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In a recent post on the Exploring IE Blog Roger Capriotti, who is the Director of IE Product Marketing, revealed some impressive stats concerning Internet Explorer browsers.

  • At the end of 2009 IE6 and IE7 accounted for 38.51% of web browser users and IE8 had 24.15%.
  • At the end of 2010 IE6 and IE7 now only account for 22.98% of web browser users and IE8 increased by 40% in the same time frame.
  • IE6 is now at only 13.81% of users which is an all time low for that old browser.

Those numbers combined with the IE9 Beta users gives IE browsers a 34.07% share of total web browser users worldwide.

Of all these numbers the one I am most pleased to see is the decrease in the number of people using IE6.  That browser is not something you want to be using around the net as it is unsecure and three versions ago – which is like 100 years in old browser years.

Here are the top 5 browsers seen at WindowsObserver.com over the last 35 days.

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IE6 holds third place overall with 22,570 visits and IE5, an even older unsecure browser than IE6, has been on the site just over 3,800 times.

Believe it or not there are even older browsers hitting the site on a regular basis.  That just amazes me that people are out there browsing with unsecure software but also missing out on all the features that are available on modern websites.  Those old browsers must choke on some of today’s websites and make for a miserable browsing experience.

Speaking of the IE9 Beta, Roger also shared that the beta browser, which was released on 15 Sep 2010, has now been downloaded 20 million times and accounts for about one half of a percent of web browser users.

If you have not tried the IE9 beta yet you should check it out – http://windows.microsoft.com/ie9

I have always said that it does not matter which browser you use – just use an up to date one that is secure and supported by the developer.  Doing anything else is like leaving your doors and windows unlocked all the time whether your home or not.

Stay safe out there.