Firefox, Mozilla Loosen Internet Explorer's Grip on Browsers

by , 5:30 PM EST, November 2nd, 2004

Safari users number less than one percent of the U.S. Web browsing populace, according to a new online study, but Microsoft's dominance has slipped recently, as Internet Explorer users fell to 92.86 percent of the market.

Internet Explorer's decline, from 95.48 percent in June, is primarily due to the Mozilla and Firefox browsers, which saw their market share numbers climb almost as much as Internet Explorer's fell, to 6.02 percent. Both Mozilla and Firefox are available for Mac OS X. Opera, another third-party Web browser, combined with Safari to account for just over one percent of Web browser users.

The study, conducted by WebSideStory (and noted on C|NET), measured market share by embedding browser sensors on a handful of popular Web sites, including the Walt Disney Internet Group, Best Buy, Sony, DailmerChrysler, and Liz Claiborne.

In related news, Firefox will officially reach version 1.0 on November 9, developers have said. Donations to the Spread Firefox grassroots effort to increase the browser's exposure also recently topped $250,000. Part of the money will be used to run a full-page in The New York Times promoting the browser. The campaign is currently soliciting donations to support a full-page ad in The Boston Globe.