Report: Only 1 in 8 Users Using Edge Browser

John Lister's picture

Newly-released figures show most 'ordinary' users of Windows 10 seem to have little interest in Microsoft's new Edge browser. Meanwhile the system itself is gradually gaining an audience but doesn't seem to be getting much of a boost from being free to install.

Previous figures relating to the usage of the Edge browser had been inconclusive at best because they were taken from records of website visitors from all computing systems. With Windows 10, users are still very much a minority, which  left too much of a margin of error to draw any firm conclusions.

Just One-In-Eight Windows 10 Users Running Edge

Now a company called Quantast, which has access to visitor data from more than 100 million sites, has produced figures for browser usage specifically among Windows 10 users. It says that right now only around 12 percent are using Edge, just below the figure for Firefox. Meanwhile Chrome is dominant at more than 70 percent, leaving just a few percent of Windows 10 users on Internet Explorer. (Source: computerworld.com)

To make things even worse, that 12 percent has been pretty consistent since even when Windows 10 was still in a testing program. The only time the proportion using Edge rose significantly was for a few days after the official public release of Windows 10 in July, suggesting people were willing to give it a try but quickly abandoned the browser.

The Internet Explorer figure being almost non-existent in Windows 10 is arguably even worse news. The Internet Explorer icon in Windows 10 is nowhere to be seen unless the user physically types in "internet explorer" into the start menu. Also, Edge replaced Internet Explorer as the default browser; therefore, the combination of Internet Explorer and Windows 10 is almost non-existent.

Windows 10 Paces Ahead Of Windows 7 and 8

Meanwhile Microsoft says Windows 10 is now being used on 110 million devices, following on from a like-for-like claim of 75 million just over a month ago.

That largely backs up independent estimates which show the initial flurry of interest in Windows 10 lasted for around a month and that growth has been slow but steady ever since.

NetMarketShare estimates that Windows 10 is now being used on 6.6 percent of desktop computers, a category that also includes most laptops, but not tablet computers. That compares with Windows 7 being at 5.8 percent at the same period after its release, while the equivalent figure for Windows 8 was just 1.7 percent. (Source: businessinsider.com)

While that does technically make Windows 10 the fastest 'selling' version of Windows ever, it's not necessarily that impressive that the take-up rate is barely beating out Windows 7, which people had to pay for via an upgrade fee or a new computer purchase.

What's Your Opinion?

Have you tried the Edge browser? Are the days of most people using Microsoft's default browser in Windows over? Or do you believe things will change as more of the general public switch to Windows 10? Is there anything Microsoft can do to pick up the pace of people upgrading to Windows 10?

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Comments

adh773's picture

Have both Edge and I.E. 10, will not use Edge full time until Browser Extensions are added and the Favorites Bar is made usable.

petershaw's picture

The Edge browser is the weakest aspect of Windows 10 which for me has been a very successful upgrade.

Until Microsoft provide all the facilities and ease of use that Chrome provides I won't even think of using what is a lightweight, underspecified piece of software. Actually even when they do I'll still carry on with Chrome which reliably does everything I need in a browser.

ehowland's picture

They so far blew it. Lots of things don't work, tons of incompatibility then hiding stuff and forcing people to 'dig' for it? Very few dig, and instead just install Chrome/Firefox. BTW, on the 3 PCs I have that I upgraded to Win 10, two have been rolled back. If you have AMD/Radeon chipset forget it...

I did drill down and found "Internet Explorer" right in program files ("program files (x86)" if you are using a 64 bit system). Then I just right clicked "iexplore" and selected send to / desktop shortcut.

I had NO problem running IE on each Win 10 PC (pro or home) right along with the unused "edge" choice...

ecash's picture

Lets say...
you have used a NON-Windows browser for years..
WHICH do you use when going to Win10??

Its abit simple.
Also the IDEA, that a NEW browser will take over the internet...IS STUPID. ask the other Browser makers. Do you REALLY want to protect your system with a Browser that isnt PROVEN?? Let others find out if its worth it.

I hate Browsers that are INTEGRATED into the system.. If there is 1 small flaw, its a HOLE in how the Whole system is.
I wish my Browser and other programs to Run on their OWN.. yes, use some of the features in windows, but DONT Handicap/limit yourself.
Having your browser abit Independent of windows, means you can LOCK IT UP and restrict what happens..NOT requiring windows to protect itself.
SAND BOX IT.. Lock it to 1 area, and keep things from spreading..
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Windows 10 is now being used on 110 million devices
Windows 10 is now being used on 6.6 percent of desktop computers

I love words, and being able to NOT READ, what they are NOT SAYING..
HOW many of these devices are in public hands? this says nothing about sales.
But think about it..ANY NEW computer sold will have WIN10 on it..If you want it or not. there is little choice, unless you have a system Custom made..
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robhp's picture

If I can find out how to show the Menus, I would give it a try.

beergas's picture

Seems most people quickly saw Chrome as worthy one. Maybe in time IF Edge can make itself worth the effort? For now Chrome & Win 10 best fast match w/ ample extras.
Why did MS bother to put out a limited edition? Oh yeah no cost beta hands.

ClemsKreb's picture

If it looks like a Duck, quacks like a Duck, chances are you mentally challenged morons at Microsoft it is a Duck!!! Call Internet Explorer by any name you wish and everyone will always refer to it as Internet Explorer. If the morons at Microsoft didn't bundle their "new" browser with Windows 10 as they did with Internet Explorer with every other Windows version, chances are Internet Explorer would have disappeared off the face of the earth a decade or more ago.

Had every computer purchased with Windows 95 OS not included the FREE initial version of Internet Explorer, BUT rather given a CHOICE of Browsers, either Internet Explorer OR Netscape with links to either, the odds are tremendous that Netscape/Mozilla would today be the dominate Browser by far and away and IE would be an afterthought! I initially went from monochromed message boards in the early 1990s using my incredibly slow Fax modem to a dial up 56k modem when I connected to first Compuserve and then AOL in 1994 and then quickly purchased Netscape 2.1, which AOL allowed you to use instead of their weak browser. I stayed with AOL until my local phone company, SNET offered cheaper and far more reliable dial up service and continued to use Netscape, then by 1998 when my Cable provider, Charter, was purchased by ex-Microsoft Paul Allen, they offered high speed internet, they also offered email service using Earthlink.net which I have continued to use even though I am in a decrept Comcast territory now. Charter upgraded to Wi-Fi sometime in the early 2000s.

When Internet Explorer came out in August 1995 I checked it out, but it was clearly inferior to Netscape. Netscape was then forced to offer it's browser and email program for free to compete. I continued to use the vastly superior Netscape to version 9 when it finally died and I was forced to initially switch to its cousin Firefox, before switching to Safari for Windows and Opera before settling on Chrome by Google. As I was a website designer, I had all the above browsers on my computer, because what might work on Firefox might not work on IE or Opera. I also had a few short lived browsers like Flock, another startup after the death of Netscape and before Firefox became the only Mozilla browser.

In the last 15 years I have ONLY used Internet Explorer if a Website SPECIFICALLY said no other browser would work to process a purchase or for some other reason or as previously mentioned in website design. Just now I for the hell of it clicked on the Internet Explorer icon on my desktop to see what version I last installed years ago and it wouldn't even turn on.

So it doesn't surprise me in this day and age, that so few people have any interest in any browser Microsoft puts out, because they will always be considered the total CRAP that Internet Explorer was from day one.