Developers Rejoice Everywhere as Google Chrome Overtakes IE for the First Time

Do you hear that sound? That’s the sound of developers celebrating the fact that Google’s Chrome has finally overtaken Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as the king of browsers in user share. What? You don’t hear anything? Well, that’s because developers are notoriously quiet when they celebrate, but make no mistake about it, there is a smile on virtually every developer’s face today (except maybe the IE team). Even Microsoft-focused dev teams have had their share of trauma with Internet Explorer.
According to StatCounter’s global stats, May marks the turning point when Google’s gradual but consistent incline of market share over the past 3 years has finally overtaken all other browsers, including the king, Internet Explorer:

So why are developers happy and why should you care?

For the longest time, web applications everywhere have suffered to ensure Internet Explorer compatibility. Developers would make slick new features that were brilliant and fast only to see them removed from their application because someone on the team would say “we can’t ignore the majority of Internet users out there by ignoring Internet Explorer” and immediately the cool features that worked on virtually all other browsers (FireFox, Chrome, Safari) except for IE would end up getting the axe.
Starting today, that argument will be harder to make. Here’s to better web applications coming as a result of this news…