Who's still using Internet Explorer? And why won't they upgrade?

[Batu69]

On January 12, 2016, Microsoft is officially dropping support for all but the latest version of Internet Explorer. For a surprisingly high number of laggards, it's time to upgrade or face a world of hurt. So what's holding them back?

 

Next month, Microsoft will officially stop delivering updates for all but the latest Internet Explorer version on each Windows version it supports. Although the company provided almost two years' warning, the population still using older versions of Internet Explorer appears to be uncomfortably high.

 

How many people are using Microsoft browsers (Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge) on desktop PCs, laptops, and Windows-powered hybrids? And what percentage of those customers are going to stop getting security updates after January? Getting answers to those questions turned out to be harder than I thought.

 

In fact, the three most commonly cited sources of information on usage share for browsers and operating systems publish authoritative-looking numbers that are almost comically far apart. Instead of picking one, I'll give you the numbers from all three sources and maybe together we can make some send of things.

 

First, how many people and PCs use Microsoft browsers?

 

I looked at worldwide desktop browser share by version for the three-month period from September through November 2015. Here's the result:

 

 

The number on the left counts the percentage share for Microsoft desktop browsers (all versions of Internet Explorer as well as the new Microsoft Edge browser, available only in Windows 10).

 

StatCounter, which measures pageviews rather than trying to count individual devices, says Microsoft browsers account for just over 18 percent of all worldwide web traffic from desktop PCs and laptops. Google is the absolute leader in StatCounter's numbers, with an average of 57 percent of all worldwide pageviews from desktop browsers during the survey period.

 

The U.S. Digital Analytics Program, which counts visits to U.S. Government websites from individual devices, helpfully breaks out the desktop and mobile percentages. Those numbers say Microsoft browsers accounted for 35.8 percent of the 1 billion or so visits from desktop devices in that three-month period. The remainder is divided between Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, and a small number of obscure browsers.

 

And then there's Net Market Share, which makes geographic adjustments to its raw numbers and also subtracts pages that are loaded but typically never seen. For the period in question, the Net Market Share numbers say Microsoft browsers account for 50.7 percent of all worldwide visits from devices running a desktop operating system such as Windows or OS X.

 

Unhelpfully, those numbers suggest that Microsoft browsers are used regularly on at least 200 million and possibly as many as 800 million Windows PCs.

 

Oh dear. That doesn't narrow things down much at all, does it?

 

The more interesting question is this follow-up: Among the population that chooses to use Microsoft browsers, which versions are they using? Here's the result:

 

Depending on whose numbers you look at the share of people using a Microsoft browser who are on the latest version (Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 7 or later, with Edge as an option on Windows 10) is well over 50 percent and possibly as high as two-thirds.

 

I was surprised to see Microsoft Edge getting so much real-world usage only four months after its release, getting between 6.3 and 6.6 percent share, or about 1 in every 4 Windows 10 machines, as measured by StatCounter and confirmed by the DAP numbers. (Net Market Share's numbers are down across all versions except Internet Explorer 8, which is unnaturally high. Take the differences with a healthy serving of salt.)

 

So, who are those laggards still on earlier versions? Let's break it down group by group.

 

Internet Explorer 10 - All three data sources find a rare point of agreement here, with this version accounting for 9.2-9.3 percent of usage. This release runs on only two desktop Windows versions. On Windows 7, the upgrade to Internet Explorer 11 is easy. On Windows 8, where it's the default, the only way to get a supported Microsoft browser is to upgrade the operating system to 8.1 or 10. Either way, anyone in this group should feel pressure to upgrade as soon as possible.

 

Internet Explorer 9 - Believe it or not, there are people who are perfectly happy to be running Windows Vista today. Some small but not trivial number of devices (roughly 2 percent of all Windows PCs) are running Vista. For those diehards, this is the last supported version of Internet Explorer, and it will continue to get security updates for another year. The larger problem is Vista itself, which will no longer be supported come April 11, 2017.

 

Internet Explorer 8 - Here's another place where three different metrics give three wildly different results. Somewhere between 5.8 and 23.5 percent of web traffic from Microsoft browsers is from this version.

