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back to article Google's Chrome browser market share hits 10% mark

Google's Chrome browser broke the 10 per cent market share barrier last month, according to Net Applications. That is significant given that Microsoft's Internet Explorer surfing tool continued to slide, notching up its worst performance ever last month, by reeling in a still impressive 56 per cent of the browser market. …

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  1. Michael Jennings

    Short memories.

    <em>That is significant given that Microsoft's Internet Explorer surfing tool continued to slide, notching up its worst performance ever last month, by reeling in a still impressive 56 per cent of the browser market.</em>

    Presumably the word "ever" has been redefined as meaning "since about 1999".

    Of course, under English law, the phrase "since time immemorial" has sometimes been defined precisely as meaning "since at least 6 July 1189".

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Meh

    I choose my browsers not on marketshare but the following criteria:

    Performance

    Features

    Style

    Features

    Stability

    Standards Complaince

    That's why I choose Opera. Clearly they don't have the huge advertising budgets of Microsoft/Apple/Google, but that does not mean they don't make the best browser.

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    1. The Beard
      Reply Icon
      Heart

      Opera

      Agreed, I've never understood why Opera's market share is so small, sure it hasn't got the opensource hipness of Firefox but I've always found it to be consistantly one of the better browsers out there.

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      1. Goat Jam
        Reply Icon
        Pint

        Well

        I use Linux and have been using Chrome for quite some time because FF3 was so terribly slow when using GMail. However, lately I have found Chrome to be crashing a lot on pages requiring you to stop the page loading and then refresh it again many times per day. This happened at work and at home so I doubt whether it was a local problem.

        Anyway, I read a story on el reg about Opera a few weeks ago which prompted me to check Opera out. So, I installed it.

        Initial response was that it looked a bit ugly. That's no deal killer though so I tried it out for a couple of days anyway. First problem was that I couldn't (easily) figure out how to show the bookmarks toolbar. Second thing was although it looks a lot like Chrome with the tabs at the top but it doesn't appear to be possible to turn off the gnome window borders like chrome does when in fullscreen mode.

        In the end, I simply didn't like it and went back to Firefox, to see if it was behaving better than it used to. That was the beginning of this week and so far it has handled gmail (and everything else) without issues so I guess I'll be staying there for the foreseeable future.

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      2. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Stop

        Simple

        Most people are sheep and just use what they see thrown in their face.

        Firefox is still (somehow) clinging onto the crowd that left IE because someone told them security was better in Firefox (LOL)

        People still using IE, Safari (does anyone use Safai on Windows? and Why?) and Chrome are because these are billion dollar companies and can throw bottomless amounts of money at the problem of public awareness.

        Opera does not have either of these, but it does have the best browser by a very long mile, and it's a very profitable outfit in both the desktop and mobile arenas. The only losers are those that write it off without trying it.

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        1. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          You need to define "best"

          "Opera does not have either of these, but it does have the best browser by a very long mile, and it's a very profitable outfit in both the desktop and mobile arenas. The only losers are those that write it off without trying it."

          I've tried every major version from 4 to 10 and in every case I found that I do not like the user interface, that quite a few of my regular websites do not render as I would expect, that it's not faster (or slower) than anything else by any noticeable real-world margin and that it doesn't cope well with being used from behind an authenticating proxy.

          So far I haven't noticed any of these problems with either Chrome, IE, Firefox or Safari, so could you please tell me why Opera is the best?

          N.B. Being first to incorporate some browser improvements, e.g. tabs, does not make it "best"; simply "first".

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    2. alwarming
      Reply Icon
      Paris Hilton

      @opera fondling AC..

      Aren't you, like, one of the first commenturds in every browser market share article ? What's up with that ? Did you recently join opera dev and proving your loyalty ?

      Instead of blanket rants - which just irritate - there are better ways to promote your product. Paris, coz she knows a thing about self promotion.

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  3. Barry Tabrah

    If I'm reading the stats right...

    Chrome might have grabbed 10%, but IE6 still has 11%. Scary stuff.

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  4. Avatar of They
    WTF?

    10%?

    I still don't know anyone that uses chrome? I know lots that have it installed because it comes bundled with EVERYTHING the creepware giant dishes out. But no one that actually double clicks and uses it as a browser.

    Must be me then.

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    1. AndrueC Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Down

      There's me

      I've been using it for over a year now.

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        I had been using it ...

        since it was initial release. I stopped when Google decided to force Flash on everyone. I don't want that vapid piece of malware anywhere near my computer thanks.

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  5. HMB

    Damned Statistics

    Net Apps has is the most IE weighted statistics source I've seen! If you look at gs.statcounter.com then things are quite different. There's a surprising amount of variation going on here. What's behind it?

    In that world, IE sits at 46%, Firefox at 30%, Chrome at 15% and IE6 at 5%.

    It's also important to consider that with worldwide stats, places like Africa and China are IE6 happy and will affect the figures. (Uneven distribution)

    I did give Opera a go but dropped it because it rendered some pages badly. I'm very happy with Google Chrome, which renders the same pages faster and perfectly too!

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  6. rvt
    Big Brother

    Chrome!?!?!

    For me Chrome has some mayor drawbacks

    1) It doesn't render websites like Firefox, Safari, Opera and even IE does. Chrome is the new IE all over again

    2) It doesn't even have a search bar on the top right, as soon as I search my search words are gone.

    3) Compared to some other browsers it really doesn't load a website faster, it's all the same to me (who cares about some fancy test!)

