The open source Firefox browser is continuing to take
market share from Microsoft's Internet Explorer, whose share has
now dropped to less than 90%.
Web monitoring company Net Applications said Firefox, which was
developed by the Mozilla Foundation, had 6.17% of the market in
February, compared to the 5.59% it had in January.
Mozilla said Firefox has been downloaded 27 million times since it
was launched at the end of last year.
Net Applications gave Internet Explorer 89.04% of the market,
compared to 90.31% last December. Internet Explorer's fall below
90% was predicted earlier this year by web monitoring company
Websidestory.com.
As the market share of all other major browsers has been stable
over the past months, Firefox's increasing usage is at the expense
of Internet Explorer, said Net Applications.
The Mozilla Foundation was a result of the spin-off of open source
technology by Netscape, whose main browser once had 80% of the
market before it was usurped by Microsoft.
Microsoft is addressing the concerns of critics of Internet
Explorer, who have claimed it could be made more secure, by
releasing a beta of IE7 this summer.
This version, designed for users of Windows XP Service Pack 2, will
offer better protection against phishing, spyware and other
malware.
Firefox has fallen victim to at least two security vulnerabilities
this year.