Toby's Development Blog Just another PHP / Javascript Developer

Google recently launched WhatBrowser.org, a website aimed at informing people about what web browser they are using and what a web browser is.  At first I figured it was going to be a thinly disguised advert for Chrome, or perhaps the new Google Chrome Frame but it genuinely seems to be just for information, indeed it doesn't even list Chrome first when listing the main browsers out there.

Here is a short video from the site:

Very basic stuff of course but I think it is great that Google are taking the time out to educate people about what they are doing.  What is greater still is that pretty much everyone who is not using Internet Explorer has chosen not to use Internet Explorer so knows about the different browsers out there and have found something better, which means the people who are going to find this website the most interesting (and therefore are the people most likely to follow the websites call to action) are Internet Explorer users.  And the fewer people we have using that browser the better!

I am not one of these elitist types and I understand perfectly well that for most users Internet Explorer (even 6) works perfectly well and it is our job as web developers to make sure it does work perfectly well for them, however I must admit I was pretty shocked to read that IE6 still has about a 25% market share.  I was positive that it was sitting around 16% but evidently not!

Anyway, I digress!  I am really interested to see how Google market this new site of theirs and if it gets more people experimenting with different browsers.  I am also interested to know if there is some kind of hidden agenda that I am clearly missing, if you have any thoughts please do let me know in the comments.