Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which has dominated the Web browser market since blowing by Netscape in the late 1990s, last month fell below the 50% market share level for the first time in years.
IE's share of the worldwide market fell to 49.87% in September, down from 51.3% in August and 58.4% a year ago. It is followed by Firefox, which increased its share slightly from 30.09% to 31.5% and Google Chrome, which grabbed 11.54% share, more than triple its September 2009 share, according to market watcher StatCounter.
"This is certainly a milestone in the Internet browser wars," said Aodhan Cullen, CEO of StatCounter, in a statement. "Just two years ago IE dominated the worldwide market with 67%."
Back in 2002, IE had more than a 90% share in the wake of operating system/Web browser bundling that got the Department of Justice's attention in the form of an antitrust lawsuit.
If you don't use Chrome I highly recommend you give it a try. It beats IE hands down, and the only advantage Firefox has is its estimable error console for programmers. |