As the dust takes a long time to settle after the recent discussions over the version targeting in Internet Explorer 8 we seem to be living in the future. Tim at CSS Karma made an interesting observation over the market share IE6 and 7 have at the moment.

IE7 Surges Forward

His stats from the North Carolina State University Blackboard login page show that IE7 has taken over as the dominant browser from IE6. Up until now I had assumed that the two were fighting it out quite evenly, but here was some evidence that IE7 is finally starting to win. I checked my stats and the recent trend showed that IE7 was also in the lead.

Maybe this is due to Microsoft opening IE7 up to all Windows users (i.e. including those who didn't pay for it, if you know what I mean) by removing the Windows Genuine Advantage check back in October last year. Maybe the recent second round of automatic updates pushing IE7 out again are helping (though it's interesting to note that Microsoft still feel like they have to provide escape mechanisms for those who insist on sticking with IE6, another argument for version targeting perhaps).

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

Of course, Tim's stats come mainly from young, tech savvy students and mine are most likely interested in web development and this skews the figures somewhat. Plus, the only browser usage stats that matter to your site are the ones for your users. But I'm interested anyway, so what are the trends on your site/blog? Have you seen IE7 taking a larger slice of the pie? Is IE6 still holding strong? Is Firefox beating both of them (it is here)? Drop me a comment and let's see if this trend is for real.