Firefox Takes Another Bite Out Of Internet Explorer

By: Bill Waters
Staff Writer
Published: Feb 3, 2009

Mozilla's Firefox Web browser continues to take market share away from Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Mozilla's popular Internet Web browser is up by 17 percent while IE usage is down nearly 20 percent.

Mozilla Corp's Firefox Web browser continues to take market share away from Microsoft Corp's Internet Explorer. Mozilla's popular Internet Web browser is up by 17 percent while IE usage is down nearly 20 percent. Microsoft may have stronger challenges ahead as it gets ready to release IE8.

"Reaching 20 percent worldwide market share is a significant milestone for Firefox and Mozilla. It's a huge achievement by the global Mozilla community, one that just a few years ago most would have considered impossible. The open web is more vibrant than ever, and the thousands of Mozilla contributors around the world have played a major role in making it that way," Mozilla's CEO John Lilly said in a statement.

Firefox has taken a bite out of Internet Explorer as the Net Application report suggests. However, Lilly gives full credit to the Mozilla community for its on-going Web browser success. The Mozilla browser first reached 20 percent of the market in November 2008.

"It's a huge achievement by the global Mozilla community, one that just a few years ago most would have considered impossible. The open web is more vibrant than ever, and the thousands of Mozilla contributors around the world have played a major role in making it that way," Lilly said.

Internet Explorer had 90 percent of the market share in January 2008. Today, it stands at 67.6 percent which indicates a large decline in users. Firefox stood with 17 percent market share in January 2008, it now has 21.5 percent.

IE8 is the new version of Internet Explorer which Microsoft hopes will improve its market share. The Web browser is currently a release candidate and will be released as a commercial version this summer. IE8 contains several new security enhancements and features which will benefit Internet users.

However, IE8 might have an uphill climb for Microsoft to return to its prestigious 90 percent market share. One of the why users have switched to Firefox is its proven security and complete library of tools known as plug-ins. The plug-ins allow users to add or remove tools from the Web browser.

While Internet Explorer will be one browser that will always be around, other rivals such as Apple Safari and Google Chrome are also growing in popularity.