Internet Explorer Falling Further Behind, In Several Ways

The gang at IBM dealt a blow to Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser today, announcing that they were making the FireFox browser available to their 300,000 employees. Snippet from Information Week:

Microsoft's Internet Explorer continues lose market share as more consumers and businesses adopt alternative Web browsers. Rival IBM on Friday became the latest company to embrace Mozilla's Firefox browser, making it available to 300,000 employees.

"IBM recognizes a bandwagon when it sees one," says Andy Jaquith, an analyst at the Yankee Group. "Besides, it's migrating its whole operation to Linux."

Firefox clearly has momentum. It has been downloaded more than 50 million times, and members of the open-source Mozilla project have provided funds for advertising to promote the browser. Firefox has features that aren't available in Internet Explorer. And some experts think it's more secure than IE, reason enough for businesses to consider it as an alternative browser.

CNN noted a few days ago that IE market share had dropped to less than 90% for the very first time. Information Week gave Firefox about 8% market share, and interestingly Apple's Safari browser 3% of the market (or virtually all Mac users out there).

This Information Week story announces that the new IE 7 will include tabs, a feature that Safari has had for years and a big differentiator for Firefox. Microsoft IE product manager Dean Hachamovitch realizes the mistake to wait so long for tabs as he explains, "I think we made the wrong decision here [not including tabs] initially, and we're making the right one now."

Sounds like the new IE 7 won't be in beta until this summer. I'd thought that they were shooting for a lot earlier than that. Another big feature in IE 7 that many are waiting for is the built-in RSS reader. I bet that it's going to get a lot worse for Internet Explorer before it gets better. Plagued with security flaws, slower speed and fewer features, Firefox is the best choice on a PC. Safari's still my favorite overall browser, especially the one built into OS X Tiger.

-aB