The browser wars continue on several fronts, from JavaScript performance to support for modern web standards, but perhaps most importantly in terms of audience. The success of each browser is ultimately measured in install base and usage share, and in this regard, Microsoft is at the top of the browser game, with Internet Explorer dominating the market. However, rival browsers are continually eroding IE’s share of the market, with Firefox claiming the largest share of Internet Explorer converts. And although IE is still on top of rivals in the browser wars, Firefox is gaining grounds rapidly. According to statistics provided StatCounter Global Stats, Firefox 3.5 was the most popular browser in the world in the week between 14 and 20 December, 2009.

“Firefox 3.5 is the most popular browser in the world. It tops IE 6, IE 7, and IE 8. Yes, this is just one source. Yes, all versions of IE combined still beat all versions of Firefox combined. Yes, it's just one week. So. It's still Awesome,” revealed Asa Dotzler, from the Mozilla’s Quality Assurance (QA) and Testing Program.

StatCounter Global Stats indicates that 21.93% of users were running Firefox 3.5 in the period mentioned above. Internet Explorer 7 is runner up with 21.2%, IE8 third with 20.33%, IE6 forth with 13.89%, followed by Firefox 3.0 with 9%, Google Chrome 3.0 with 4.86%, Safari 4 with 3.03% and Opera with 1.46%. The statistics provided by StatCounter Global Stats come from 3 million websites around the world.

However, according to data supplied by Net Applications, all current versions of Internet Explorer continue to account for usage shares larger than Firefox. Net Applications credits IE6 with 22.08% of the browser market, IE7 with 19.34%, IE7 with 16.86% and Firefox 3.5 with 15.16%. In the echelon with Firefox 3.0 at the top, Firefox 3.0 owns 8.13% of the market, Chrome 3.0 3.34%, Safari 4.0 3.29%, and Opera 10.x 1.38%.

Things are only bound to get worse for Microsoft, as the company has settled an antitrust dispute with the European Union Commission, in which it has agreed to push updates to all Windows users in Europe, advertising rival browsers in addition to IE as options for the default browser in Windows.

The latest releases of Google Chrome are available for download here.

Internet Explorer 8 is available for download here.

Opera 10.20 Alpha is available for download here.

Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 (Beta revision 5) for Windows is available for download here.
Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 (Beta revision 5) for Mac OS X is available for download here.
Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 (Beta revision 5) for Linux is available for download here.