Microsoft closes in on IE8 Release

Internet Explorer 8 is set for final release some time this week. The big question is ... will anyone care?? According to a recent survey of almost 52,000 people inside enterprises (conducted by Forrester), 78% use IE. Of those 40,000 users, only 39% are using IE7, leaving over 60% still using the more reliable version 6.

More than 20% of enterprise customers utilize a browser other than Internet Explorer, and Microsoft's share in the browser war has been shrinking for some time now (see my earlier post here). My gut tells me that people that have already switched to Firefox, Chrome or Safari will not return to Internet Explorer regardless of how it has improved. Of course, the fact that IE ships ... as the default browser ... with Windows will help Microsoft retain market share. But that will not change the inevitable "evening out" of market share across the major browsers.