Browser Wars II: The wrath of Mozilla
CNET has reported statistics on browser usage gathered by Net Applications (after Net Applications reset its methodology to account for global variations).
Mozilla’s Firefox showed the most notable gain, from 22.5% to 23%, Google’s Chrome was up, from 2.6% to 2.8%, Apple’s Safari was essentially flat at 4.1%, and Internet Explorer (IE) dropped from 67.7% to 67%. Opera was essentially flat at 2%.
IE’s competitors are building in new features to make the Web a better foundation for applications, as Netscape envisioned back in the 1990s, amid margarita “bake-offs.” 
You can see all of the nitty-gritty stats as exploded pie charts in the first CNET article above. Microsoft is working to move the world from IE 6, the version that shipped with Windows XP, to IE 8. (I have observed a lot of Windows users STILL ON Windows XP, so that could explain it!)
(Note added September 11, 2009: I believe that it works THIS way: Macintosh users have learned that it is almost always SAFE to upgrade, so they SHOULD. Linux users are generally pretty technical and “plugged in,” so they have generally READ ABOUT any upgrade problems. Windows users have learned that it is safer to WAIT until they have heard that it is safe to upgrade [I was very cautious with Windows upgrades when I was running Window on a company machine from home and Mac at home, simultaneously].)
When I knew Moz, he was a cuddlier and “greener” guy. He could get angry though – I still have a “Mozillia Strikes Back!” T-shirt in one of my drawers.
All in all, it looks a lot (to me) like the world is getting smarter!
Now to do something about global warming….
-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™
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