It seems that Web surfers aren’t exactly rushing to get their hands on the new Web browser version from Microsoft: Internet Explorer 8.

 

Although Microsoft said it put a lot of work in the new browser and focused mainly on security and privacy, as of 1 p.m. EDT Friday, usage of Internet Explorer 8 accounted for only 1.56 percent of global Internet traffic, up from 1.39 on Thursday, according to data provided by StatCounter Global Stats, a Web site traffic-monitoring service vendor.

 

Aodhan Cullen, StatCounter founder and CEO, described the users’ reaction to the launch of IE8 as “underwhelming,” according to Channel Web.

 

Several reviews of the Microsoft Web browser weren’t exactly favorable for IE8. According to some reliable reports, the browser caused system crashes in some cases and faulty display of some Web sites. There were also compatibility problems with Web standards such as CSS, HTML4 and XHTML, according to the results of The Web Standards Project's Acid Test 3.

 

While other Web browsers that have been taking small bights from Internet Explorer’s share of the Web browser market such as Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome have focused mainly on speed, Microsoft developed the IE8 with a main focus on security and privacy. The software developer counts on its latest Web browser to reverse the erosion of its market share, but so far it seems the IE8 won’t help much.