Internet browsers jostle for user share

18:15 5th January 2009

Research has shown that the number of users of Internet Explorer decreased last month, taking its share of the sector down.

The analysis, carried out by NetApplications, revealed that usage of other internet providers had heightened.

Safari, Firefox and Chrome all witnessed an increase in their share of internet use but despite growth among its competitors, Microsoft retained a majority share.

Microsoft's share dropped from 69.77 per cent in November to 68.15 per cent in December.

According to NetApplications: "The December holiday season strongly favoured residential over business usage. This in turn increases the relative usage share of Mac, Firefox, Safari and other products that have relatively high residential usage."

Internet Explorer (IE) was forced to admit a design flaw may have left thousands of users vulnerable to computer bugs and viruses.

The flaw was found in IE 7, although IE 6 and 8 were also thought to have been compromised.