而眼下,互联网的重心早已来到了移动端,APP爆发式地覆盖了互联网市场,PC浏览器的价值受到明显冲击。可问题在于,基于浏览器而存在的APP始终难以满足用户的长尾需求。在这个层面上,PC浏览器有着无法替代的独特价值,依然扮演着重要流量入口的角色。
因此可以看到,“放弃”IE的微软并没有放弃浏览器业务,而是让IE的“替身”Edge接过了接力棒。 只是在目前的格局下,面对Google等强劲的对手,再加之移动端对PC端的持续影响,Edge的未来必然充满着困难和挑战。
历时近30年,为人们打开了互联网的大门、见证了互联网发展的IE,就这样“主动”退出历史舞台。但无论互联网未来如何发展,IE都是人类互联网历史上浓重且不可或缺的一笔。
95%市场份额的辉煌
眼下的IE,甚至连市场的边缘都够不到。
据国际统计网站Statcounter的数据显示,截至今年3月底,浏览器市场份额前三名分别是Google浏览器(67.13%)、Safari浏览器(9.75%)、Edge浏览器(8.81%),而IE浏览器的占比不到2%。
但就连这仅剩的2%,还得感谢“系统捆绑浏览器”的销售策略。
【来源:statcounter】
很难想象,就是这样一个市场份额占比不到2%的浏览器,曾经一度垄断过全球市场,是其后无数浏览器难以逾越的一道鸿沟。
1990年,基于世界上第一个浏览器WorldWideWeb,美国国家超级计算应用中心开发了史上第一款获得普遍使用的浏览器Mosaic。而随着Mosaic项目负责人Marc Andreesen的辞职并开发出网景导航者浏览器,人类互联网时代的帷幕正式被拉开。
【网景浏览器 来源网络】
在那个几乎没有对手的市场,网景浏览器从出生到实现垄断,只用了短短两三年的时间。而浏览器作为互联网一直以来的重要入口,彼时垄断市场基本等同于“控制”了整个互联网。这样的形势对于既做电脑系统又开发浏览器的微软来说,并不是一个好消息。
于是,在主动“战略合作”告吹之后,历史上第一次浏览器大战打响了。
为了有效抗衡网景浏览器,比尔盖茨斥资20亿美元,在1995年8月发布的IE 1.0的基础上,通过多种手段迅速推出了IE2.0。技术提升的同时,比尔盖茨还决定把IE免费开放,矛头直指付费使用的网景浏览器。
【IE1.0 来源:太平洋电脑网】
免费开放的决策让人们看到了微软和比尔盖茨的决心,但为了赢得彻底的胜利,微软又打出一记重拳,将同年横空出世的Windows95系统与IE深度捆绑进行销售。当电脑系统自带的浏览器成为IE,用户们“不得不”使用IE时,微软的局势开始变得更明朗起来,开始迅速蚕食网景浏览器的市场份额。
而在这生死关头,把重心放在浏览器功能上的网景浏览器,却因功能太多而出现了卡顿、BUG等问题,开始逐渐被用户所“嫌弃”。
天赐良机,起势的微软趁热打铁,又于1997年10月份发布了惊动市场的IE 4.0。这款浏览器相比网景更好的遵循了W3C提出的互联网标准,并能够提供一些诸如MP3播放之类的功能。自此以后,在微软巨大的财力以及捆绑营销、持续研发的基础上,IE浏览器一路势如破竹,拿下了超80%的市场份额。
即便1998年网景以垄断的名义起诉了微软且赢得了官司,但最终还是抵不过微软的攻势,被美国在线(AOL)以42亿美元收购。至此,互联网时代的第一场浏览器大战以微软的胜利而告终。
垄断替代垄断,新旧势力总会交换,在互联网的战场中,一丝的松懈就有可能决定最终成败。
然而,在发布了被称为“有史以来第八糟糕科技产品”的IE6.0,且2003年迎来96%市场份额的高光之后,骄傲的微软大意地卸下了自己的盔甲。 甚至,一度解散过自己的浏览器团队,导致IE在2001年后的五年内都没有更新。
正如前文所言,互联网时代的竞争永远都是在不断地迭代中进行着。停下浏览器脚步5年之久的微软,不仅给IE日后的衰落埋下了伏笔,也为其他竞争对手挪出了成长空间。
群雄并起,推陈出新
在互联网的萌芽期,浏览器是电脑连接互联网最重要的工具。不仅充当着硬件通往互联网的主要入口,链接着各种数据信息,也对接着无数用户与互联网的之间的直接交互,承载着人和网之间的关系黏度。
因此,在历史的车轮下,浏览器市场总是风起云涌,不曾平静过。
1998年,第一次浏览器大战中败走的网景公开了它的浏览器源码,重新命名为Mozilla,全部程序进行了重写,并在2002年发布了第一个版本。2004年,基于Mozilla源码的Firefox(Firefox)浏览器登台亮相。
凭借小巧、高效、简洁、安全,以及源代码开放、支持扩展定制,越来越多的人开始选择Firefox。不仅福布斯称Firefox为“2004年最佳浏览器”,杂志《PC World》也将Firefox列入到了“2005年最佳百大产品”。
【来源:Firefox官方微博】
初生牛犊不怕虎,在“大好”的形势下,Firefox对IE发起了强烈攻击,二次浏览器大战的序幕被正式拉开。
面对突如其来的对手,微软嗅到了危险气息。2005年2月15日,比尔盖茨提前了原定配合Longhorn Windows版本的IE 7.0的发布日期,并直接表明原因是IE的市场占有率逐渐被Firefox侵蚀。
