Newly released browser usage figures for 2006 seem to show that more people are discovering alternatives to Microsoft’s ubiquitousInternet Explorer. As IE’s usage dropped below 80 per cent, Mozilla Firefox experienced a growth during the year from 9.5 per cent to 14 per cent – astunning advance. During 2006 Firefox 2.0 was released, offering several features to mark it out. One of the most significant was its phishing protection, which helps users by checking eachURL you access against a list of known phishing sites. Among other new Firefox ideas is the session restore. If your computer crashes when you’re using Firefox, when you re-open it, thebrowser will re-recreate your last session. Additionally, there are enhanced search capabilities and several options for handling RSS feeds. Although Internet Explorer remains by the fardominant browser, it’s apparent that IE7 hasn’t been the success Microsoft had hoped, and, more especially, that people have the savvy and willingness to explore other options. Althoughthis is unlikely to lead to the browser wars of yesteryear, it will undoubtedly make people at Microsoft sit up and take notice. According to analyst Geoff Johnston with Web metric companyWebSideStory, “Maybe Microsoft’s met its match with Firefox. Maybe it just can’t compete against open-source and the whole world [as developers].”
