11 Million IE9 RC Downloads So Far, Microsoft Announces
It would seem that Microsoft’s IE9 (Internet Explorer 9) web browser is making a big splash even before it is released as a final, stable version. To prove this point Microsoft has regularly made public information on how many IE9 downloads have been recorded.
While IE9 was in Beta (IE9 Beta was rolled out to the public on the 15th of September), Microsoft came out to announce that: - 2 million downloads were recorded in the first 2 days after the browser was released to the public. - 6 million downloads were recorded as of October 1st, 2010, two weeks after the launch of IE9 Beta. - 20 million downloads were recorded, announced Microsoft on January 1st, 2011. - 23 million downloads were recorded, announced Microsoft on the 1st of February, 2011. - 25 million downloads were recorded, announced Microsoft on February 10th , the day when it rolled out IE9 RC (Release Candidate).
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How did IE9 do once it graduated out of Beta and moved on to the Release Candidate Milestone? On the 16th of February, 6 days after the launch of IE9 RC, Microsoft announced that 2 million downloads were recorded. Microsoft made sure to point out the fact that the 2 million downloads were recorded before it started pushing IE9 RC via Windows Update to IE9 Beta users.
Today, the 1st of March, Microsoft announced that the number of IE9 RC downloads has gone up to 11 million. So far Microsoft recorded a grand total of 36 million IE9 Beta and IE9 RC downloads.
“Since its release on February 10th, the IE9 RC has already been downloaded over 11 million times. Together with the IE9 Beta, IE9 has been downloaded over 36 million times since its initial availability on September 15, 2010. As of February, IE9 has now surpassed total combined downloads of IE8 Beta and IE8 RC, and Net Applications reports that IE9 now represents 0.66% of all worldwide browser usage share on Windows with 2.09% usage share on Windows 7,” announced Roger Capriotti, Director, Internet Explorer Product Marketing.
IE9’s new features may explain why it has been downloaded so many times. Here’s are the browser’s main new features:
A fresh new UI (user interface) that, as Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President for Internet Explorer, Dean Hachamovitch said, is meant to put the focus on the site, not the browser.
Pin websites to the Windows 7 taskbar.
The New Tab Page displays the sites you visit most often (like Opera's Speed Dial).
All notifications are displayed at the bottom of the page.
Tear-off tabs feature that allows you to snap pages side-by-side using Windows Aero Snap.
Tabs that are related are color coded.
Add-on Performance Advisor identifies add-ons that may be slowing down your browser.
New, faster JavaScript engine.
Support for HTML5.
Tracking Protection Lists – a do not track feature that works much like the “Do Not Call” telephone registry and enables users to control how their information is shared
ActiveX filtering – feature that allows the user to block all ActiveX content and then selectively activate it on a per-site basis.
If you would like to get IE9 RC, you can grab it from the Beauty of the Web site, which Microsoft set up to tout the browser’s capabilities, or you can get it in your native language here.
It would seem that Microsoft’s IE9 (Internet Explorer 9) web browser is making a big splash even before it is released as a final, stable version. To prove this point Microsoft has regularly made public information on how many IE9 downloads have been recorded. 