据统计,到2006年,IE的市场份额已经从最高点96%跌至了85.62%,而Firefox的市场份额则迅速增长到了11.23%。
瘦死的骆驼比马大,在IE庞大的用户基础和网页标准两项优势下,Firefox并没有像IE取代网景那样而颠覆IE,市场份额一直徘徊在15%到20%之间。 后来比尔盖茨表示:“我们将尽快频繁地推出更新版浏览器,以免夜长梦多,而被其它竞争对手分走更多市场份额。”
只是,一步错步步错。对于微软来说,市场上的玩家已经不仅仅只是一个Firefox了,这第二次浏览器大战也比想象中的要复杂许多。
在IE还没完全缓过神之前,包括Firefox在内,随着全球互联网时代的快速发展,市场上已经出现了不少优秀的浏览器玩家。
比如基于Presto引擎而诞生的挪威Opera,在智能手机等移动设备上玩出了名堂。又比如把主要阵地放在中国的Maxthon,根据百度的统计,彼时15%的百度用户都在使用此浏览器。再比如伴随着苹果崛起而出现的Safari,领跑了全球移动浏览器市场。
群雄并起,微软真正感受到了危机,并开始着重改进IE浏览器。但现实是,面对个个拥有独特优势的侵蚀者,微软只能眼睁睁地看着市场份额被一点一点地夺走。
当然,在PC端,真正把IE拉下宝座的并非Firefox、Opera这些玩家,而是GoogleChrome的出现。
2008年,Google正式发布首个Chrome Beta版,且在官网放置了下载链接。在涉及全球100多个国家的广度下,凭借自身的品牌影响力,全球不少用户都下载了Chrome。
【来源:Chrome浏览器】
很快用户们发现,Chrome不仅安全、快速,并且还支持各种新的网页特性和标准,而且拥有精简的外观。更重要的是,chrome是完全开源的,对于它的浏览器内核Chromium,所有人都可以免费获得并制作一款浏览器所需要的所有源代码,比如国内的360、QQ、搜狗、UC等多核浏览器都在使用Chromium。
相比Chrome,IE完全处于对立面, 不仅有安全风险、兼容性差,还又卡又慢、功能少、外观不好看,甚至网上还出现大批关于IE的段子……
在这样的鲜明的差距下,2012年,Google的Chrome市场占有率首次超越了IE。而微软于2013年推出的IE11,也成为了IE的最后一个版本。到了2015年,IE的市场占有率已经跌破了20%,而Chrome浏览器则名列第一,市场份额高达52.82%。
GoogleChrome的强势崛起,正式宣告了第二次浏览器大战结束,也宣告了属于IE的时代结束了。
接过接力棒的Edge
一个观点是,对于免费工具类产品来说,用户往往会根据使用体验来做出取舍。
在GoogleChrome的颠覆下,IE的败局已经不可挽回,而微软也最终决定放弃这个伴随其成长征战多年的产品。
2020年,微软结束了对MicrosoftTeams网络应用程序的Internet Explorer 11的支持,并计划今年晚些时候切断它对Microsoft 365服务的访问。并在2021年,正式宣布了IE的“计划”死亡时间。
但可以确定是,浏览器虽然本身没有太多的商业价值,但却是一个最基础的互联网入口,可以将流量引导到各个端口。 而且绝大多数APP本身,也是基于浏览器内核所开发的。所以虽然放弃了IE,但微软并没有放弃“浏览器”。
弃用IE之后,微软另起炉灶开发出了旗下新一代的浏览器Edge。起初,Edge并没有完全摆脱IE的影子,且内置的是微软自己开发的EdgeHTML引擎,整体上相比Chrome依旧没有什么优势。
面对市场毫无斑斓的情绪,微软最终选择了“服软”,抛弃了自己EdgeHTML的内核,改用了置IE于死地的Chrome。2020年8月微软正式推出了这款搭载了Chromium核心的Edge浏览器稳定版,简称C版Edge。
【来源:Edge浏览器】
C版Edge出世之后,无论在性能上还是在功能上都已经大大的超越了IE 11,这也直接决定了IE被完全弃用的结局。
而对于微软来说,基于Chrome的Edge是否能挑起大梁,甚至是重现IE当年的辉煌,市场上有着不同的声音。有的人看好,有的人则看空。
看好的人认为,Windows 10用户日渐认可Edge浏览器,不仅获得了良好的用户口碑,而且份额不断增长。
根据 StatCounter 的最新数据,微软 Edge 浏览器在 2022 年 4 月的市场份额突破了 10% 的大关。虽然目前与Google Chrome 的 66.64%的份额相比仍有很大差距,但随着微软对其不断更新,自然能夺回更多的市场份额。
看空的人认为,Edge是基于Chromium内核,超越Chrome是不可能的。
一方面对手们已经积累了越来越多的优势。 另一方面,移动互联网时代的到来,使得浏览器的竞争从电脑桌面转向手机桌面,PC浏览器的颓势已经不可挽回。 而在移动端,Google和苹果已经占据了绝对的主导地位。Windows Phone的失败意味着微软进入这个市场的道路充满挑战,因此即使Edge继续增长,它也可能在市场上挣扎。
总而言之,浏览器作为互联网时代极为重要的一个工具,它的战场上硝烟永远会持续。不完美的技术总会被革新和淘汰,大战中总有人会倒下,但也总有新的霸主出现,微软没有例外,Google也不会是例外。