 

This version was the last one to run on Windows XP, so that likely accounts for the lions share of this number. There are also corporate sites running Windows 7 that standardized on Internet Explorer 8 for compatibility with line-of-business apps. If there's an IT pro in the house, these people desperately need to set up Enterprise Mode for Internet Explorer 11, which was built for precisely this purpose.

 

Internet Explorer 7 and earlier - Anyone running one of these versions of Internet Explorer in 2015 has a real IT management problem, frankly. But if the underlying operating system is Windows 7, it's not too late to move to Internet Explorer 11 (and if necessary, turn on Enterprise Mode).

 

So, come next month, more than 25 percent of all Internet Explorer users are going to get the very last security updates for their browser. That number will shrink as Vista machines retire and Windows 8 PCs get upgraded. But businesses that don't move off of their unsupported Internet Explorer version in 2016 could face a world of hurt.

 

Until Edge gets support for extensions (with ad blockers and password managers at the top of the list), it isn't a contender for anything more than occasional slumming among heavy browser users. That support is due sometime next year, and could be a key selling point in Microsoft's campaign to have Windows 10 on a billion devices in the next few years.

 

News source

 

[VileTouch]

who uses internet explorer? people who have no choice. see. windows xp retail cd (no service pack) comes with IE6. installing the service pack alone requires a steady connection to get the prerequisites and then even more gigabytes of updates. that takes A LOT of time and only takes you to IE8.

 

but why xp you say? sometimes that's what they've got and are unwilling to do anything. because "third party"= "bad!" so no AV or any other program. plain windows xp out of the box with updates disabled (so it doesn't nag)

 

but why xp if 10 is free? well, for starters you can't install 10 on a pentium 4 with 1gb ram can you? but wait. let me clarify. some people still believe that the monetary value of a computer is USD$50. ...wait...what? --you say. yes. some people have started importing discarded computers from china,(computers meant to be recycled for their base elements) refurbish them and sell them....cheap! so cheap that when they inevitably break the repair cost more than the whole thing.

mind you, this is aimed at people with a specific mindset. ("i don't need a superfast computer, all i want is to send emails",everything else they do on the phone.) "superfast" meaning something that cost 2x the price. i can assure you, it is IT hell.when I charge MORE than what the whole computer costs...plus parts

 

 

edit: ok, im back. another kind of people who are forced to use IE are users of some software with an online element. be it a desktop application or straight out browser based. on desktop software the usual method is embedding an internet explorer activex. and it's not like there's much choice either. you either make your own net code, spend hours adapting the convoluted CEF, or snap in the IE activex in 5 minutes. the latter is what you usually get.

 

now browser based apps. these usually have horrible horrible code. i've seen it in universities, call centers, help desks,banks and even some public services. their page will ONLY load on internet explorer for some obscure reason. anything else you get a blank page and error 400 or 408 if you dig deep enough.

and then there's "modern" apps (windows 8,10 but also vista and 7 desktop widgets) these are inherently internet explorer bound with it's lack of adblocker and security flaws. no way around it.

[Holmes]

There is nothing wrong with internet exploiter I mean explorer lawls.  I use it now for site compatibility some sites work better with internet explorer.

[dcs18]

6 hours ago, Batu69 said:

Who's still using Internet Explorer?

WTF, I am still using Internet Explorer.

 

 

6 hours ago, Batu69 said:

And why won't they upgrade?

Says who???

 

Of course I will — clearly remember using Internet Explorer to . . . . . . . . . . . download and upgrade to Firefox.

[straycat19]

Unfortunately there are web based programs that will not work with edge nor IE 11 reliably.  They work in IE10, firefox, and chrome though.  An upgrade to any IE/Edge is firefox or chrome.  An upgrade to Windows 10 is any linux distribution. 

[vibranium]

No. 1 reason for staying on IE for many people I know: plugins, e.g. bank plugins.

[Karlston]

People can invest so much time and effort in customising their browser with addons, collecting and organising bookmarks, etc that changing browsers becomes such a pain that they stick with what they have through thick and thin.

