Web browsers are probably among the most updated applications because of how important they are in our daily lives, and also because of how vulnerable they can make us to outside attacks. For example, Firefox 2 has had about 15 different versions since its release in October 2006, and all but three addressed security issues. I calculated out the average duration between new releases, and it works out to one every 39 days, or almost one every month.
I’m happy that these browsers are frequently getting updates because that means they are keeping up with any vulnerabilities and bugs that might arise. The bad news is that over 637 million users out there are surfing the net with an outdated browser. To break it down even further here are the percentage of users using the most current version on a per-browser basis:
- Internet Explorer 7: 52.5% are up-to-date
- Safari 3: 70.2% are up-to-date
- Opera 9: 90.1% are up-to-date
- Firefox 2: 92.2% are up-to-date
Just barely half of all Internet Explorer 7 users are running the latest release, which means many of them could be vulnerable to outside attacks. Firefox and Opera, on the other hand, are almost always updated to the latest release.
Naturally you would think that this is because Firefox and Opera users are more likely to follow when the companies release new versions of their browsers, but is that really the case? Half of the problem is that Internet Explorer gets updated through Windows Update, and so users aren’t notified of patches from within the browser like they are with Opera and Firefox. For that reason you’d be hard pressed to find someone who could tell you exactly what version of Internet Explorer they’re running, but a good chunk of Opera and Firefox users probably know the version number off the top of their heads.
You can read more about how the stats were collected, but overall I would say that all of this information is on-par to what I would expect. This makes me wonder how many people out there have expired antivirus subscriptions as well?
Understand the Web Browser Threat [via CNet]
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Tags: Firefox, Software, Browser, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari
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This is a very important statistic i guess, and speaks in favour of self updating software. I really like the way Firefox handles updates. On the other there are still people out there using IE 6, oblivious to the risk it poses.
But 1 thing i find pretty interesting.A sizeable chunk of FF users are Linux users and most distro’s including ubuntu have the inbuilt updater disabled. So you really have to rely on something like synaptic to get FF updated. So that 92.2% is really significant coz i guess it includes linux users( like me) too. Is it just because linux users are a little bit more tech savvy and concerned about browser vulnerabilities.
I think the tech savvy crowd is always more aware of new releases, and I think most people upgrade because it takes no time at all. If someone is made aware that an important update is available I have a feeling that most people would upgrade. So the underlying problem here is making IE users aware that an update is available.
You’re absolutely right about people knowing exactly the version of their browsers. I’m a fanatic tracing when a new version is released. I also like to write a post about it spreading the word.
The Web is a mines field and many innocent surfers have been hurt with malicious software.
I can understand the problem regarding IE6/IE7. I’m still running IE6 at home because I find IE7 slower in many aspects and less stable. It’s only used for IE Tab and RSS readers (built-in) though, so in a controlled environment more or less.
At both my current job as well as my previous one, they’re also still using IE6 on all machines. Mainly because of compatibility reasons regarding the sites and webapps people need to visit.
It’s quite easy to get to this percentage this way, and not really a fair comparison imo.
That’s true, but they are saying you aren’t considered to be secure since IE7 helps protect you from phishing and spyware attacks, which is something IE6 wasn’t designed to do. I can kinda understand that since there was like a 7 year gap between the releases, and the web changed a lot during that time. At the same time I can see what you’re saying where a lot of people haven’t upgraded for compatibility reasons.
Also regarding security that wouldn’t be totally fair though. I doubt the security risks for IE6 running within larger companies is much higher than for IE7, with a solid firewall and network protection. Larger companies are responsible for quite a big chunk of the stats (unfortunately).
I agree that my home situation is not really comparable and I wouldn’t recommend anyone to do the same, especially if they’re not really aware of what they’re doing
I still see plenty of Firefox 1.0.7 (not aware of 1.0.8 that came out some six months later) users asking for support.
Short answer, this is because Mozilla can only update their own builds as you cannot expect them to update a unofficial/third-party build not made by Mozilla (especially sight unseen) as there could be a lot of differences. The Firefox builds from from Mozilla is easy enough to set up and use (untar and run), yet some Linux users make me wonder why they switched to Linux when they ask “where is the installer(like on Windows)” or “Ok, I finally managed to extract this but how do I make or install this etc”
I use Linux, but I do use the distro provided builds, especially since I test/use nightlies.
There were plans in the past for Mozilla to work with the more popular Linux distros to get the Linux distro builds of Firefox listed on Mozilla.org or mozilla.com so people can find them or be aware there are updates at time, but this has not happened yet.
Hi,
I wonder if I could get those gogles pictured above.
I love all the statistics. Too funny that the official browser web pages say something different.
Opera for example… not even the half of the users are using the latest version but stick with 8.x, their page says.
When I look at my web host stats I can confirm this. 50% of my users are using 8.x, only 35% are using 9.x, the others are older versions of Opera.
That is something I just made up. They are Oakley glasses with the logos overlayed on the lenses.
Huh, that’s interesting. Only about 2% of our Opera visitors are using 8.x. The other 98% are using Opera 9.x.
Shows how cutting-edge your visitors are! Something to be proud of