Battle of the browsers
The web browser is a cornerstone of the modern desktop or laptop. It provides a point-and-click interface to the internet. However, Microsoft is no longer the only serious player in this market.
Web monitoring specialist NetApplications.com says the software colossus commands more than 80 per cent of the browser market with Internet Explorer, which has been baked into every version of Windows for the past decade. A mere two years ago, that figure was a seemingly unassailable 92 per cent.
However, a sleek browser named Firefox has been eroding Microsoft’s market share since its impressive debut in November 2004 and it now counts 12.5 per cent of web users as its devotees.
So it’s no surprise that Microsoft last month unleashed IE7, a fresh version of its venerable web browser, which largely echoes Firefox’s roll call of features to make web surfing faster, easier and safer. That same week Firefox shot back its own salvo with the release of the long-awaited Firefox 2.