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Microsoft China official Mall-Home
At present, the focus of the Internet has already come to the mobile end, APP explosively covered the Internet market, and the value of PC browsers has been significantly impacted. But the problem is that browser-based APP is always difficult to meet the needs of users with a long tail. At this level, PC browsers have unique value that cannot be replaced and still play an important role as a traffic portal.
So you can see that Microsoft, which “gave up” IE, did not give up the browser business, but let IE’s “stand-in” Edge take over the baton. Only in the current situation, in the face of strong competitors such as Google, coupled with the continuous impact of mobile on the PC, the future of Edge is bound to be full of difficulties and challenges.
Lasted nearly 30 years, opened the door to the Internet for people, witnessed the development of the Internet IE, so “take the initiative” to withdraw from the historical stage. However, no matter how the Internet develops in the future, IE is a strong and indispensable stroke in the history of human Internet.
The brilliance of 95% market share
Today’s IE can’t even reach the edge of the market.
According to the international statistics website Statcounter, as of the end of March this year, the top three browsers were Google browser (67.13%), Safari browser (9.75%) and Edge browser (8.81%), while IE browser accounted for less than 2%.
But even the remaining 2% is thanks to the sales strategy of “system-bundled browsers”.
[source: statcounter]
It is hard to imagine that such a browser, which accounts for less than 2% of the market, once monopolized the global market and was an insurmountable gap for countless browsers.
In 1990, based on the world’s first browser WorldWideWeb, American national supercomputing Tencent App Center developed the first widely used browser Mosaic in history. With the resignation of Marc Andreesen, head of the Mosaic project, and the development of Netscape Navigator browser, the curtain of the human Internet era has been officially opened.
