directness machinate: Could Google Chrome overtake Internet Explorer?

Friday, January 13, 2012

Could Google Chrome overtake Internet Explorer?

by Bruce Tyson

Created on: January 07, 2012

Google?s Chrome Web browser was only a twinkle in Eric Schmidt?s eye just a few short years ago; now it is one of the top Web browsers in the world. With that kind of explosive growth, the browser has already surpassed Mozilla?s Firefox Web browser in popularity and now seems ready to aggressively fight to be the ultimate victor of the browser wars.?

Once Upon a Time ?

In the Internet?s Dark Ages, browsers like Netscape ruled the landscape. At the time, no one knew they were dinosaurs because they were all people had to navigate the World Wide Web. Netscape spawned from an earlier program, Mosaic, that could be thought of as the primeval soup that got the whole browser thing started.

The first battle in the browser wars began in 1995 when Internet Explorer came on the scene. It was from Microsoft and it was free and soon would come bundled with windows; so it took off like a rocket. (Back then some people complained about its sluggishness, clunky interface, compatibility problems and buggy features just as they do today.) Soon after Internet Explorer emerged, all popular browsers would soon be free. By 2002, about 90 percent of the Web browser market was commanded by Microsoft.?

Although Apple launched its Safari Web browser in 2003, the second battle in the browser wars didn?t begin until Firefox strutted onto the battle field the following year. Firefox quickly commanded the respect of the Internet community and took a solid second place in popularity surveys. Then came Google.

Google vs. Firefox

Google surprised its critics when it released its Chrome browser in 2008. Skeptics doubted that the search engine?s venture into the software business could bear much fruit; they were wrong.?In just a few years, Chrome surpassed Firefox as the second most popular browser in the industry. The search giant recently drove a stake through that browser?s heart by yanking the lucrative search deal that infused Mozilla with millions of dollars in cash.?

Google vs. Microsoft

After conquering Firefox, Google has clear intentions for going after its nemesis, Microsoft and its now-flailing Internet Explorer browser.?

According to statistics referenced by CNN,Google Chrome already is nipping at the heels of the Microsoft browser. In December, Google Chrome version 15 users edged out Internet Explorer version 8 users by one-tenth of one percent.?

When all versions of Chrome are surveyed collectively, Chrome has 27 percent of global market share, compared to Internet?s 37 percent. This startling number reveals that in just a short time, Microsoft has lost more than half of its share of the browser market.?

As analysts and pundits continue to analyze what could be the third and final round of the browser wars, many will likely conclude that Google Chrome could overtake Internet Explorer.?

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