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1. Comment - Browser Usage Stats Show IE Up, Down

   (Oct 11, 2006 - 6:53 PM)

   Dual Use, Required Use, and Enforcement:
   
   Dual Use is the use of both browsers by any user. How do we know which way these measurements are weighted? Are both hits counted even when from the same IP?
   
   Required Use is when banks, the US Government, and other agencies [Microsoft Security Updates for example] refuse to load unless you use the current flavor of IE. This, by definition, forces people to continue using IE even when the have Firefox as the "default browser."
   
   Enforcement is the threat of termination by employers, software-blocking by educational institutions, and other backhanded or restrictive practices that forgo the installation of Firefox no matter how much the user may desire to be using it.
   
   I believe that the true measure of how popular IE is would be to measure how much it's "really" preferred when the above conditions are excluded.
   
   That means that measurements of "popularity" done by or on .gov, .edu, and other websites which require IE or ANY specific browser [Some require Netscape 4+] are invalid because the user has no choice.
   
   Raw usage is well documented, and these are the numbers that are being collated by the agencies in this article. These are raw hits, indexed. That's all.
   
   I personally would strip IE out of the OS if it weren't required by Windows Update and several other programs. This is also why I bought a commercial copy of Red hat.
   
   In my opinion, IE stats are vastly overblown. That's like saying that ALL AMERICANS ride bikes to work, just because we all HAVE bikes rusting in our garages. Imagine if you were only allowed to park bikes at your worksite, at the grocery store, and anywhere in the downtown area? Cars would be impounded on sight. Would you accept that Bikes were the "preferred" transportation of consumers?
   
   I doubt it.
   
   Don Lee
   US Navy vet