IE9 Downloaded More than 2.3 Million Times on Day One

More than 2.3 million users downloaded Internet Explorer 9 within 24 hours of its Monday evening launch, Microsoft (News - Alert) announced in a company blog post.

In comparison, the beta release of IE9 was downloaded only 1 million times on day one of its release, and just 10 million times in its first six weeks of its availability. The 2.3 million downloads is particularly impressive considering Microsoft has yet to actively market the release to current IE users, meaning each download came from someone who searched online for the new browser, according to TG Daily.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, the 2.3 million downloads is far from a record. Mozilla's (News - Alert) Firefox 3.5 was downloaded around 5 million times in 24 hours, while its earlier release, Firefox 3.0, holds the record with approximately 8 million day one downloads.

In all fairness, there is greater competition in the browser market today than a few years ago. When Firefox 3.0 came out in 2008, Mozilla only needed to steal away unhappy Internet Explorer 7 customers.

Overall, IE9 has received fairly strong reviews. The latest iteration of the browser features a Chrome-like streamlined user interface and offers and very minimalistic feel.

"The browser is the stage and the websites are the stars of the show," Microsoft corporate vice-president Dean Hachamovitch told the AFP soon after the launch of IE9.

Microsoft's new browser also comes loaded with a tracking protection mechanism, known as CSS3. This online privacy offering sets IE9 apart from competing browsers like Firefox and Chrome that don't currently provide support for do-no-track systems in their products.

However, Mozilla recently announced that it would include a do-not-track feature in the upcoming version of its Firefox browser, which is scheduled to be released later this month.

Internet Explorer currently accounts for 56 percent of the Web browsers that are in use today, down from 90 percent only a few years ago, according to Net Market Share.

Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Janice McDuffee