[Netscape browser source network]
In a market where there are few competitors, Netscape took only two or three years from birth to monopoly. The browser has always been an important entrance to the Internet, when monopolizing the market was basically equivalent to “controlling” the entire Internet. This situation is not good news for Microsoft, which makes both computer systems and browsers.
As a result, after the failure of active “strategic cooperation”, the first browser war in history began.
In order to effectively compete with Netscape, Bill Gates spent $2 billion to launch IE2.0 quickly through a variety of means on the basis of IE 1.0 released in August 1995. At the same time of the technological improvement, Bill Gates also decided to open IE for free, targeting the paid Netscape browser.
[source of IE1.0: Pacific computer Network]
The decision to be free and open showed the determination of Microsoft and Bill Gates, but in order to win a complete victory, Microsoft hit a heavy blow by bundling the Windows95 system that was born in the same year with IE. When the browser included in the computer system became IE and users “had to” use IE, Microsoft’s situation became clearer and began to quickly erode Netscape’s market share.
In this life-and-death moment, Netscape, which focuses on browser functions, has problems such as stutter and BUG due to too many functions, and is gradually being “disliked” by users.
A godsend, the rising Microsoft struck while the iron was hot, and released the market-startling IE 4.0in October 1997. This browser better complies with the Internet standards proposed by W3C than Netscape, and can provide some functions such as MP3 playback. Since then, on the basis of Microsoft’s huge financial resources, bundled marketing and continuous research and development, IE has won more than 80 per cent of the market.
Even though Netscape sued Microsoft in the name of monopoly in 1998 and won the case, it could not resist Microsoft’s offensive and was acquired by AOL (AOL) for $4.2 billion. At this point, the first browser war in the Internet era ended with Microsoft’s victory.
Monopoly takes the place of monopoly, and the old and new forces will always be exchanged. In the battlefield of the Internet, a trace of laxity may determine the final success or failure.
However, the proud Microsoft carelessly took off its armor after launching IE6.0, known as the “eighth worst technology product ever”, and with a 96 per cent market share in 2003. It even disbanded its browser team at one point, causing IE not to be updated for five years after 2001.
As mentioned earlier, the competition in the Internet era is always going on in constant iterations. Microsoft, which stopped browsing for five years, not only foreshadowed the future decline of IE, but also made room for other competitors to grow.
The heroes rise together and bring forth the new through the old
In the infancy of the Internet, the browser was the most important tool for computers to connect to the Internet. It not only acts as the main entrance of the hardware to the Internet, linking all kinds of data and information, but also connects the direct interaction between countless users and the Internet, carrying the viscosity of the relationship between people and the Internet.
Therefore, under the wheel of history, the browser market is always surging, never calm.
Netscape, which lost the first browser war in 1998, released its browser source code, renamed it Mozilla, rewrote all programs, and released its first version in 2002. In 2004, the Firefox (Firefox) browser based on Mozilla source code made its debut.
With its compactness, efficiency, simplicity, security, open source code and support for extension customization, more and more people are choosing Firefox. Not only did Forbes call Firefox the “Best browser of 2004”, but PC World also listed Firefox as the “Top 100 products of 2005”.
[source: Firefox official Weibo]
Newborn calves are not afraid of tigers, in the “great” situation, Firefox launched a strong attack on IE, the prelude to the second browser war was officially opened.
In the face of sudden competitors, Microsoft smelled danger. On February 15, 2005, Bill Gates advanced the release date of IE 7.0, which was originally scheduled to match the Longhorn Windows version, and directly indicated that the reason was that IE’s market share was gradually eroded by Firefox.
According to statistics, by 2006, IE’s market share has fallen from a peak of 96% to 85.62%, while Firefox’s market share has grown rapidly to 11.23%.
The skinny camel is bigger than a horse, and with the advantages of IE’s huge user base and web standards, Firefox has not subverted IE as IE replaced Netscape, and its market share has hovered between 15 and 20 per cent. Bill Gates later said: “We will launch updated browsers frequently as soon as possible to avoid long nights and lose more market share to other competitors.”
It’s just, one wrong step. For Microsoft, the player in the market is more than just a Firefox, and this second browser war is much more complicated than expected.
Before IE has completely recovered, including Firefox, with the rapid development of the global Internet era, there have been a lot of excellent browser players on the market.
