There's been a lot of hype, and even more anti-hype, the last couple of days about the recent release of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 (IE8). Along with the usual Microsoft bashing, there have been articles stating that IE8 won't save Microsoft's dwindling market share.

So lets recap the situation and revisit exactly why IE will continue to remain the majority choice out there for many years to come.

Firstly let's look at the numbers. Yes IE's market share has slipped over the last few years, mainly due to Firefox. Chrome and Opera get about a percentage point each, and certainly have their fans, but no serious competition. However, and this is important, IE's share hasn't slipped enough to make any difference in the past few years.

The reason's simple, good old IE6. Now in modern terms IE6 is a pretty poor browser. No tabs, insufficient security, poor CSS standards compliance. Let's look again at the numbers. The fact is that about the same number of people use IE6 (24%) as use FireFox 3 (26%).

This a a truly startling number, and even though numbers about Microsoft's browser share slipping to Firefox over the last few years have been loudly publicized, this has not. What is says is that at least one in four people simply do not care about having a modern browser, they don't see the need for tabs, add-ins and all the bells and whistles. All this despite Firefox being promoted on Google's own homepage, full page ads in the New York Times and a huge groundswell of support. The fact is that after several years of Firefox leading IE in technology the same number stuck with IE6 as have bothered to move to Firefox.

IEs launch was quiet, it wasn't announced loudly, and nothing was leaked to the press before hand. Understatement was the word of the day, for what is a major update to one of the world's most used software applications. So why is that?

Vince Vizzaccaro of Net Applications quote that was reblogged all over the place simply does not apply to IE8. He said "If I were Microsoft, I would do something more on the Mozilla model. I'd be a lot more optimistic [about IE8's chances] if there was a large public announcement that it was available."

Microsoft know something that Vince has failed to realize. They've already won. They didn't need a big hoopla of a huge launch. The guys who switched to Firefox are very unlikely to ever switch back to IE, that would be like vegan's ordering up a pastrami sandwich, it's just not going to happen. A big launch would gain IE nothing, as they will slowly convert the user base through Windows Update and installations on new PCs. They're also stemming the tide of new defectors to Firefox as the browser gap narrows. There just isn't that much difference in browsers anymore, certainly when it comes to rendering HTML.

As software developers there are lessons here. Microsoft, after some mistakes in the past have come up with a solid and confident approach to slowly and systematically remain at the top. They've learnt the lessons of big promises that have left egg on their face in the past, and have come up with a solid applicaiton that's clearly an improvement and gives users features that they actually want.

The cost of calling, texting and accessing the Internet via mobile phones while abroad is about to get cheaper for European residents, following an agreement Tuesday among lawmakers over the shape of a new mobile roaming law.

Members of the European Parliament and representatives of the 27 national governments reached an informal agreement to cut prices from July 1. The compromise they struck must be rubber-stamped by both institutions, probably in April, but the hard negotiating is over, said Adina-Ioana Valean, a Romanian member of the European Parliament involved in the negotiations.

AOL has launched its Shortcuts.com coupon service on mobile phones, MediaPost reports, in an effort to let customers get discounts while in the grocery store or otherwise on the move.

Shortcuts.com members can select coupons from their handsets, which will then load them onto grocery store shopping cards. Later, when the shopper swipes their discount card at the check-out machine, the system will recognize the coupon and deduct its amount from the total bill.

The recession has prompted consumers to re-think their cell phone plans, whether it is ditching contracts for pre-paid options, cutting back on extras like Internet service and texting, or cutting mobile phone service entirely, according to a Thursday report from the New Millennium Research Council (NMRC).  

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When it comes down to getting your cold hard cash from a customer there's one trial that stands in the way. The endless pages of checkout forms which looses on average 59.8%. It's a death march, it's not pretty and, frankly, we all can do better.

The usual process goes something like this:
1. Choose the Software Product
2. Ask about Updates, CD, Download Service, Cross-sell items
3. Enter Personal Info
4. Enter Payment Option
5. Enter Shipping Details
6. Confirm
7. Checkout

That's seven steps which can all throw errors and throw the customer out.

So what's to be done about it? The knee-jerk approach of in-page or new window popups on abandonment simply don't work and just infuriate customers. What's needed is a little finesse and an eye to the future.

Streamlining the Process
I was talking to @algirhythm who advised me that streamlining pages for user's eyes can have a vast improvement on the readability of pages, and can retain customers through the registration process.

So a quick quiz, which form do you think is the easiest for a customer to fill in, this:

or this:

The answer might surprise you, but based on eyeball tracking test software the second form is significantly easier. This is because the user just has to scan straight down, instead of left and right. Combine this with the user having to move the mouse, type, look away and find their credit card and you can see how this is true. This simple technique can help retain customers.

Clickability
Applying the 'simple is beautiful' mantra throughout the registration process it also makes sense for 'OK' buttons to be big and clickable, and 'Cancel' buttons to be simple text links.

Compare this:

To this:

In the first screenshot the 'Cancel' button is equally as important as the 'Post' button, but in the second it's obvious where to click. The user does not have to think and less mistakes will be made. Again apply this thinking and it will subtly reinforce the 'correct' behavior that you want your customers to do during the checkout process, and hopefully you'll get more sales.

No Reset
I've always had a loathing for the pointless 'Reset' button that's sadly still used on some forms:

This is even worse than having a 'Cancel' button as when it's clicked the user cannot use the browser's 'back' button to get their information back. I've never seen a place where it should be used and I'd lobby to have it permanently dropped from the HTML spec!

Futureshock
In the future "Social networks will be like air", or so says @charleneli at her recent SXSW presentation. We'll we may be a few years off from having Google powering our sock draw, and Microsoft lightbulbs, but we are starting to get some tools that can help the death-march of registration screens and customer loss.

The web as it exists today is powered by 'registrations', and slowly we are starting to move to an 'identity' model. With services such as Facebook Connect the whole process of registration is side-stepped. Users don't have to fill out the long signup form, they just have to use their existing "Identity".

Of course this all relies on trust, so it remains to be seen if collectively we will trust services like this when integrated into e-commerce systems. Over the next few weeks and months we may find that we're re-writing our shopping cart systems to use technology such as this, hopefully with at least one less hoop for the customer to jump through.

Two members of Congress on Tuesday re-introduced a bill that would prevent states and local jurisdictions from imposing new taxes on cell phone service.

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At least 26 percent of households are now cell-only in Oklahoma and Utah, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated. That rate was at least 20 percent in nine other states — Nebraska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, New Mexico, Texas, South Carolina and Tennessee — and the District of Columbia.

The number of people using mobile devices to access the Internet more than doubled from January 2008 to January 2009, according to comScore, a provider of Internet tracking. Internet users have been using smartphones for personal use and to conduct business, similar to the way they would use a laptop or home computer.

Microsoft on Wednesday revealed it will pay developers 70 percent of sales for applications they develop and sell on a Windows Mobile application marketplace introduced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last month.

Microsoft also has released tools to enable developers to build applications for the Windows Marketplace for Mobile, which will be offered on Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.5 software and allow developers to sell thousands of applications to users of Windows Mobile devices. Handsets running Windows Mobile 6.5 should begin shipping in the second half of the year.

The Windows Mobile marketplace is Microsofts answer to the App Store of iPhone applications Apple offers as part of its software for the iPhone, which popularized the idea of buying and downloading mobile applications from the devices themselves.

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