In an attempt to try and take more of the browser war, in a potential (what I’m guessing) effort to help bolster their anticipation for their new Chrome OS (and potentially Wave – see later), Google now realises their “footprint” isn’t as large as it seems and has put on what I’d call a heavy marketing effort…Over the New Year, I visited London only to be inundated with loads of Google Chrome adverts all over the London Underground:
They were in almost every underground station as well as in Piccadilly Circus and other various locations in London. According to W3Schools:
W3Schools is a website for people with an interest for web technologies. These people are more interested in using alternative browsers than the average user. The average user tends to use Internet Explorer, since it comes preinstalled with Windows. Most do not seek out other browsers.
These facts indicate that the browser figures above are not 100% realistic. Other web sites have statistics showing that Internet Explorer is used by at least 80% of the users.
It seems that 80% of most users today use IE in some way, shape or form. Furthermore, what is interesting is if we look at Google’s ad:
Down at the bottom it clearly reads:
A fast, new browser made for everyone
Also in their advert it says 6 tabs open, 0 crashes and 1 browser. Well, I’m sure they’re aware, all browsers these days do tabs and rarely crash, unless you’re doing something dodgy with them. However, when dissecting the “fast” bit, maybe Google HQ filters out Microsoft pages, as here is an interesting one to visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/get-the-facts/mythbusting.aspx
Interestingly enough, Myth 1 goes in to detail about speed and actually says that most web pages today, the speed differentiation is minimal if at all even there. And, for those of you that say – Justin – you sing the Microsoft praises and that’s a Microsoft page, surely it’s going to have tainted facts, try visiting this independent third party review:
http://saunderslog.com/2008/09/02/head-to-head-chrome-vs-ie-8/
And, yes while his review does point out that IE was consuming more memory, his tests were with the initial launch of IE 8 on Vista. If you look at IE 8 on Windows 7, you’ll find it utilises around 50MB, less than that of Chrome.
So, in summary? I’m not saying Chrome isn’t going to take a chunk of the browsing market from Microsoft, but I think Google is realising with this mass marketing exercise that they aren’t the entirely big powerhouse they thought they originally were and when launching Chrome their anticipated numbers weren’t what they wanted them to be (and based on looking at this advert, it assumedably is trying to tie Chrome in with their new Wave offering as well as Chrome OS – lines 2, 4, and 5?). Surely, watch this space, but until Chrome makes browsing *easier*, not faster (because in all actuality, it isn’t boys, is it – be honest), the mass majority of the public will continue using IE.
Possibly related:
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#1 by Harley Inbody on Saturday, January 2, 2010 - 15:50
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I think it is true that so many people use IE because, “it’s what came with it”. In fact, that’s the exact reason so many people use Microsoft products in general. Most people don’t know they have options and when you explain that to them, at least in my experience, IE is not the browser they choose. Bottom line is, people need to know they have choices and they need to examine those choices and decide what works best for them.
#2 by Justin on Saturday, January 2, 2010 - 18:02
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You can change the stereo in your car aside of the one that comes in-built, but not many people do that…it’s only those that know and differ that will do that. Can you give me any good/valid reasons why the inbuilt one isn’t sufficient enough for most of the general public?
#3 by Harley Inbody on Saturday, January 2, 2010 - 19:13
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Sure, I can give you a reason. They are different tools that do similar things in different ways. The majority of people I’ve talked to who’ve used both prefer Firefox to IE. I personally had some issues with it being really slow on several websites that rendered perfectly fine in Firefox.
Admittedly, I have not used IE in W7 because I do not use Windows. I’m sure they have made some improvements in IE as they have in Windows. My point is that with all the time people spend on their computers and with all they trust their computers for they should know that there are options and they should try them out.
Also, as far as I know, IE does not have the many extensions to it that Firefox does which can be very nice to have…. See More
To add to the Chrome discussion, I don’t think they are so much nervous about their position as they want as many people as possible to be familiar with their browser to help ease the transition to the OS when it comes out, for those that will try it.
#4 by Jeremy Couch on Saturday, January 2, 2010 - 21:04
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I think googles goal is more to spur the others to improve rendering and standards and speed so their web apps run better. They aren’t as concerned with people using Chrome or Android.
#5 by Yogesh on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 - 08:33
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Hi,
Very nicely written article.. most of the people do use IE as it comes with the package… but most of them do not change as they do not find any reason to change their browsers. For a vast majority of the people IE does what they need to be done and hence there is no need to look for another browser.
If IE was all that bad would people not have asked around for an option….
With all of Firefox extensions.. how many does an average user need. I cannot think of any… Secondly… Firefox addins and extensions are also a security threat..
I think most of the microsoft bashers are like the commies.. they don’t want someone else to earn but want to make a buck out of their stuff…