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Comment by listic | Hacker News Reader

Meanwhile in Russia:

http://www.liveinternet.ru/stat/ru/browsers.html

IE is around 20%

I wonder why Russia leads the way moving off IE. My guess: in corporate sector pointy-haired bosses don't actually have control over which programs system administrators get to install, so they install (and users get to use) whatever they know works best.

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In a lot of countries there are government web sites and services that forces citizens to use Windows and specific versions of IE. Some of them used Activex, vbscript etc, The worst example I remember is an important web service for drugstores in Turkey that required Microsoft Java VM!

Apparently this is not the case for Russia.

Similar deal with banks in South Korea typically requiring ActiveX plugins and the like: http://blog.mozilla.com/gen/2010/04/28/the-security-of-inter...

South Korean banks seem to be oblivious to security research and best practices. ActiveX plugins that install several buggy DLL libraries are only the tip of the iceberg. 64-bit IE fails to open most banks' websites. IE 9 does not work at all. I was even sent a codebook (it has a list of colour-coded numbers which hash to codes, on paper!) by my South Korean bank for internet banking. I thought it was a somewhat archaic practice but physical books of codes do constitute "something you have" for authentication. Then I discovered that my partner had the same book. I disabled internet banking after that.

A weird case where the more developed nations are being held back by their early adoption!

It's not particularly unusual, other examples are developing nations jumping straight to online banking (skipping chequebooks) or mobile phones (skipping copper phone cables):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leapfrogging

Have you ever tried to book a rail ticket in Turkey via the Turkish State Railways website?

"Using TCDD Online ticket selling project requires internet explorer 5.0 or higher upgrades!"

In Russia there is (or at least, was) mass pirating of Windows -- maybe MS turned off the updates.

What does Windows update have to do with IE usage?

Anyway, "no updates for pirated Windows" is a myth I hear repeated, but last time I checked Windows Update doesn't require passing Windows Genuine Advantage check.

> What does Windows update have to do with IE usage?

If Windows Update didn't work, that would make it less likely that users upgrade IE, which increases the usage of older versions of IE. And users using older versions of IE might well choose to upgrade to some other browser, rather than to just a newer version of IE, particularly when they find that IE won't handle the sites they want to visit.

Check out the Philippines: IE at 8.6%

http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-PH-monthly-201011-201110

Most third world countries have low percent of IE users (almost always lower than the mean, generally much lower), it's not a strange phenomenon. IE usage works as a (very coarse) estimator to percent of the population with regular Internet access. Try it yourself.

I personally think it happens because in those countries, in order to have access to technology you need to be from the upper socioeconomic class. Usually those users have a higher level of understanding about technology and hence choose to customize their browser.

I know a few people from the "upper socioeconomic class" and they are even more likely to not upgrade/use "the best browser", and instead just use what came with their laptop/desktop/whatever. I'm talking GPs, Lawyers, Accountants, Investment Bankers.

I have no data to base my sweeping generalisation on, other than personal experience

in russia, opera is decreasing too. it is always a wonder of mine, why from russia to kazakhstan; ex-soviets, there has been so much love for opera.

Opera worked well on crappy dial-up connections. Then, you begin to appreciate its other features (e.g. first browser with tabbed browsing etc.) Then you use it by force of habit until it pisses you off in a major way, like not rendering the sites that other browsers have no trouble with. That's my experience.

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