Report: Only 1 in 8 Users Using Edge Browser

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?