over 20 percent of all Windows 7 users, according to data from Net Applications. In the US, it's even higher: IE 9 is used by over 28 percent of all Windows 7 users.

Of course, this isn't the story most tech writers will focus on, and you can expect the usual "IE share continues to fall" stories to appear today. But the Net Applications data also shows that overall IE usage dipped almost imperceptibly, from 55.97 percent in July to 55.31 percent last month. I'd call that "flat," personally.

On that note, Firefox usage was also flat, Chrome usage went up slightly from 14.33 to 15.51 percent, and Safari usage was unchanged month over month. In other words, there were no major changes at all. So the IE 9 stuff is, in fact, news. It's the only thing interesting that changed in web browser usage last month.