Firefox a hit with web enthusiasts

The figures, published by web developers’ portal W3schools, shows Firefox with 46.4 per cent, up nearly one percent from January, while various versions of IE, when taken together, dropped by 1.2 per cent to 43.6 per cent. Google’s Chrome browser rose slightly to four per cent.

However, as W3Schools explains, it is primarily a site for people with an interest in web technologies.

These users are therefore “more interested in using alternative browsers than the average user” and so not fully representative of the general market.

“The average user tends to use Internet Explorer, since it comes preinstalled with Windows. Most do not seek out other browsers,” the site explains.

The latest statistics from Net Applications make better reading for Microsoft. They put Internet Explorer’s market share for February at 67.44 per cent, with Firefox at 21.77 per cent.

Microsoft will be hoping the release of the latest version of Internet Explorer this week will help it to increase its market share over Firefox, which has been gradually gaining in popularity.

IE8 was designed to better comply with web standards, offer more security features and improved performance.

In recent months Microsoft has also seen its competition increase, with arch rival Google launching its own web browser, Chrome, into the market.

The latest stats from Net Applications shows Chrome in fourth place behind IE, Firefox and Safari, with a 1.15 per cent market share.