Mar
27
2009

Corporate Users Are Jumping on the IE8 Bandwagon

Competition among Web browsers continues to intensify. Last week, Microsoft upped the ante, launching version 8 of its popular Internet Explorer (IE8). With new security features, “web clipping” functions, and the ability to instantly retrieve information from eBay, Facebook, and popular mapping services, Microsoft hopes that IE8 will help reverse the trend of losing market share to rivals like Mozilla’s Firefox and Google’s Chrome browsers.

In spite of the company’s low-key launch and the slow uptake for IE8 in early days, the new version has resulted in a boost in market share, according to surveys conducted by Web measurement company Net Applications. Global usage rose over 12 percent, to 1.56 percent, the day after the launch.

Some analysts attribute this to Microsoft’s renewed focus on interoperability. “They made an announcement recently about their commitment to interoperability, and the improved standards support in IE8 is proof of that,” said Forrester Research’s Colin Teubner.

SAManage brings a unique perspective to this debate. With access to real-time PC and software inventory data from corporate networks managed with our IT Management service, we can clearly measure the adoption rate of IE8 and other new software among corporate users.

Internal SAManage research shows that even prior to last week’s official release, 4.55 percent of corporate users have already installed IE8 Beta and Release Candidate versions. Once the official release was out, the number of users who installed IE8* on one or more of their computers quickly gained momentum.

Just one short week after its launch, IE8 already has more than double the users of the new Google Chrome browser:

	% of Accounts	% of Computers
IE8	6.42	0.69
IE7	82.4	35.7
Firefox	27.8	10.95
Google Chrome	2.85	0.32

What does this mean? A lot will depend on the early adopters’ reviews of the new browser, but if this trend continues, IE 8 may just be the answer Microsoft needed to stave off the competition. We’ll share more information about the adoption of IE8 and other important emerging technologies in future reports.

· Includes Beta 1, Beta 2, Release Candidate 1, and the “official” version.