Anyhow, in one of those infographics sprees, I ran across one that I simply couldn’t pass up on.  It’s meant to be taken in the spirit of fun, which I know you guys will get. ;)

Quick summary:

Personification of the browsers aside, I mainly use Chrome now for performance reasons. As the image shows, it is extremely lean and user friendly. However, there are times when I need to use Mozilla Firefox because of all the “stuff she puts in your memory.” So which browser do you use?

Going back to personification one last time – I wish I could create one of these with the title “If Men Were Browsers.” Now that would be so much fun! Anyone want to work on it with me?

via Sharenator

It follows a lengthy legal battle in Europe which has seen Microsoft accused of anti-competitive behaviour because it bundles Internet Explorer with the Windows operating system. This means that many computer users don’t realise there are alternative browsers available — amusing given that many users don’t really appreciate what a ‘browser’ really is.

Us geeks have been switching in droves to alternatives such as Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome, but most ‘standard’ users have stuck with IE out of ignorance.

It’s interesting that Apple, though having a significantly lower market share, hasn’t been officially questioned over its bundling of the Safari browser with OS X.

Windows users who have already switched to another browser won’t be presented with the list of options, which includes Avant, Chrome, Firefox, Flock, Green Browser, K-meleon, Maxthon, Opera, Safari, Sleipnir, Slim — and Internet Explorer of course.

Who’ll benefit the most from this? Browser manufacturers, most likely, and IT helpdesks. For those of us who are unpaid technical support for friends and relatives, it may be a potential headache but at least it forces the issue that it’s generally a good thing to switch away from Internet Explorer.

Whether my mum and dad are going to suddenly dive into using Firefox is another matter — I doubt it somehow.

Interestingly, the list of choices will be randomised to a certain extent, with the big five (Opera, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and IE) appearing in random order on the first section and the other seven randomly spread out below.

What do you think of this move?

Via

Results vary from continent to continent, with Firefox being a lot more popular in Europe than North America, for example.

The complete Internet Explorer collection still significantly outranks Firefox. IE6 alone is still in use by nearly one in six users.

I decided to take a look at a couple of our websites.

Firstly, Forever Geek, which you’d expect to be frequented by a more tech-savvy crowd, confirmed my belief.

Last month, Firefox overall had 50% visitor share, compared to Internet Explorer’s 30%, while in November ’08, IE had been sitting with 35% and FF still at 50%.

Moving to a site concerned with celebrity gossip, and likely to be frequented by a wider range of users, I found that IE took at 46% share compared to FF on 35%.

Again, Firefox had held its 35% share since November ’08, whereas IE had slipped from 51%.

Not particularly scientific, I grant you, but it’s interesting that in both cases, Microsoft’s browser has slipped five percentage points, while Mozilla’s baby has held its share.

There are a few more interesting numbers for those who enjoy this sort of thing.

Via

Internet Explorer 7x is close behind, with Firefox version 3 claiming one in ten users and the rest straggling behind.

It’s news that’s sure to wind up web developers, like those behind the Kill IE6 project.

These results come from Stat Owl. Other web measuring tools might get the numbers slightly different, but there’s no denying that a lot more needs to happen to eradicate IE6 from the world.

Part of the problem is corporations that haven’t upgraded their systems, as well as home users who aren’t very computer literate and just don’t know or care about web browser versions and the like. It’s just the Internet, right?

Unsurprisingly, you Forever Geek readers are a web savvy lot – well over half are using Firefox. The 6% or so of IE6 users probably arrived here by mistake.

Though Microsoft has recently announced that it is to roll out Internet Explorer 8 via automatic software upgrade, I’ve still got a nasty feeling that IE6 could take some time to eradicate.