IE8 becomes most popular web browser

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) became the world's most popular browser during January, gaining 22.31 per cent of the market and overtaking IE6 for the first time.

The rise represented a jump from 20.86 per cent in December, and meant that the browser took just nine months to reach market dominance after its launch in March. 

However, the figures from market intelligence firm NetApps showed that IE6 share dropped to 20.07 per cent. The browser has been widely criticised by governments around the world after it was discovered that the hackers who attacked Google in January exploited an IE6 flaw.

The once dominant version of IE is also likely to suffer from Google's announcement today that it will phase out IE6 support for Google Docs and Google Sites.

Mozilla also benefited from the fall in IE6 use, as it predicted in January, seeing Firefox 3.5 market share rise from 16.32 per cent in December to 17.1 per cent in January. Google's Chrome also saw a gain, up 3.75 per cent to 3.92 per cent.

Despite IE8's rapid growth, Microsoft's overall browser usage slumped from 66.92 per cent in December 2009 to 62.16 per cent in January, while Firefox's overall use climbed from 23.29 to 24.41 per cent.

NetApps also released figures for Windows 7 uptake, which it tracked on a day-by-day basis in January. The operating system passed the 10 per cent mark on the last day of the month to reach 10.16 per cent.

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