It feels like just yesterday when AOL dominated a majority of cyber communication and web browsing. Even then, Internet Explorer seemed like a strange secondary product to some. As AOL seemed to trickle away, Internet Explorer pretty much was the exclusive tool for internet users and their browsing needs.
Around 2002, just over 90% of internet users had IE as their browser of choice. Fast forward to today, and it’s less than half of the total market share of users. With the rise of Firefox, Safari, & Google Chrome, Microsoft just hasn’t been able to keep up with the trends.
It’s almost impossible to compete with the trends that Google is setting. Naturally, everyone uses Google as their primary search engine. Chrome and Gmail are just the perfect harmony with all of that, and when it all boils down, it’s a tough opponent.
In Late 2015, Microsoft rolled out Windows 10, their latest (and supposedly greatest) Operating System. With that, is the OS exclusive browser, Edge. This is Microsoft on all cylinders, offering a product that people can rely on more heavily. The bigger hurdle is; can Microsoft Edge shift back the users they lost in the last 5-8 years?
Cool story, bro. How does this affect me, my business, and more importantly my website?
Well, that’s a great question. In today’s changing technology driven world, it’s critical for any Website Design and Marketing Company to say on top of these trends. This is as equally important for end-users as it is for companies like 561Media.com. When Microsoft stops supporting older browser versions, you’re not going to see any more updates or bug fixes. This is like stealing candy from a baby to hackers/malware. Loopholes won’t be closed, and you may be more vulnerable to issues like that.
On the flip side, Web Designers and Developers need to stay current, and develop for the most up-to-date browser versions out there. It’s counter-productive to allocate time and effort to try to get what has been notoriously pesky for web developers to work with (older IE versions) rather the browsers that people are trending to.
Hopefully IE 11, and Edge come out of the gates strong in 2016, and Microsoft can claim what they have lost out on in Browser usage. It’s a competitive field out there, and we’ll watch closely to see how this move plays out.
