Internet Explorer Use Keeps Falling

 
 
By Matthew Hicks  |  Posted 2005-01-20 Email Print this article Print
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The leading browser falls another 1.5 percentage points to 90.3 percent, as upstart Firefox nudges to 5 percent.

Internet Explorer is continuing to lose share to the open-source Firefox Web browser. In the past month, use of Microsoft Corp.s dominant browser fell another 1.5 percentage points to 90.3 percent. Meanwhile, the Mozilla Foundations Firefox browser rose 0.9 percentage points to reach 5 percent, Web analytics provider WebSideStory Inc. confirmed Thursday. The numbers reflect shifts that occurred between Dec. 3 and Jan. 14. WebSideStory samples more than 30 million daily Internet users from more than 200 countries to determine the browser-usage shares.

The percentage of users browsing with IE has steadily fallen since June, while Firefox and some other competing browser have shown gains. Over that time, IE use has dropped a total of about 5 percent from its perch at 95.5 percent.
Surveys from another Web analytics provider, OneStat.com, have reflected a similar pattern and even put IEs worldwide share below 90 percent. Firefox, which is Mozillas standalone browser, was released as a stable version in November. WebSideStory tracks Mozillas other browser with a category that includes browsers from America Online Inc.s Netscape unit. That category dropped slightly to 2.6 percent in mid-January from 2.8 percent a month earlier. Remaining browsers, which largely are Opera Software ASAs namesake browser and Apple Computer Inc.s Safari browser, showed a gain of almost a full percentage point. They reached a 2.1 percent usage share, compared with 1.3 percent a month earlier, according to WebSideStory. Check out eWEEK.coms for the latest news, reviews and analysis about productivity and business solutions.
 
 
 
 
Matthew Hicks As an online reporter for eWEEK.com, Matt Hicks covers the fast-changing developments in Internet technologies. His coverage includes the growing field of Web conferencing software and services. With eight years as a business and technology journalist, Matt has gained insight into the market strategies of IT vendors as well as the needs of enterprise IT managers. He joined Ziff Davis in 1999 as a staff writer for the former Strategies section of eWEEK, where he wrote in-depth features about corporate strategies for e-business and enterprise software. In 2002, he moved to the News department at the magazine as a senior writer specializing in coverage of database software and enterprise networking. Later that year Matt started a yearlong fellowship in Washington, DC, after being awarded an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship for Journalist. As a fellow, he spent nine months working on policy issues, including technology policy, in for a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He rejoined Ziff Davis in August 2003 as a reporter dedicated to online coverage for eWEEK.com. Along with Web conferencing, he follows search engines, Web browsers, speech technology and the Internet domain-naming system.
 
 
 
 
 
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