For example, the Norwegian Opera, which is based on the Presto engine, has made a name for itself on mobile devices such as smartphones. For example, Maxthon, which focuses on China, was used by 15% of Baidu users at that time, according to Baidu. For example, Safari, which appeared with the rise of Apple, leads the global mobile browser market.
Together, Microsoft really felt the crisis and began to focus on improving IE browsers. But the reality is that Microsoft can only watch its market share be taken away bit by bit in the face of each erosion with a unique advantage.
Of course, on the PC side, what really pulled IE off the throne is not Firefox, Opera, these players, but the emergence of GoogleChrome.
In 2008, Google officially released its first Chrome Beta version, and placed a download link on the official website. In the breadth of involving more than 100 countries around the world, with its own brand influence, many users around the world have downloaded Chrome.
[source: Chrome browser]
Users soon discovered that Chrome is not only safe and fast, but also supports a variety of new web features and standards, and has a streamlined look. More importantly, chrome is completely open source. For its browser kernel Chromium, everyone can obtain and make all the source code needed for a browser for free. For example, Chromium is used in domestic multi-core browsers such as Chromium, QQ, Sogou, UC and so on.
Compared with Chrome,IE, there are not only security risks and poor compatibility, but also slow card, few functions, poor appearance, and even a large number of jokes about IE appear on the Internet.
Under such a sharp gap, Google’s Chrome market share surpassed IE for the first time in 2012. IE11, launched by Microsoft in 2013, became the last version of IE. By 2015, IE’s market share had fallen below 20%, while Chrome ranked first, with a market share of 52.82%.
The strong rise of GoogleChrome officially declared the end of the second browser war and the end of the era belonging to IE.
Edge who took over the baton.
One idea is that for free tool products, users tend to make choices based on their experience.
Under the subversion of GoogleChrome, the defeat of IE has been irreparable, and Microsoft has finally decided to give up this product that has been battling for many years with its growth.
Microsoft ended support for Internet Explorer 11 for MicrosoftTeams web applications in 2020 and plans to cut off its access to Microsoft services later this year. And in 2021, IE’s “planned” time of death was officially announced.
But it is certain that although the browser itself does not have much commercial value, it is the most basic Internet portal that can direct traffic to various ports. And the vast majority of APP itself is based on the browser kernel. So although Microsoft gave up IE, Microsoft did not give up “browser”.
After abandoning IE, Microsoft developed a new generation of browser Edge. At first, Edge did not completely get rid of the shadow of IE, and the built-in EdgeHTML engine developed by Microsoft itself still has no advantage over Chrome as a whole.
In the face of the lack of beautiful mood in the market, Microsoft finally chose to be “soft”, abandoned its EdgeHTML core and used Chrome, which killed IE. Microsoft officially launched this stable version of Edge browser with Chromium core, referred to as C version Edge, in August 2020.
[source: Edge browser]
After the C version of Edge was born, it has greatly surpassed IE 11 both in performance and function, which directly determines the outcome that IE is completely abandoned.
For Microsoft, whether Chrome-based Edge can play a leading role, or even recreate the glory of IE, there are different voices in the market. Some people are optimistic, others are bearish.
Bulls believe that the growing recognition of Edge browsers by Windows 10 users has not only gained a good reputation among users, but also a growing share.
According to the latest data from StatCounter, Microsoft Edge’s market share broke through the 10% mark in April 2022. Although there is still a big gap compared with Google Chrome’s 66.64% share, as Microsoft keeps updating it, it will naturally be able to regain more market share.
Bears believe that Edge is based on the Chromium kernel and that it is impossible to surpass Chrome.
On the one hand, opponents have accumulated more and more advantages. On the other hand, with the advent of the mobile Internet era, the competition of browsers has shifted from computer desktops to mobile desktops, and the decline of PC browsers has been irreparable. On the mobile side, Google and Apple have occupied a dominant position. Windows Phone’s failure means that Microsoft’s path to entering the market is challenging, so even if Edge continues to grow, it may struggle in the market.
In a word, the browser is an extremely important tool in the Internet era, and its battlefield will last forever. Imperfect technologies will always be innovated and eliminated, and there will always be people who will fall down in the war, but there will always be new hegemons. Microsoft is no exception, and Google will not be an exception.