Internet Explorer 8 wins the October PC browser war

http://www.neowin.net/news/internet-explorer-8-wins-the-october-pc-browser-war

 

Actually, betas notwithstanding, I don't like constant and frequent new releases and updates to browsers or most any software, for that matter. It gives me the impression the developer can't quite get things right.

 

Rapid release makes sense. It means you constantly have the latest patches/stability/performance updates. As long as you're using the stable channel everything will have undergone significant testing anyways and developers can use the early release channels to provide compatibility.

 

Patches are fine whenever they're needed to address potential exploits, but most any others are a nuisance, especially if they're for stability and even performance. It still implies to me that the developer didn't test thoroughly enough before releasing.

An example of this, in my recent experience, is that of an imaging/restore product I purchased a few months ago; I created the boot disks for it, a fairly time-consuming process, only to have the developer release an update a week later. I like to have the latest greatest, so I re-burn more boot disks. Once again, about a week later, they release another update, and.... well, you get the idea. Frustrating as heck

 

In the case of software where you actually have to do something every update it's one thing. For a browser where you won't necessarily see any drastic changes I think frequent updates are the best way to go.

Any stable release in Chrome has been tested for ~2 months or more (Chromium/Canary, Developer, Beta) so a rapid release doesn't necessarily mean bugs/ user pain. Especially since they're rarely aware of the update.

 

I think the constant new versions of browsers nowadays is pretty silly too. IE9 or 8 for that matter, can be updated via Win Updates just fine without the need to constantly change version numbers.

 

Microsoft's IE posts biggest share drop in three years

I really like the fast-paced developments in the browser world. I can't remember a single upgrade that broke things in a way I couldn't fix with help from the open community. It also helps that I'm not too dependent on add-ons and the few that I do need are in active development.

 

Internet Explorer Falls Below 50% Market Share Mark

"As far as other web browsers go, it looks like Firefox is going to the opposite direction, as its market share has increase by 0.14 point, up from 21.06% to 21.20%."

Maybe Mozilla's rapid release cycle is working after all.

 

Time will tell...

 

And Ars Technica is proclaiming its value in various ways:

 

.14% is really not a ton lol though it's nice to see.