StatCounter: Google Chr...

Well, it’s official. Or at least it’s official if you believe in StatCounter’s data . Google’s Chrome web browser has overtaken Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. For real this time. Maybe. The stat-counting firm compiled data for the week of May 14th through May 20th, showing that Chrome had a market share of 32.76%, compared with IE’s 31.94%. This isn’t the first time that Chrome has gotten ahead, however. And the race itself is close – perhaps too close to call. At the start of this week, Chrome dipped back down to 31.88%, which was only a bit ahead of 31.47%. There’s also the big concern regarding StatCounter’s data. As Microsoft (of course) has pointed out before , these aren’t necessarily numbers you can take to the bank. Last month, when Chrome briefly won the weekend battle, Microsoft downright ranted about the quality of StatCounter’s data on its official blog. (It appeared, at the time, that Chrome usage surged on weekends, proving that users liked Chrome better when they had a choice – outside of I.T. control at work, that is). Microsoft pointed out that StatCounter doesn’t adjust for pre-rendering (loading pages in the background which the user never sees and may never even click on), nor does it “geoweight” the data to paint a more accurate picture of worldwide usage. Instead, with StatCounter, it’s just raw data. Microsoft also said that if browser share had been weighted appropriately, it wouldn’t have been such a close race. While those discrepancies are notable, it’s still worth pointing out that IE’s share has been steadily dropping for some time now. StatCounter may just be the canary in the coal mine indicting the bigger shift ahead. via GlobalNerdy

Microsoft’s Curious Ple...

Browser wars are a touchy subject, especially around the folks from Microsoft who have seen their Internet Explorer dominance be eroded by the likes of Mozilla’s Firefox and the dreaded Google Chrome browser among others. Internet Explorer 9 is the latest and greatest from Microsoft. They need to promote its existence so earlier this month this ad surfaced on YouTube. I just saw it for the first time and, from a purely marketing perspective, it’s, well, puzzling to say the least. Being self-deprecating can be an effective technique in modern day advertising. The humorous take on any ad is one proven way to get the attention of your target and the attention needed to get your message across. In this case, it seems like Microsoft has confused funny with disturbing. Is it a good practice to have your message of “being improved” delivered by someone who is portrayed as someone that no one would want to be around for any reason? Sure you can play the ‘crazy card’for laughs but when you are saying that maybe you have to be nuts to like Internet Explorer 9 (indirectly but it’s there) you should have a sit down with your ad agency. What’s your take on this ad from Microsoft? It’s Friday so relax a little and take a few minutes to be heard.

Nobody Wants To Feel Li...

Q: Dad, what browser do you use? A: One that browses well. Q: Okay, what’s it called? A: A browser. I don’t know about you, but I try to avoid technological discussions with my parents. Even though they are relatively tech aware, they tend to be Team Windows and I am Team Mac. Also: While the “My cool grandma owns an iPad ” trope is totally ubiquitous and real, older people tend to be over-sensitive about their level of tech acumen. It’s a fear of mortality thing, I’m thinking. That’s why when Alexis Madrigal came with the idea to turn Black Friday into “Update Your Parents’ Browser Day,” I winced, despite holding universal modern web browsing standards as something to aspire to. As part of what might be the last generation to remember what life was like before the World Wide Web, the idea of having to explain something as simple as a browser update to the people who bought me my first computer — and, you know, gave me life — strikes me as sort of sad. If technology makes us more human, as Twitter’s Jack Dorsey has argued , then the absence of technology turns those at the short end of the USB stick into a different species. You hate thinking of your parents as weaker than you in any way, let alone using Internet Explorer 6. This morning I was almost too scared to ask my parents what browser they use, for fear that I might actually have to actually celebrate tomorrow’s holiday. After being silly (he is after all related to me), my Dad answered Google Chrome (whew!). For the record I use Chrome Canary — and it’s way buggy in OS X Lion. To the insular group of tech early adopters that read (not to mention write) for a site called TechCrunch, it is scary to think that 7.9% of the world still uses the decade-old IE6. The advantages of updating to a recent browser version go way beyond improved speed and lack of self-installing ‘BonziBuddy’-esque toolbars … One Hacker News commenter describes the terror of his Dad inadvertently playing into the hands of spyware, “He fired up the ol’ IE7, went to the HSBC page, completed the first step of logging in, and there it was, clear as day. A mysterious third box prompting the user to enter their full PIN.” Shudder. He goes on, “We, as the more technically-minded people in our families, have an obligation to do this for the people we care about, in a way that extends far beyond those clever CSS animations or native video support. I’m lucky enough that my folks know to keep their eyes open to anything fishy online, but I had no idea he was still using IE7. The idea of him (or indeed anyone) inadvertently giving their complete bank details to some cyber-criminals out of completely innocent ignorance terrifies me.” But not all parents are that amenable to technological change; evidence another Hacker News horror story , “Once I came to my parents’ house to find the family laptop having gained a wonderful feature where every search result would redirect to spyware. Did my best to clean the mess and get everything somewhat reasonable, and then got a call a few weeks later saying my “porn watching” ruined their computer and deleted their bookmarks.” To avoid this sort of “You broke my Internet” issue, even savvier techies like Google’s Matt Cutts have resorted to lying  clever work arounds.

Hi, Neat post. There’s ...

Hi, Neat post. There’s a problem with your web site in internet explorer, would check this… IE still is the market leader and a huge portion of people will miss your fantastic writing because of this problem. all the deals

StatCounter: Firefox 4 ...

Mozilla has just released Firefox 4 , and in less than a day clocked more than twice the downloads Microsoft boasted about after the release of Internet Explorer 9 . Now website analytics company StatCounter says the browser has already taken 1.95 percent of the worldwide Internet browser market. In contrast, StatCounter adds, Internet Explorer 9 has taken only 0.87 percent of the worldwide browser market a week after its debut. When all versions of each browser are taken into account, Internet Explorer still leads the global market with 45 percent, followed by Firefox with 30 percent and Chrome with 17 percent. StatCounter recently reported that Firefox overtook IE to become the number one browser in Europe for the first time in December 2010. In the US, IE (all versions combined) even leads the market with 48 percent, followed by Firefox on 26 percent and Chrome on 14 percent. StatCounter says its Global Stats numbers are based on aggregate data collected on a sample exceeding 15 billion page views per month from a network of more than three million websites. CrunchBase Information StatCounter Firefox Windows Internet Explorer Information provided by CrunchBase