14 DAY TRIAL // The browser race has finally become a three-player adventure, as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are now also competing against the Chromium-powered Microsoft Edge for the ultimate supremacy in this software category.
So on paper, the battle for the best browser right now comes down to Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge, with other underdogs, such as Opera, Vivaldi, and others currently holding a rather small market share.
Internet Explorer, on the other hand, is one of the browsers that no longer have a place in the modern world, and Microsoft itself recommends against using it for daily browsing. The company wants everybody using Internet Explorer to make the switch to Microsoft Edge, which obviously comes with many more features and new-generation capabilities that are otherwise missing in the old app.
“You see, Internet Explorer is a compatibility solution. We’re not supporting new web standards for it and, while many sites work fine, developers by and large just aren’t testing for Internet Explorer these days. They’re testing on modern browsers,” Chris Jackson, Microsoft engineer, explains.
“So, if we continued our previous approach, you would end up in a scenario where, by optimizing for the things you have, you end up not being able to use new apps as they come out. As new apps are coming out with greater frequency, what we want to help you do is avoid having to miss out on a progressively larger portion of the web!”
And yet, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the world is ready to give up on Internet Explorer, despite Microsoft investing so aggressively in the new Microsoft Edge browser.
In fact, the most recent statistics shared by NetMarketShare for the month of October show that Internet Explorer actually increased its market share last month at a time when everybody should actually give up on it.
More specifically, IE has jumped from 3.88% in September to no less than 5.57% in October, getting really close to third-placed Firefox. Right now, here are the top browsers out there according to their market share:
- Google Chrome: 69.25%
- Microsoft Edge: 10.22%
- Firefox: 7.22%
- Internet Explorer: 5.57%
Is sticking with Internet Explorer a really good idea? Not really, at least if you ask Microsoft. The company wants everybody to make the switch to Microsoft Edge, and the company cites security as a reason to make the switch.
“If you’re running Windows 7, the latest version of Internet Explorer that you can install is Internet Explorer 11. However, Internet Explorer 11 is no longer supported on Windows 7. Instead, we recommend you install the new Microsoft Edge. The new Microsoft Edge was built to bring you the best of the web, with more control and more privacy as you browse,” Microsoft says.
The good news for Microsoft is that the adoption of Microsoft Edge also seems to improve. In fact, October is the first month when Edge actually reached double digits, as its market share exceeded 10 percent for the very first time. This is without a doubt excellent news for the Redmond-based software giant, especially as the gap between Edge and Firefox is increasing.
Needless to say, the goal in the long term is overtaking Google Chrome, but judging from these numbers, it’ll take many years until Microsoft Edge can finally challenge Chrome’s supremacy in the browser world. And without a doubt, this really can’t happen as long as Internet Explorer continues to control 5 percent of the browser market.
As a matter of fact, Windows 10 October 2020 Update is the very first OS version that ships with the new Edge pre-loaded by default.