Problems in the latest version of Internet Explorer have sent users running back to downgrade to IE7.
IE8 promised many things – increased speed, security and ease of use – in order to try and win back some of Microsoft’s browser market share after many users transferred to Firefox and other browsers.
According to Information Week though, the launch has already seen hardcore fans rush back to IE7 after numerous problems developed in less than a week. Complaints included long boot times, issues printing from websites, search malfunctions and image problems. There’s also the fact that 4 gigabytes of disk space is an awful lot for a browser.
Within one day the following appeared:
“I have just installed IE8 and still the search option doesn’t work. All I get is a blank line with no search box so what and where is the problem?”
A lot of these problems come directly from Microsoft’s new publishing standards (the way that web pages appear) with some users reporting that as the web is mostly built on other packages, IE8’s interpretation of the web looks off-kilter at times. Embarrassingly, even MS Publisher failed to render properly in the new browser.
At release 2.59% of the total browser market share had switched to the free IE8, but by Monday, this number had already fallen to 1.86%.
Even though Microsoft currently holds two-thirds of the browser market, IE’s market share is 24% off its peak – with 22% having switched to its biggest new threat, Mozilla’s Firefox.
Source: Monsters and Critics
