Is Internet Explorer 7 matching Windows Vista in the level of
disappointment delivered to end users? Well, such an answer lies
ultimately within you. But at the same time, IE7 has not been submitted
to the same barrage of fire that Vista had to face throughout 2007.
Still, users are failing to take a shine to the latest version of
Microsoft’s proprietary browser, and this scenario is a clear indication
that Microsoft is not quite there with IE7. Nowhere is this more evident
than in the evolution of IE7 in terms of market share. The Redmond
company made available Internet Explorer 7 on October 18th, 2006, for
Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003. The browser also ships as a
default component of the Windows Vista operating system.

In November 2007, Microsoft drew the line on IE7's first year on the
market counting in excess of 300 million installations worldwide. Now,
300 million IE7 users are, by no means, a figure that can be dismissed
easily, but it can be interpreted as a failure from the browser. This
because, although it is designed to succeed Internet Explorer 6, one
year after RTM, IE7 is not exactly succeeding IE6... launched
concomitantly with XP SP2, IE6 has deep roots and is still the dominant
browser worldwide.

According to statistics made available by Net Applications, at the end
of November 2007, IE6 still accounted for a share of 40.24% of the
browser market. IE7 is the runner up with 36.84%, followed by Firefox
2.0 with 14.97%. Between October, 2006 and February, 2007, IE7 presented
a consistent growth grabbing a market share of approximately 30%. And
then in the rest nine (!!!) months, IE7 adoption hit a dead wall, and
only grew 7% from 30.07% in March to 36.84% in November. The extended
and repeated Windows genuine Validations associated with the download
process, the evolution of the graphical user interface in comparison
with IE6, and issues such as memory leaks and the lack of standards
support are keeping Internet Explorer users on IE6 rather than
converting them to IE7.

This situation has reduced Microsoft as scrapping the mandatory WGA
mechanism from the downloading of IE7, opening up the browser to all
Windows pirates, and even attempting to bribe users into deploying the
browser via the "Shop With More Confidence Sweepstakes". And even more
relevant for Microsoft is the fact that even with IE7 on the market, it
has continued to lose its grip over the browser market dropping from
over 80% in 2006 to 77.35%, while Firefox grew to an estimated 16.01%.