As of this first week in January, 2009, the web statistics at my five main sites read as follows (only values greater than or equal to two percent are listed):
Burningbird (main page)
| Browser and version (if provided) | Percentage |
|---|---|
| MSIE 5.5 | 4.3% |
| MSIE 6.0 | 6.8% |
| MSIE 7.0 | 14.6% |
| Firefox 3.0.5 | 16% |
| NetWireNews | 8.3% |
| Safari | 6.4% |
| NewsGator | 5.3% |
| Mozilla | 2.7% |
| Operating System and version | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Windows XP | 28.7% |
| Windows Vista | 9.8% |
| Windows 2000 | 4.9% |
| GNU Linux | 2.2% |
| Mac OS X | 22.2% |
Burningbird RealTech (this site)
| Browser and version (if provided) | Percentage |
|---|---|
| MSIE 5.5 | 3.8% |
| MSIE 6.0 | 13.8% |
| MSIE 7.0 | 8.2% |
| MSIE 8.0 | 2.2% |
| Firefox 2.0 | 2.0% |
| Firefox 3.0.5 | 25.3% |
| Firefox 3.1 | 6.4% |
| Safari | 9.5% |
| Opera | 5.9% |
| Mozilla | 3.8% |
| Operating system and version | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Windows XP | 39.8% |
| Windows Vista | 9.2% |
| Windows 2000 | 5.5% |
| Linux Ubuntu | 3.8% |
| GNU Linux | 2.2% |
| Mac OS X | 25.6% |
MissouriGreen
| Browser and version (if provided) | Percentage |
|---|---|
| MSIE 6.0 | 8.8% |
| MSIE 7.0 | 29% |
| MSIE 8.0 | 2.1% |
| Firefox 2.0 | 2.0% |
| Firefox 3.0.5 | 14.3% |
| Firefox 3.1 | 8.7% |
| Safari | 11.2% |
| Operating system and version | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Windows XP | 42.7% |
| Windows Vista | 6.7% |
| Windows 2003 | 3.9% |
| Mac OS X | 24.3% |
Secret of Signals
| Browser and version (if provided) | Percentage |
|---|---|
| MSIE 6.0 | 8.3% |
| MSIE 7.0 | 12.6% |
| MSIE 8.0 | 2.2% |
| Firefox 3.0.5 | 19.9% |
| Firefox 3.1 | 20.5% |
| Safari | 10.8% |
| Opera | 5.5% |
| *Mozilla | 2.0% |
| Operating system and version | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Windows XP | 39.9% |
| Windows Vista | 10.2% |
| Windows 2000 | 5.5% |
| Mac OS X | 32.8% |
Just Shelley
| Browser and version (if provided) | Percentage |
|---|---|
| MSIE 6.0 | 12.1% |
| MSIE 7.0 | 29.3% |
| Firefox 2.0 | 2.0% |
| Firefox 3.0.5 | 24.5% |
| NetWireNews | 16.8% |
| Safari | 6.4% |
| Operating system and version | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Windows XP | 38.3% |
| Windows Vista | 13% |
| Windows 2003 | 4.4% |
| Mac OS X | 27.6% |
Analysis:
I’m not surprised to see the Windows 2000 users, and am assuming the MSIE 6 users among my stats are primarily based in the Windows 2000 operating system. This state may continue into the new year because of Microsoft’s decision to provide MSIE7 to Windows XP users and up, without providing an official upgrade path for those people still using Windows 2000. Not every Windows 2000 machine can easily upgrade to Windows XP. However, if people can’t upgrade their OS, they can upgrade their browser to Firefox 3.x or Opera 9.x, and possibly other, supported, browsers.
As for MSIE 5.5, good golly folks, it’s time to move on. And no, these are not Mac Classic users, as the Mac Classic OS percentage is typically less than 1%, if it shows at all in my site stats. No, I would imagine that most of these people bought a Windows 95 or 98 machine that came installed with 5.5, and the thing is now too infested with viruses for them to use, much less upgrade the software.
Speaking of upgrading, Firefox 2.x users, as of December, Mozilla is no longer supporting your browser. Firefox 3.1 is just around the corner, and is very sexy. Time for you to move, too.
There are few other browser percentage surprises. My primarily tech sites, RealTech and Secret of Signals, feature a larger percentage of Firefox users than my two non-tech sites, MissouriGreen and Just Shelley. What was pleasantly surprising, though, is that Firefox is becoming the dominant browser at the sites. Just Shelley is about the only one still heavily dominated by MSIE.
Safari’s use is increasing, which isn’t surprising because it really is the best Mac OS X general browser, as well as now being available in Windows. Safari/Webkit’s graphics rendering engine is the best, a topic on which I’ll have more to talk about, directly, in a writing I’m doing on SVG.
I would have expected, though, some increase in Opera use. I started last year with Opera at about 5%, and it’s still about 5%. Actually, the lack of change is a little spooky—who ever heard of a straight line in a chart related to the web?
But where’s Chrome? That’s what I thought when looking at the stats, and finally spotted it at under 1% for this site, only. What did the pundits say last year? Chrome was going to be a threat to Firefox? Well, I don’t think we need to dump our Firefox t-shirts just yet.
Based on the trends from last year to now, when I compare this year’s stats against next year’s stats, I predict they will show the following:
- The number of users of the new Windows 7 operating system will be inversely proportional to the number of Windows Vista users
- More Chrome users, but Firefox and Safari should still see incremental growth.
- Fewer MSIE users, with most switching to Chrome or Firefox.
- After MSIE8 releases, we’ll quickly be able to see who are the MSIE personal users, versus MSIE corporate users, because of the MSIE8 upgrade blocker.
- We’ll see a significant reduction in MSIE corporate users, as many will get laid off.
- Mac OS X use will continue incremental growth, and everyone will still be questioning Steve Jobs’ health
- Opera will continue with 5% of the browser market. Spooky.