After resetting its methodology to better account for global variations, market analyst firm Net Applications' browser usage statistics have resumed an earlier trend in which Internet Explorer's main rivals edged ahead.
Mozilla's Firefox had the most notable gain — from 22.5 percent to 23 percent — while Google's Chrome rose from 2.6 percent to 2.8 percent. Apple's Safari stayed flat at 4.1 percent, while IE dipped from 67.7 percent to 67 percent. Opera, in fifth place before this week's release of Opera 10, was essentially flat at two percent.
The browser wars are back in full swing. Although IE remains dominant, rivals are racing to include in new features to make the web a better foundation for applications — the vision Netscape had back in the first generation of browser wars of the 1990s. Only recently has Microsoft joined the HTML 5 discussion in earnest.
These days, profitable powerhouses like Google are pushing the web applications facet of cloud computing. Even Microsoft is embracing the trend, with an online version of Office due. Using the browser and the web to run applications has a lot more meat on its bones after a decade of work.
Microsoft is working to wean the world off of IE6, the version of the browser that shipped with Windows XP, and has made some progress, according to Net Applications' statistics. IE8 usage increased from 12.5 percent to 15.1 percent in July to August, while IE6 dropped from 27.2 percent to 25.3 percent. IE7 decreased from 23.1 percent to 21.1 percent.
Mozilla's latest 3.5 version of Firefox, released in June, also made gains — from 4.5 percent to 8.9 percent. Firefox 3.0 dropped from 16.2 percent to 12.5 percent.
Using a modern browser is important when it comes to bringing web application technology to fruition. Older browsers lack support for advancements in page layout and graphics, HTML features such as built-in video and, perhaps most crucially, fast execution of web-based JavaScript programs.
