IE8 loses market share immediately after release as users downgrade

Tue Mar 24, 2009 11:32AM EDT

See Comments (47)

Well that's not supposed to happen.

Microsoft formally released Internet Explorer 8 last Thursday, an event that arrived armed with a full media blitz and several glowing reviews. Normally the release of an upgrade like that would result in millions of installations and market share immediately skyrocketing, but that's not what happened.

According to Net Applications, which monitors browser usage in near-real-time, IE8's overall share of the browser market had climbed to 2.59 percent by Sunday... but then dropped Monday morning, down to 1.86 percent.

The reason for the decline is fairly obvious, as InformationWeek notes:
"Early adopters of IE8 are switching back to the more familiar, and -- at this point -- reliable Explorer 7 browser."

Compatibility is obviously the big problem, with legions of comments piling up on message boards and blog posts about websites that are totally broken by the browser's new implementation of "standards." Messed-up design isn't the only issue, either. Some users report that IE crashes with an error during certain applications, like printing.

Of course, IE8's fortunes mirror Internet Explorer's long trend down, having dropped from 75% market share to 67% in the last 12 months, again according to Net Applications. (Alternate statistics show a much grimmer view for IE.)

But one commenter offers an alternate explanation for IE8's Monday surprise, suggesting that corporate users forced to use IE6 and IE7 add to the market share of those browsers during weekdays, and that the weekend jump for IE8 (and all other browsers) is stastically explainable that way. Interesting theory...

Comments on IE8 loses market share immediately after release as users downgrade

Post a Comment

Join in the discussion. Here you'll see the comments in the order they were posted.

  • 6 Posted by brozenec on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:14PM EDT Report Abuse

    Auto Spell check in Yahoo email no longer works. Cursor flickers like crazy...went back to Firefox.

  • 7 Posted by knelson454 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:52PM EDT Report Abuse

    If you want to see IE8 screw up a page go here, the Warner Bros. movie shop. It will be all screwed up. Then click on the compatibility button at top next to refresh to see it revert back to IE7 and it looks normal. I personaly haven't had any issues yet, other then this page. http://www.wbshop.com/Warner-Archive/ARCHIVE,default,sc.html

  • 8 Posted by aa4mw on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:43PM EDT Report Abuse

    I long ago switched to Firefox for everything except Microsoft websites and a few really strange sites that only work under IE7. This only confirms my decision. Microsoft is getting even more unstable as time goes on. Time to plan your move to something else!

  • 9 Posted by aa4mw on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:43PM EDT Report Abuse

    I long ago switched to Firefox for everything except Microsoft websites and a few really strange sites that only work under IE7. This only confirms my decision. Microsoft is getting even more unstable as time goes on. Time to plan your move to something else!

  • 10 Posted by kilclyde on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    I keep getting d.e.p. errors that say " internet explorer" has stopped "working", since downloading IE8. And it closes the window. this suck's

  • 11 Posted by kirkejensen on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:51PM EDT Report Abuse

    IE8 locks up 50% of the time when I go to msn.com. I won't even start on my problems at yahoo. Guess I'll use my Firefox fulltime now.

  • 12 Posted by kdjkdj on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    I have been using IE8 since beta with only one problem. I can go everywhere and everything I've reached has rendered correctly.

  • 13 Posted by cfahnestock31@att.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:21PM EDT Report Abuse

    I use IE7 and it crashes all of the time. I don't know why I haven't switched to Firefox but I do know that I will be shortly. I wouldn't even think of trying IE8

  • 14 Posted by rhythm4_4 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:38PM EDT Report Abuse

    There are real standards in place for HTML and other markup languages. Microsoft insists on making up their own. It's always been a flawed strategy that only works if everything is done the MS way... it might be OK in a controlled corporate setting, but is not compatible with the rest of the world. The problem is that they think they are the world... My Firefox is working fine! peace

  • 15 Posted by unclelarbo on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    I got a popup telling me to download IE8 so I did and my computer immediately froze. I could not access anything. Luckily it was easy to get rid of by just uninstalling it. My computer works fine now except I can't get it to shut down on its own. I have to manually hold in the Start button till it shuts down.

  • 16 Posted by bdtsoccer on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:04PM EDT Report Abuse

    IE8 is not my friend. it has caused system instability and failure after i tried to use it. now wmp won't work, and i ahev tried everything. stick with ie7!!!

  • 17 Posted by mikedonna66 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:19PM EDT Report Abuse

    where can I go to find IE7? IE8 has slowed this computer down so much...

  • 18 Posted by solaris_dude on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:32PM EDT Report Abuse

    I switched to Firefox and I've never looked back.

  • 19 Posted by spassau on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:35PM EDT Report Abuse

    I find Yahoo annoying and intrusive which is the reason I won't be downloading IE8. I suspect that might e the reason for people downgrading.

  • 20 Posted by lebanoninline on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:47PM EDT Report Abuse

    I use Internet Explorer as a secondary browser. I use Firefox as the primary. IE just crashes too much. I downloaded IE8 hoping they had fixed it, but no such luck... it told me that IE8 was unavailable for Windows Vista! WTF is up with that?

  • 21 Posted by agapeangel9 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:46PM EDT Report Abuse

    LOOKS LIKE I'LL FOLLOW MY INSTINCTS AND LEAVE IE8 ALONE.

  • 22 Posted by agapeangel9 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:46PM EDT Report Abuse

    WHAT DOES COMMENT #22 HAVE TO DO WITH IE8 ARTICLE?

  • 23 Posted by theferociousbeast on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:04PM EDT Report Abuse

    Hey, your "totally broken" link is from March 6th 2008... 2008! Not 2009. Need to brush up on your search-fu....

  • 24 Posted by nvictoria77 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:42PM EDT Report Abuse

    i just downloaded IE8 and i lost all internet connection and the ability to download any files from the web. i want my old IE7 back but can't seem to get it even doing a restore

  • 25 Posted by gmnebel on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:10PM EDT Report Abuse

    I just tried to load ie8 and it basically broke my machine. It never once started up correctly. Am in the process of reverting back to yesterday's restore point. Lucky I have a second machine to use while I undo the upgrade. What are they thinking about in Redmond? Between ie8 and Office 2007 they are changing things too much for most people to deal with.

Post a Comment

Sign In to Post a Comment

My Tech

Please enable your browser's cookies to activate the My Tech column.

Also on Yahoo! Tech

Computers Home Office Wi-Fi & Networking Phones & PDAs Cameras & Camcorders TV & Home Theater Portable Audio
 

Site Map | Tour | Subscribe to Yahoo! Tech

Question and Answer content at Yahoo! Tech is written by Yahoo! users at Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo! does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any Yahoo! Answers content. For more information, read the Full Disclaimer.

Opinions expressed by the Advisors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Yahoo! Inc. Yahoo! receives no compensation from any manufacturer or distributor nor does it compensate any Advisor for the coverage of any product or service in any Advisor's content.