Is Internet Explorer 7 matching Windows Vista in the level of disappointment delivered to end users? Well, such an answer lies ultimately within you. But at the same time, IE7 has not been submitted to the same barrage of fire that Vista had to face throughout 2007. Still, users are failing to take a shine to the latest version of Microsoft's proprietary browser, and this scenario is a clear indication that Microsoft is not quite there with IE7. Nowhere is this more evident than in the evolution of IE7 in terms of market share. The Redmond company made available Internet Explorer 7 on October 18th, 2006, for Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003. The browser also ships as a default component of the Windows Vista operating system.

In November 2007, Microsoft drew the line on IE7's first year on the market counting in excess of 300 million installations worldwide. Now, 300 million IE7 users are, by no means, a figure that can be dismissed easily, but it can be interpreted as a failure from the browser. This because, although it is designed to succeed Internet Explorer 6, one year after RTM, IE7 is not exactly succeeding IE6... launched concomitantly with XP SP2, IE6 has deep roots and is still the dominant browser worldwide.

According to statistics made available by Net Applications, at the end of November 2007, IE6 still accounted for a share of 40.24% of the browser market. IE7 is the runner up with 36.84%, followed by Firefox 2.0 with 14.97%. Between October, 2006 and February, 2007, IE7 presented a consistent growth grabbing a market share of approximately 30%. And then in the rest nine (!!!) months, IE7 adoption hit a dead wall, and only grew 7% from 30.07% in March to 36.84% in November. The extended and repeated Windows genuine Validations associated with the download process, the evolution of the graphical user interface in comparison with IE6, and issues such as memory leaks and the lack of standards support are keeping Internet Explorer users on IE6 rather than converting them to IE7.

This situation has reduced Microsoft as scrapping the mandatory WGA mechanism from the downloading of IE7, opening up the browser to all Windows pirates, and even attempting to bribe users into deploying the browser via the "Shop With More Confidence Sweepstakes". And even more relevant for Microsoft is the fact that even with IE7 on the market, it has continued to lose its grip over the browser market dropping from over 80% in 2006 to 77.35%, while Firefox grew to an estimated 16.01%.