Microsoft won't release new IE until 2006

will ship with Longhorn - don't hold your breath

[amznVibe]

[seattletimes.nwsource.com...]

Microsoft is busy building and testing a faster, more secure version internally, but executives say it won't be released for at least another year, until the next version of Windows is done in 2006.

Looks like 2005 will be the year for Firefox to grow to 25%+ use.
Can you just imagine the security issues discovered for IE between now and then, and the cost of productivity worldwide dealing with viruses and trojans? Wow.

[BwanaZulia]

From my own logs (1,500,000+ hits this month) I can tell that the tide is shifting:

December 2003 -> December 2004 (one month snapshots)
IE (all): 91.4% -> 78.5%
Others (all) 6.7% -> 19.8%
IE 6.0: 76.3% -> 73.9%
Firefox (Phoenix): 0% -> 9.1% (Firefox)
Safari: 1.5% -> 4.3%
Mozilla: 3.9% -> 3.3%

My own personal conclusions:
- IE 6.0 usage is dropping, but there is also a switch from 5.0 -> 6.0 as people upgrade to XP from 95/98/ME
- Mozilla is dropping due to Firefox being the "active" choice
- Safari is growing as people A) switch from OS9 to OSX, B) As people switch from Windows to OSX and C) as people switch from IE (OSX) to Safari
- Firefox is really catching on and if it continues like this will be at a steady 15 to 20% by the end of next year. Some of these switchers are the "low hanging fruit" of the bunch.

BZ