News
Firefox Use Rises as IE Falls
While the stock market sits on pins and needles worried over any further delays
in major Microsoft products, some users apparently are tired of waiting -- at
least when it comes to browsers.
According to the latest report from Amsterdam-based Web analytics firm OneStat,
in June, Microsoft’s share of the browser market fell to 83 percent globally.
Meanwhile, the various Mozilla browsers and their direct relations rose to nearly
13 percent, leaving the balance primarily to Apple’s Safari and Opera.
Microsoft shipped
the latest beta -- Beta 3 -- of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP at the
end of June. The company has declined to pin down a ship date even though this
is the final beta test cycle.
It remains unknown what impact on Microsoft’s market share the final
release of Windows Vista will have next year. However, it is likely that pent-up
demand among XP users will generate a surge in Microsoft’s market share
when IE7 finally ships. Beta 1 shipped nearly a year ago and there has been
no significant updates to IE since 6.0 was released several years ago.
Likewise, Firefox has experienced surges in its usage whenever the Mozilla
Foundation comes out with a major release -- notably last fall’s release
of Firefox 1.5.
The latest numbers from OneStat show Microsoft has lost
nearly 2.5 percentage points since its November 2, 2005 report -- a fairly
precipitous drop in just eight months.
In the U.S., IE currently has about an 80 percent share versus nearly 16 percent
for Firefox, according to OneStat.
About the Author
Stuart J. Johnston has covered technology, especially Microsoft, since February 1988 for InfoWorld, Computerworld, Information Week, and PC World, as well as for Enterprise Developer, XML & Web Services, and .NET magazines.