[Kalju]

Unfortunately you cannot deny it - so far the only one that is stable and works. And of course - is a very important habit, people are used for long time and know how to use it.
Personally, I use a great variety. As I have said - fool, but curious.

[LeeSmithG]

The title needs to be changed, as' upgrade to what?

 

I run the latest version of I.E. so what will I be upgrading to?

 

[wavymavy]

I think there will be a lot of tech support for many business locations across the land.  While as easy as it may be loads of people are scared of change and not know what to do.

[CODYQX4]

On 12/11/2015 at 11:29 AM, vibranium said:

No. 1 reason for staying on IE for many people I know: plugins, e.g. bank plugins.

If your bank requires a browser plugin, they deserve to fail, because a proper browser should be able to secure from all but user stupidity.

[vibranium]

2 hours ago, CODYQX4 said:

If your bank requires a browser plugin, they deserve to fail, because a proper browser should be able to secure from all but user stupidity.

 

I agree. It could take years for the desktop plugin situation to change though. I am optimistic because on the mobile end, nearly all the banks have Android banking apps now.

[CODYQX4]

8 minutes ago, vibranium said:

 

I agree. It could take years for the desktop plugin situation to change though. I am optimistic because on the mobile end, nearly all the banks have Android banking apps now.

I've never seen a bank require a plugin. Is this more common overseas or something?

 

Funny how they'll make a plugin for the most insecure browser, but for an OS arguably much more secure than some old unpatched Android phone, and then let that app run on a version of Android 2-3 versions behind, on phones that will never get updates, and no plague of hacks happens.

 

Their plugin is unvetted and untrustworthy. Just go look as the trash that is AVG, add a plugin that spies on you (an AV/Security Suite spying on you, human extinction can't happen soon enough because we're too dumb to deserve this planet), AND makes it so you can easily be exploited by any site targeting that plugin easily. You're giving some 3rd Party plugin for a bank to do what the OS and Browser should handle, and giving it vastly elevated rights that subvert all browser security. Just exactly what do these plugins claim to do?

 

This reminds me of how German Gov sites require Java, the most insecure web software, if not 1st, then 2nd to Flash, who is so degenerate that they put the cancer that is Ask (they should be in prison in a just world) in autoupdates that are to fix the 100th zero day of the year.

[CODYQX4]

A quick Google search indicates these banks rely on CraptiveX, a tech that was a security nightmare 15 years ago, by banks in China that would have been forced to get their shit together if they weren't the "one true national bank".

 

Meanwhile they don't work properly in anything newer than IE 8 (the zombie browser keeping us 10 years behind), and they use some arcane black magic to even login to the bank.

 

I can't find any other examples.

[Holmes]

CraptiveX hahahaha I loove that.  ActiveX java and flash all got to go (javascript to) are planet is doomed with these in use.

[vibranium]

4 hours ago, CODYQX4 said:

I've never seen a bank require a plugin. Is this more common overseas or something?

 

Fairly common overseas. There'll be a plugin for the website, then a plugin for antiphishing measures while the site is being accessed (and what the phish, it stays resident for every single website ...), a plugin for anti-keylogging, some root certificate you gotta install...

 

If you're a typical bank end user, there's little choice but to accept it.

[CODYQX4]

11 hours ago, vibranium said:

 

Fairly common overseas. There'll be a plugin for the website, then a plugin for antiphishing measures while the site is being accessed (and what the phish, it stays resident for every single website ...), a plugin for anti-keylogging, some root certificate you gotta install...

 

If you're a typical bank end user, there's little choice but to accept it.

Yeah that sounds like spyware. Root certificate? You mean they can't buy an SSL signed by all the browsers like every other business ever?

 

Or are they using it for authentication? Biggest banks out there just use username+password and ideally some form of 2FA.

 

The browsers these days (even IE) have anti-phishing and many do cert pinning in case of forgery, and if you've got keyloggers on your system I don't think a plugin is going to help because you're already hacked.

[vibranium]

You just wish I were making this up, wouldn't you?