OS and Browser Stats are Milestones, Not Omens - Page 2

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Browser wars redux

On the browser side of things, Net Applications found continued erosion for Internet Explorer as the ghost of Netscape continues to haunt it. IE's marketshare is down to 69.77 percent, the lowest it's been in years, while Firefox crossed the 20 percent threshold.

"When Firefox hit 10 percent, everyone thought that was a big deal. Now they are across 20 percent, and that is a big deal," said Vizzaccaro.

What caught his eye in these numbers was Chrome and Safari, Apple's browser. Chrome popped to one percent share when it was released in September, but it was in a primitive state and lacking features, so it quickly faded.

But as Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has added functionality to the browser and recently begun promoting it on its site, it has crept back up to the one percent mark. But Vizzaccaro thinks there it will stay. "If people are looking for an alternative to Internet Explorer, they have chosen Firefox or Safari already," he said.

But Safari is lagging as well. It only had 7.13 percent of the market, not even the 8.87 percent Macintosh held. So it would seem Safari is not only failing to gain much traction with Windows users, even Mac users are taking a pass.