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[Ripclawe]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Googles-browser-tops-20-rb-3702194791.html?x=0&.v=1

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Google Inc's (NasdaqGS:GOOG - News) Chrome Web browser has grabbed more than 20 percent of global market share, while Microsoft Corp's (NasdaqGS:MSFT - News) long-time leader Internet Explorer has slipped below 50 percent, according to Internet statistics firm StatCounter.

A sevenfold increase in usage in the last two years is a boost for Google, which is trying to convert its dominance in Web search into operating systems and mobile software, bringing it into direct competition with Microsoft.

Google's Chrome browser, launched in December 2008, took 20.7 percent of the global market in June, according to StatCounter, up from 2.8 percent in the same month in 2009.

In the same time, it said the various versions of Internet Explorer fell to 44 percent from a 59 percent share two years ago, while Mozilla's Firefox dipped slightly to 28 percent from 30 percent.

Google's gains come as the company makes a concerted push into browser-centric, or "cloud" computing. In May, Google launched its long-awaited Chromebook, a laptop that works almost entirely on software accessed via the Internet, rather than installed on the machine. This is a direct challenge to software leaders Microsoft and Apple.

Microsoft, which controlled as much as 95 percent of the market in the early 2000s after crushing browser pioneer Netscape, has seen its market share ebb after disputes with antitrust regulators in the United States and Europe, which accused Microsoft of abusing its monopoly in operating systems to dominate the browser market.

The resolutions of those disputes effectively prohibited the world's biggest software company from making Internet Explorer the default browser in its dominant Windows operating system. Microsoft, which is developing the IE10 version of its browser, settled the issue with European Union regulators in December 2009, pledging to give consumers better access to rival browsers.

StatCounter, based in Dublin, Ireland, says its statistics are based on data collected from a sample of more than 15 billion page views per month from more than 3 million websites.

Net Applications, a more widely used browser statistics source, estimates that Google has not increased its share quite as much.

According to its market share data for June, Microsoft's Internet Explorer leads with 53.7 percent, Firefox has 21.7 percent and Chrome 13.1 percent. Apple Inc's Safari has 7.5 percent and Norway's Opera Software (Oslo:OPERA.OL - News) 1.7 percent.

 

[Noirulus]

Chrome is incredibe. Good to see it climbing!

 

[Pie Lord]

Chromes growth rate is unbelievable; how long did it take for Firefox to hit 20% market share?

 

[A Human Becoming]

I for one welcome our Google overlords. Except with cellphones, Android sucks.

 

[jambo]

Android sucks.

=\

 

[womp]

I for one welcome our Google overlords. Except with cellphones, Android sucks.

You are a disgusting human being.

 

[A Human Becoming]

My Android phone fucks up constantly and my mom's Android tablet has the same problem. Android is the most unreliable operating systems I've used.

 

[survivor]

I love Chrome. Use it at home for browsing and use it at work.. The only time I don't is when I need to to use Selenium at work. They need to include that addon to Chrome already.

 

[Koodo]

To think Internet Explorer once held an iron grip on the market. This is what happens when you get so complacent that the word abhorrent becomes sort of a compliment.

Thank Buddha for Mozilla teaching the world that alternatives exist, and thanks also to Chrome and et al competitors for ensuring healthy competition.

 

[womp]

My Android phone fucks up constantly. My Mom's Android tablet has the same problem.

Use a flip phone and tell your mom to use a notepad. You are obviously not compatible with Android - There is no other excuse.

 

[Heysoos]

lol poor Opera. That said.. Firefox for life! Love it. IE9 is not that bad either. I always have two browsers running, I'm weird.

 

[remz]

I for one welcome our Google overlords. Except with cellphones, Android sucks.

Does not!

 

[Trent Strong]

Dear Google, please give Chrome custom zoom. IE does it, why can't you?

 

[FLEABttn]

You are obviously not compatible with Android - There is no other excuse.

Samsung Moment is the other excuse. Worst cell phone I've ever used. I'd rather use a 1980's grey brick.

 

[T1tan]

Not surprised. I am only forced to open up IE/Firefox on banking websites that don't fully support Chrome.

 

[womp]

Samsung Moment is the other excuse. Worst cell phone I've ever used. I'd rather use a 1980's grey brick.

Not every Android phone is created equal, much like their users.

 

[HAL_Laboratory]

People still use Explorer?

 

[Corran Horn]

People still use Explorer?

Our work PCs are finally getting updated to IE 8 here next week.

 

[Kyoufu]

People still use Explorer?

Casual soccer moms and average joes that just turn on their notebooks/computers to post their every thoughts and actions on facebook don't care to use better browsers.

 

[santouras]

while chrome is a fantastic browser and I applaud their success, this makes me sad for opera, which I feel is the best browser by a long shot and stuck at ~2% or less

 

[Codeblue]

I just switched from Firefox to Chrome. I still need to check out Fire Fox 5.0 though.

 

[Wads]

My Android phone fucks up constantly and my mom's Android tablet has the same problem. Android is the most unreliable operating systems I've used.

Must be a shitty phone then. The androids I have had are incredible.

Posted from Chrome

 

[TacticalFox88]

There's something about Chrome that literally can't be replicated in other browsers. IE9, Firefox, Opera, Safari, etc...I try them all...but I end up ALWAYS going back to Chrome

 

[Polari]

To think Internet Explorer once held an iron grip on the market. This is what happens when you get so complacent that the word abhorrent becomes sort of a compliment.

