So if you had to guess how many times IE9 was downloaded in the first two days it was available last week what would you say?
250,000?
500,000?
750,000?
How about 2 million times in the first two days! According to Roger Capriotti at the Exploring IE blog that is how many times it was grabbed in those first 48 hours.
The initial reaction has been pretty overwhelming, and we are very humbled by the response our customers have had. In first two days, over 2 million people worldwide downloaded IE9 Beta. By comparison, when Internet Explorer 8 Beta launched in August 2008, we had 1.3 million downloads over the first five days.
Roger goes on to say that the Beauty of the Web site which hosts the IE9 download and other information about the beta browser had over 9 million visits and 26 million page views since it came online last week.
Absolutely amazing numbers.
The four previews that were released following MIX10 out in Las Vegas earlier this year had no interface but allowed developers and end users to use the browser and see the types of improvements that were being worked on. They were published on a regular schedule which was promised by Microsoft at MIX10. Despite not having an interface they were still useable by end users to experience the browser and its stability.
Believe me, even though it was intended for developers – a lot of end users put that browser through its paces – interface or not.
So it is no surprise that when the first beta of IE9 hits the web that has an interface on it that so many would download it so quickly.
I think Microsoft has a winner on their hands here and I am looking forward to the JavaScript drag and drop bug being fixed so I can get it back on my production machine!
