When Microsoft first revealed it's plans for Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 (IE9), it was said that IE9 will have faster javascript engine and would support better standards. Not that Microsoft did not live upto it's claim, IE9 is definitely a better browser than all of Internet Explorer's existing counterparts.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 9

However, IE9 was caught up amidst a scam whereing the IE9 team tried to cheat the results of the Sunspider Benchmark. But this was long back and now Microsoft reports that IE9 has been downloaded over 36 Million times since it's initial availability on September 15, 2010.

Here are some quick facts from what Microsoft has to say about the browser market share and download stats of IE9:

• IE9 Release Candidate has been downloaded over 11 million times since its release on February 10th. This however is very less when compared to the Opera 11 day zero download count of 6.7 Million!

• Together with the IE9 Beta, IE9 has been downloaded over 36 million times since its initial availability on September 15, 2010.

• As of February, IE9 download count has surpassed the total combined downloads of IE8 Beta and IE8 RC

• IE9 has a 0.66% browser usage share on Windows and this accounts for a 0.86% increase across Windows. Also, of the 0.66%, IE9 usage on Windows 7 alone stands at 2.09%.

For More stats about the market share and usage of Microsoft IE9, see this.