Let’s face it: Internet Explorer has an image problem. For years, Microsoft’s browser was synonymous with sub-par security, poor standards support, and sluggish performance. IE has made huge strides since then, but bad reputations are hard to shake.
Instead of touting the browser’s merits, the latest ad on the official Internet Explorer YouTube channel pokes fun at some of IE’s more hardened haters. The result is… interesting. Take a look:
Okay, that got got a few laughs out of me—and I was one of those guys not so long ago. The headings ("Curious?," "It’s good now," "No, really") on browseryoulovedtohate.com are cute, too. Microsoft does have a point: IE10 in Windows 8 is pretty snappy, even if Chrome still feels slightly faster to me. As TR’s resident web designer, I also appreciate the IE team’s new-found appreciation for web standards.
Microsoft’s efforts seem to be bearing fruit, anyway, because IE’s usage share is on the rise again. According to figures from Net Applications, IE usage increased from 52.6% to 54.1% between October 2011 and October 2012. It looks like those gains came at the expense of Firefox, which declined from 22.5% to 20.0% over the same time period. Chrome, Safari, Opera, and "other" browsers all saw modest share increases between October 2011 and October 2012, according to Net Applications.