V3.co.uk readers favour Firefox over IE9

Microsoft faces a stiff challenge if it's to make any headway with the newly released IE9 in the browser market, as twice as many V3.co.uk readers favour rival Mozilla's Firefox offering, according to our latest poll.

When asked if they would be implementing IE9 in their organisation, just 23 per cent said yes, as Internet Explorer is their default browser, whereas a whopping 45 per cent said they would be using Firefox.

A further four per cent said they were still unsure and would wait to see if the feature upgrades in the new browser make it worthwhile.

Firefox uptake had been climbing slowly globally but received a massive boost in late 2009 when the European Commission mandated a browser ballot selection page to be presented to new users of all Microsoft operating systems, offering them the choice of installing other browser products rather than the previously bundled IE.

In January this year, the Mozilla software became the most popular browser in Europe, registering a 38.11 per cent market share compared with Internet Explorer's 37.52 per cent, according to web-tracking firm StatCounter.

Google also scored a hit with V3.co.uk readers, with 21 per cent favouring its Chrome browser, while a further seven per cent said they use other browsers such as Apple's Safari.

Comments made on some of V3.co.uk's recent IE9 stories shed more light on the reasons behind the snubbing of Microsoft's latest browser.

"After installing IE9 and rebooting my computer I used it on a few standard pages and within two minutes of starting got the ‘IE9 error – Searching for problem – problem not identified IE9 must close'," wrote Andy Miller.

"When using Chrome I have had the odd occasion with a problem on a specific tab, mainly I think linked to the page it's trying to read, but cannot remember the last time it completely crashed."

Another reader, James, said Internet Explorer still has a bad reputation in his organisation for being a "virus magnet" due to problems in earlier versions.

Others complained of a lack of backwards compatibility with XP, which is still used on the majority of corporate desktops.

"IE9 doesn't work with Windows XP so I'll continue to use Firefox 3 and wait for the soon-to-be released Firefox 4," wrote Bruce.

"Every single friend and family member I know uses either Chrome or Firefox right now and they really have no reason to switch to IE9. I have no intention of "upgrading" to Windows 7 in the future."