New browser wins over surfers

The proportion of surfers using Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) has dropped to below 90%, say web analysts.

Net traffic monitor, OneStat.com, has reported that the open-source browser Firefox 1.0, released on 9 November, seems to be drawing users away from IE.

While IE's market share has dropped 5% since May to 88.9%, Mozilla browsers - including Firefox - have grown by 5%.

Firefox is made by the Mozilla Foundation which was set up by former browser maker Netscape in 1998.

Although there have been other preview versions of Firefox, version 1.0 was the first complete official program.

"It seems that people are switching from Microsoft's Internet Explorer to Mozilla's new Firefox browser," said Niels Brinkman, co-founder of Amsterdam-based OneStat.com.

Source: BBC News - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4037833.stm