Microsoft has distributed more than 100m copies of the Internet
Explorer 7 browser since it was first launched in October, the
company boasted on the IEBlog.
The 100 millionth installation was logged on January 8. Citing data
from statistics firm WebSideStory, Microsoft claimed that IE7
currently makes up about 25 per cent of the world's browsers. This
makes it the world's second most prevalent browser, trailing only
behind IE6.
"We expect these numbers to continue to rise as we complete our
final localized versions, scale up auto update distribution and
with the consumer availability of Windows Vista on January 30,
2007," wrote Tony Chor, a group program manager with
Microsoft.
Data from other analysts has previously suggested that Firefox runs
on roughly 10 to 12 per cent of the world's desktop
computers.
The browser is automatically distributed as a high priority update
to computers through the auto update feature that is built into
Windows. Users are prompted about the update before it is
installed.
Enterprise users are expected to delay rolling out the software
because if often causes compatibility issues with internally
developed software.
