Web usage statistics – IE6 hanging on
Welcome back, friends! Let’s see what’s happening on the web!
Since the last web usage stats post, an industry point to note is the favorable market response to netbooks. This response, while not showing much influence in the stats today, may have some impact in the future. There are a two reasons for this. First, netbooks are shipping with Windows XP as opposed to Vista. This will most likely change in October with the release of Windows 7, but for now, XP usage is getting an extra boost. The second reason, one that will last well past October, is the new screen resolutions that netbooks are introducing. Again, current stats aren’t showing anything significant yet, but 1024 x 600 or 1366 x 768 (for some newer models) are screen resolutions to keep on the radar. Especially if you’re targeting that young, hip crowd.
That said, let’s dive into the charts and see what we’ve found.
The charts
Internet Explorer 8 has gained some ground, reaching 9% usage. IE7 and Firefox taking the hit for the increase. Sadly, no movement was seen in IE6 usage. The continued use of IE6 is so detrimental to the advancement of the web that several “IE6 must die” sites have popped up, urging the masses to upgrade. Here’s a few for your reference:
http://idroppedie6.com/
http://www.bringdownie6.com/
Twitter campaign: http://twibbon.com/join/IE6-Must-Die
Do what you can, spread the word. Send links to better browsers to your friends and family. The NeoCommunicator agrees: IE6 Must Die.
Very little activity on the operating system front. XP got a single digit bump up to 69%, perhaps thanks to the netbooks mentioned earlier. The single digit coming from OSX, which is now smaller than the “Other” category. Sorry Mac friends! Don’t shoot the messenger! We’ll see how this chart looks in early 2010, once Windows 7 and Apple’s Snow Leopard update have been available for a couple months.
As expected, we’re seeing the slow demise of 1024 x 768. A 4% drop to 32% from the last post. Everything is widescreen and the numbers are supporting it. The Other category has grown 3%, which, I could surmise, is due to the new netbook resolutions, in addition to the general advancement of technology. More people have more powerful computers with the capability of displaying higher resolution. 1024 x 768 is still king for now, but the end is slowly drawing near.
A slight change since the last post, widescreen has gained 4 points moving up to 43%. Gaining a little bit more ground with every new PC purchase. This change over may be long and drawn out however. Monitors seem to last quite a bit longer than the PCs that drive them, so we have to wait until those standard ratio monitors drop dead until some users shift to widescreen. I say this as I stare at my lovely dual-standard LCD setup that shows no signs of failing. Maybe I should nudge them off the desk.
Charts Disclaimer: The information in these charts was collected from several statistic sites and the average was used here. The information is a constantly moving target and should not be considered definitive. You should always focus on your specific users and their hardware / software / settings.
Sources:
Market Share | StatCounter | W3Counter | w3schools
