The 7-year itch
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25-01-2018
In 2010 we were married to Microsoft when we browsed the web, but last year’s stats show that the browser is no longer a leader, with only 9.8% of market share. So who is our favourite browser today?
In the space of just 7 years, Microsoft has gone from reigning browser to not even competing for the top spot. Internet Explorer (IE) has never had the best reputation, but Microsoft’s ability to bundle its Windows software with IE as the default browser seemed to certainly help its market share.
A rule was enforced in 2009 that meant Microsoft had to give users a choice of browsers, and this could be where IE started to lose its numbers. Although the rule was dropped after a few years, the damage had been done and web users had already started the migration to other browsers – cue generation Google.
Love affair with Google
Google’s browser ‘Chrome’ takes the top spot with 58.8% market share, which isn’t surprising given Google’s popularity. But there are some legitimate reasons, other than a powerful brand backing, for the browser’s success.
Racing ahead
Google Chrome is one of the fastest web browsers, and often beats its competitors in the loading stakes. It’s also more intuitive to use than some other browsers, and comes with a huge range of extensions, but best of all it combines all of your Google accounts into one seamless user experience.
Chrome takes the top spot by miles, leaving Safari at 13.4% and Firefox at 9.1%, not surprising given that Mac usage is low and Firefox doesn’t have the best reputation around its privacy.
The chosen browser
In the Oxygen office it’s fair to say that Google Chrome is our browser of choice too. Our web developers like it because it is adaptable, and they can easily see issues with coding and make plugins for websites. Everyone else likes it because they can easily switch between emails, calendars and Google Drive – because everything we do is online these days!
Chrome has risen to fame quite quickly, not even appearing in the competition stakes 10 years ago. We wonder whether it will keep its hold on web users over the next 10 years, or whether we will find a new love interest.