Windows 7 - Why do people prefer IE8?

Everyone I basically know use IE8 not IE9 this is including my college, but I would have thought 9 would be more secure, and some what 10x better, what do you guys think?

I prefer IE9, but some people prefer the old user interface (which isn't *that* much different than IE9, but enough that some people don't want to change). Others may have app / website compat reasons, but there's no one right or wrong answer. If you don't have a reason specifically not to run IE9, I would recommend it strongly.

My guess would be, considering what I see around me ( people I know, and what my work uses), people are afraid of changing. Most people I know are still on XP, and I still see IE6 used here and there.
I don't know what it is, but something has made people stubborn, almost to the point to where I wouldn't be surprised to see them with a chain around their ankle, with the other end chained to their XP pc from 8 years ago so no one can take it away from them.

Hell, I can't even get my work to move on from Adobe 6.0, much less the XP they still insist on using.

Damn that's kinda pathetic lol :L usually the higher updated version the better it is, why can't they see that xD

That's not necessarily true anymore. It used to be that beta software was under development and not considered suitable for general use, certainly not suitable for charging people to use it. However as software became more and more complex and free as well, the providers didn't feel obligated to remove all the bugs. When browsers and mail programs come with an OS, they need to be reasonably in good shape since users are paying for the OS and all it's components. Hence IE6 (XP), IE7 (Vista), IE8 (Windows 7), Outlook Express (XP), Windows Mail (Vista) all needed to achieve a level of "paid" completion. However IE9 and Windows Live Mail are not yet part of any OS, must be downloaded for free and voluntarily installed and added to an OS that did not come with them. Just because a computer seller chose to install these free additions that did not come with the OS on behalf of the user doesn't make them better or more "out of beta".

The question is why do people prefer IE at all in preference to far better browsers out there? I would think that they do so because they know no better.

In almost all cases that I have asked people to change their browsers (Opera, Chrome, Firefox), they have been more than satisfied after changing.

I prefer 9 to 8 bc in 9, they made the option to 'allow mixed media' much easier to handle - in 8, you have to go into settings and find the stupid command to enable but in 9, it's done with a message at the bottom. But I use Firefox..

Oh btw, Opera rocks!

In the tech world, and until recently, maybe that may have been true. However, I prefered IE8 on IE7 and I do like IE9 better, and I come across a whole host of people every day who feel the same way. I don't personally care what browser one uses, and in reality it doesn't much matter anymore which you choose. They all have good and bad points.

IE 9 is generally a far better browser than 8. Fast, html5 etc, but one single feature has me drawn back to 8 and makes it better than any current FF or Chrome release (unmodified). IE8 has the separate and far superior search box, the pinnacle of ease of use and full of functionality in search UIs. If you are needing to do searches as a common part of your browsing as I do daily, it's 100 times better than the damned combined address/search bars that are plaguing the universe now. Requiring you to install one or more search bars to put back power searching functionality but then taking up more real estate than necessary. :/

I can see for that one reason certain people (like me) that actually prefer the IE8 over IE9, FF or Chrome. Opera at least seems to have retained sanity in this area and (for now) still has a dedicated search box that doesn't take you to unintended websites or eat your search terms as you browse....