The Hindu Business Line : Nibbling at the pie

Microsoft's Internet Explorer leads the pack in the use of browsers to surf the Net. But of late, other players have been cutting into its market share.

THOSE who move away from the majority to tread a path of their own have always been termed mavericks. One category of people who today could qualify to be called mavericks are those using Web browsers other than Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE). For, ever since the software giant started integrating IE with its Windows operating systems and offered it free, IE became the choice of Web browser by default. Rivals such as Netscape Navigator saw their share of hard disk getting reduced to abysmally low levels.

But now, it seems, the mavericks are growing in number.

The latest data on the use of Web browsers, the software tools that lets us surf the Net, shows that IE has lost some of its market share in the past few months. Those who have gained at IE's expense are a number of alternative browsers, including the Netscape Navigator. The data compiled by WebSideStory Inc, a Web analytics company, says that IE's share has come down by 1.8 percentage points to 93.7 per cent in the past three months. Though all the other alternative browsers together account for just about six per cent, what is interesting is that IE has been losing its share since June.

The most apparent reason for this decline is the reported vulnerabilities in the IE that has exposed computers to greater security risks such as virus attacks. Since Windows is the most commonly used operating system, it is but natural for hackers and virus creators to target those machines. Attacking the smaller other side means getting hardly noticed in cyber world, and hence such activities are much lower in scale. In view of rising attacks against IE, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (USCERT,) in June, said users can reduce their exposure to IE's vulnerabilities by opting to use a different Web browser. The USCERT's announcement gave a fillip to the use of alternative browsers. Microsoft has, nevertheless, fixed many of the IE problems in its Service Pack 2 release of Windows XP.

Another reason experts cite for the growing defection is the new look and feel of Net surfing the other browsers offer. For instance, the Mozilla Firefox browser offers `tabbed browsing', allowing users to open multiple pages on a single screen, rather than opening multiple windows. Many of the alternative browsers also blocked pop-ups, much ahead of IE.

According to WebSideStory, the two browsers that have gained the maximum out of IE's pains are Netscape and Mozilla. Many others, including Opera, too have benefited. Netscape and Mozilla together have 5.2 per cent share, recording an increase of 1.7 percentage points. That the alternative browsers are increasing their popularity is evident from the enthusiastic response to the Mozilla Foundation's preview version of Firefox browser. On the first day of the release itself, Firefox 1.0 browser had three lakh downloads. Opera, which claims it is the fastest browser, also is getting popular, though it is priced at $39. At this price, this browser offers a host of features, in addition to being ad-free.

However, many experts are of the opinion that completely doing away with IE may not be practical today. This is because not all Web sites may be compatible with other browsers. Also, it is not necessary that you can plug the security loopholes by just switching the browser. Some feel that if you start using a new browser but continue to run Windows, the vulnerabilities could still exist in your PC. So to overcome security fears, it may be a good idea to fortify the machine by adding firewalls and anti-virus software, rather than dump IE. Besides, the new browsers too are likely to be targets of virus and other attacks as they gain more popularity. But that should not be a reason not to try them out. At least for now.

Picture by K. K. Mustafah

vipin@thehindu.co.in

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