Microsoft cites IE9 launch & success as 2011 highlights

Microsoft had a busy year. Its latest browser IE9 slowly but surely grabbed market share, and countless anxious computer nerds turned to its Building Windows 8 blog for technical insight into the myriad moving pieces that make an OS. This week, the software company rounded up highlights from this year and some expectations for 2012.

“As of November, IE9 usage share on Windows 7 worldwide was higher than all versions of Chrome and all versions of Firefox – second only to IE8,” announced Roger Capriotti, Internet Explorer marketing director.

His source, NetMarketShare, has IE8 and IE9 usage for Windows 7 users at a dead heat in the U.S., with the gap a mere 5 percent worldwide.

Though Capriotti declined to provide an up-to-date download number for the browser, he reiterated that Microsoft’s end-game is wooing Windows 7 customers away from the still popular IE8. No mean feat, but one he believes the months-old browser will eventually accomplish.

“Based on where the December data currently stands, we’re pleased to say IE9 is still following that trajectory and will soon take the top spot from IE8 on Windows 7, with usage share expected to come in at nearly 25.6 percent this month,” he said.

Microsoft is so intent on pushing customers to IE9 that it created an IE6 countdown site this month. Starting in January, the company plans to turn the automatic update switch on, hoping to convince stubborn users still surfing the web on the 10-year-old browser that it’s time to move.

Until then, Capriotti and co. will be watching the charts, looking for that breakthrough. (via The Windows Blog)