Thank Buddha for Mozilla teaching the world that alternatives exist, and thanks also to Chrome and et al competitors for ensuring healthy competition.

Pride before the fall, classic case. Microsoft's arrogance really bit them in the ass on this one. I haven't used IE9 but there's only one reason why Chrome is gaining, and that's because it's a great product. At the moment Chrome OS isn't a great product, so Microsoft have a little breathing room there at least.

 

[A Human Becoming]

Must be a shitty phone then. The androids I have had are incredible.

Posted from Chrome

Then there is nothing Incredible about the Droid Incredible. I've had two (severely cracked the screen on the first one) and each had the same issues. I also saw similar problems with the Motorola Droid.

 

[Why would you do that?]

Eh, I like Explorer. Well, the new ones, at least.

That said, it's nice to see Chrome moving up the ranks, but a part of me really wishes it were Opera.

 

[gcubed]

I'm amazed that its grown so fast. I only ever use it as well as most other people I know, but never figured it would accelerate how it has.

 

[br0ken_shad0w]

IE is mainly my private browser because FF still won't open a new window for private browsing.

 

[Dynedom]

Happy Chrome user SUP

 

[survivor]

IE is mainly my private browser because FF still won't open a new window for private browsing.

Time to switch to Chrome cause it opens a new window for private browsing.

 

[JaseMath]

CHROOOOOOOOOME!

 

[Bboy AJ]

That's pretty impressive. I'm always surprised to see non tech people use anything other than IE.

Now when will I get Chrome on Android?

 

[dejay]

I for one welcome our Google overlords. Except with cellphones, Android sucks.

Oh no you di'int!

Our work PCs are finally getting updated to IE 8 here next week.

Ha, us too, although it's going to be a few weeks off yet.

Actually we're switching to Google Mail later this year, so we'll be using switching browsers to Chrome, although we'll have IE as a backup. There are a few sites that Chrome doesn't seem to be able to handle properly for some reason, although with 20% use I'm sure the number of those sites will decrease.

 

[genjiZERO]

I still prefer Firefox. But I like Chrome better than IE or Safari.

 

[JackEtc]

Our work PCs are finally getting updated to IE 8 here next week.

Dude....I feel awful for you. Try Chrome portable?

 

[quaere]

I don't understand normal people and browsers at all.

Everyone at work has Gmail open all day. Keep in mind, our computers have IE 7 and it cannot be upgraded. They'll come by my desk and say, "oh hey, what's that?" "Chrome" "why don't you use IE?" "it's way faster".

Months later...they're all still using IE 7. Are people really that lazy and afraid of 5 minutes of change for a big improvement?

 

[teh_pwn]

Not surprising. It's like 3x faster, defaults settings mostly work, built in popup blocker, autoupdates.

 

[Trent Strong]

Casual soccer moms and average joes that just turn on their notebooks/computers to post their every thoughts and actions on facebook don't care to use better browsers.

Why are these other browsers better than IE? What do they do that IE doesn't do?

 

[VOOK]

Why are these other browsers better than IE? What do they do that IE doesn't do?

Work.

 

[Trent Strong]

Work.

Huh?

 

[BobFromPikeCreek]

this is good news. chrome is spectacular.

 

[AgentChris]

Google Chrome is awesome. I love it.

 

[Andiie]

Sad to see Opera still doing so poorly as it's easily the best browser out there imo.

 

[ZombieSupaStar]

does noscript work for it yet? I wont surf without it.

 

[Koodo]

Why are these other browsers better than IE? What do they do that IE doesn't do?

I don't know how it's like nowadays, but the reality a couple of years ago was that these other browsers simply were not shit.

That caused the brand to be tarnished to such an extent that the market share has been on a precipitous downward spiral, and those of us who left will likely never come back. You reap what you sow.

 

[mavs]

Samsung Moment is the other excuse. Worst cell phone I've ever used. I'd rather use a 1980's grey brick.

I learned my lesson from the Epic. No more Samsung products, ever.

 

[loosus]

Here's one huge reason that I like Chrome: when I click the "New Tab" button, it opens a new tab instantly. What a concept, huh?

On IE, even in version 9, it feels like you're moving heaven and earth to open a new tab. It's a lot better in IE 9 admittedly, but I shouldn't have to put up with that shit at all in 2011. And I have more "what the fuck is it doing right now?" moments in IE, where it is seemingly accessing the HDD for no apparent reason and freezes while it does that. And that is on a clean Windows 7 installation.

IE9 could be a great browser. Microsoft really has a lot of ironing to do, though, and that means getting rid of legacy code that's apparently holding it back. IE9 looks like a complete rewrite on first glance, but after you see its little quirks, you realize that much of its base has to be from previous IE versions.

Here's one thing that has started bothering me about Chrome, though: it seems to be crashing more recently, even when Flash is not the cause.

 

[Vox-Pop]

does noscript work for it yet? I wont surf without it.

no.

 

[Meier]

I like Chrome a lot.. it's come a long way. I don't understand why Firefox opens email links in a new gmail tab for me but Chrome does not. That is baffling.

 

[Blablurn]

holy shit, didnt know chrome became so hot