    I have no idea why people really like chrome if you ask me... I have it installed, I use it to test a website, but it doesn't give me the browser drug other people are getting

    2 3
    1. xenny
      Reply Icon

      @rvt

      re 2) you search, you end up at the search engine of your choice, with the search terms in the site's search term entry field, so you can modify the search if you wish to.

      re3) It doesn't load one site faster, but I'm not infrequently loading half a dozen at a time, at which point it is faster than anything else out there. The separated thread design also means that I've never yet lost a browsing session due to a crash, which is very pleasant.

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  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hmm...

    10% of the market, but I have still to see anyone who actually has it installed on a machine.

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    1. James Hughes 1
      Reply Icon

      Well...

      There's me (Ubuntu) , my other half (Vista) and my father (Ubuntu). All very happy with Chrome - so that's at least three people.

      I tried it (and Firefox, Opera), and found it to work so much faster than the others it was a no brainer. Add on Adblock (Amazing that Google allow that!) and what's not to like. Never got on with Opera - Flash video from places like YouTube was continually freezing so I gave up. Seemed OK though.

      Speed example. If I start Firefox, then start Chrome. I can be writing in the URL bar of Chrome before the Firefox window even bothers to start appearing.

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  8. rvt

    more clicks with chrome.

    @xenny:

    When I clock on a search result, my search terms are gone. When I have a search bar they are not. With chrome it's more clicking and copying search terms on clipboards.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Down

      Not at all.

      Check the search box on the search engine page that the browser has sent you to. See http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95655

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    2. xenny
      Reply Icon

      @rvt

      I've just experimented, and for me, I can enter a search term, press return, end up at google with the term in the search field on the web page. If I then click on a search result, and press the menu bar back button subsequently, I end up back at google with the search term still in the search entry field.

      I don't know why you're not experiencing that behaviour.

      While I see this behaviour when I actively look for it, the way I normally use chrome is to middle click on each promising search entry to open them in a new tab, so the original search results sit untouched until I've found what I want.

      Hope that's some help.

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  9. Mark .

    flawed stats

    Remember that these stats are often flawed - the same stats would claim the Iphone to be the most popular mobile platform, despite the fact that we know it isn't anywhere near that.

    It penalises browsers that do more to cache results, as well as those that have to present themselves as another browser, in order not to be fed bogus data.

    I too am confused why market share matters for users - and the point is, there isn't even consistency here. If Firefox fans say it's better than Opera because of greater market share, then by the same logic, we should all be using IE(!)

    I'm glad to see more alternatives in browsers now gaining ground. Though I get annoyed when Firefox fans spend so much time evangelising against Opera users. Surely more non-IE competition is good? I was using a non-IE browser long before Firefox existed, and long before it became trendy to not use IE, so it's frustrating to hear this envangelism from a Johnny-come-lately.

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  10. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    Iron...

    I wonder if the Chrome results include Iron (the white-label version of Chrome that doesn't talk to Google).

    I've been using Iron for ages - I find it consistently faster than Firefox (both starting up and loading pages), and I love the built-in DOM tools that mean I don't have to install Firebug.

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  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Waa Waa Waa!

    I just knew before I read that among the first 5 comments would be at least one Opera user claiming that Opera is best despite its tiny market share. There comes a point in time when you have to realise that most people just simply don't like it.

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    1. Oninoshiko
      Reply Icon
      Troll

      Waa Waa Waa

      I knew there would be one troll arguing evertything is market share.

      Clearly windows is the best OS, IE is the best browser, and RIM makes the best smartphone.

      Everyone else needs to realise that most people just simply don't like the others.

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      no

      most people don't know about it.

      Everyone I have introduced to it (usually when removing spyware from IE/Firefox systems) has stuck with it, and love it. I also don't end up going back and cleaning there systems every other week afterwards too.

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  12. Lewis Mettler 1
    Stop

    you bought IE

    You did not have a choice.

    It is illegally commingled and bundled with the Microsoft OS.

    So why wouldn't 50% still use it?

    Now if Microsoft offered consumes a choice or allowed customers to download and install a browser of their choice like just about all other applications, then the comparison of use might make sense.

    If you are forced to buy a burger each day for lunch (whether you eat it or not), it makes sense that most people would eat it. 90% are forced to buy it. Only 50% use it. That means that 45% toss the burger away.

    Seems like those idiots should be complaining about the requirement to purchase that burger.

    Being forced to buy a country mandated uniform is the same thing. Your opinion does not count. Every time you shop for clothes you have to buy the governments uniform. They your opinion on clothes would matter the same as browsers.

    Both the US DOJ and the EU Commission have agreed to force the sale of IE.

    Just remember, if you have a copy of IE, your opinion does not matter. Not to Microsoft, that is for sure. They get your money every time.

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  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I get counted 3 times

    I have Firefox, IE8 and Chrome installed. I have to use one badly written app, hence IE8, and otherwise need two unique browsers so I can have two connections into a server that appear unique.

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    1. xenny
      Reply Icon

      @theodore

      I get around the two browsers requirement by using one instance of Chrome, with a window open in 'incognito' mode. Works fine for my problem, and saves having yet another app eating RAM.

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  14. JDX Gold badge

    FF in the cross-hairs?

    After all these years, and a big team & budget, FF is still only just about 20%. Chrome gets half that practically overnight in comparison.

    Could it really be the case Chrome overtakes FF before IE loses #1 status? At this rate, FF is looking under serious threat while IE is simply continuing a slow descent.

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