> Also Asia always was and to my knowledge still is using a lot of IE - not sure about the reason why.
ActiveX saw much heavier use in those markets than the US & Europe. Other parts to the east too. Partly this is because of language issues (terrible non-latin writing support and such in browser-native options), partly because of requirements set down in local government and/or bank policies (South Korea being the most significant example here, but not the only one) because of security concerns.
Early on trying to enforce the security requirements those governments/banks needed required running native code (remember that there was a US export ban on encryption supporting keys longer than 40 bits so relying on browser-only code communicating over HTTPS transport was dubious) and the options where ActiveX or Java. Largely because ActiveX was built-in to a browser, and partly because Java has a reputation for being heavier in terms of client system requirements, ActiveX often won over Java.
While most of those forces have ceased to be, or are at least greatly reduced, for a long time they created significant friction for moving away from IE in those areas. Once an option is as entrenched as IE became in some of those locations, it takes a long time for other options to be considered at all viable – there is a lot of momentum that they have to try arrest.
Comments
> Also Asia always was and to my knowledge still is using a lot of IE - not sure about the reason why.
ActiveX saw much heavier use in those markets than the US & Europe. Other parts to the east too. Partly this is because of language issues (terrible non-latin writing support and such in browser-native options), partly because of requirements set down in local government and/or bank policies (South Korea being the most significant example here, but not the only one) because of security concerns.
Early on trying to enforce the security requirements those governments/banks needed required running native code (remember that there was a US export ban on encryption supporting keys longer than 40 bits so relying on browser-only code communicating over HTTPS transport was dubious) and the options where ActiveX or Java. Largely because ActiveX was built-in to a browser, and partly because Java has a reputation for being heavier in terms of client system requirements, ActiveX often won over Java.
While most of those forces have ceased to be, or are at least greatly reduced, for a long time they created significant friction for moving away from IE in those areas. Once an option is as entrenched as IE became in some of those locations, it takes a long time for other options to be considered at all viable – there is a lot of momentum that they have to try arrest.