While Bill Gates may not be losing much sleep over this at this point, his software giant continues to slowly slide in the browser wars, according to the latest data from web traffic monitoring firm NetApplications. Their latest numbers for May 2005 browser share reveal that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer gave more ground to open source rival Firefox.
FireFox reached 8% during the month of May, up from 7.38% in April. Microsoft’s base meanwhile dipped to 87.23% in May, down .77% from April of 2005. Apple’s Safari browser also gained a modest tenth of a percentage, posting 1.91% in May 2005. Most other browsers experienced little change during the same time period.
“While 87-percent market share may seem like market dominance, the numbers are revealing an average of .5 to 1% loss of users each month,” noted Dan Shapero, Chief Operating Officer of NetApplications. “FireFox is gaining traction with early adopters and its popularity and adoption rate are starting to tap into mass-market acceptance as buzz continues to build.”
Data for this article was compiled from global traffic statistics from Web sites tracked by NetApplications’ HitsLink.com. The specific numbers for May 2005, according to a company issued press release, are:
Microsoft Internet Explorer – 87.23%
FireFox – 8.06%
Netscape – 1.64%
Safari – 1.91%
Mozilla – 0.58%
Opera – 0.51%
Other – 0.07%
