IE8 knocks troubled IE6 off browser top-spot at last

 

Gallery

By Nicole Kobie

Posted on 2 Feb 2010 at 10:00

Microsoft's troubled Internet Explorer 6 has finally been knocked off the top of the worldwide browser rankings, according to Net Applications stats.

IE8, the latest version of Internet Explorer, now holds 22.31% of the market, compared to IE6's 20.07%.

Users have been warned to upgrade their browser after a series of flaws became apparent in the nearly decade-old IE6 - including the vulnerability that led to Google being hacked.

Yesterday, the Department of Health warned NHS staff to avoid IE6, while the governments of Germany and France have urged citizens to upgrade or switch.

The third most used browser version was Firefox 3.5 with 17.10%, followed by IE7 at 14.58%.

Overall, the group of IE browsers lead the market with 62.18%, followed by Firefox with 24.41% share in January. Both slid slightly, contributing to Google's Chrome browser climbing from a 4.63% share in December to 5.20% in January.

Safari and Opera also posted slight declines, down to 4.51% and 2.3% respectively, according to Net Applications.

Windows 7 breakthrough

Last month was also a breakthrough month for Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system. Launched in October, it broke the 10% market share mark on the last day of January, the stats firm said.

NetApps noted that the much-maligned Vista took seven months to break only 4% market share.