The web browser wars continue to shift and change as new versions are released. This week a new study claims that Google's Chrome web browser has made a huge leap in popularity and could overtake the long time number two web browser, Mozilla's Firefox, in the near future. Computerworld.com reports that according to the study from StatCounter, Chrome has seen its percentage of the total browser market go up by 8 percent in 2011.
That compares to Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox, which have seen their percentage of the browser market go down by 4 percent each so far this year. Currently IE has 41.7 percent of the total web browser market, followed by Firefox with 26.8 percent and Chrome not far behind at 23.6 percent. StatCounter says that if Chrome's rise in the browser market continues at this rate it will pass Firefox's market share sometime in December.
So why are browser users dumping IE and Firefox and embracing Chrome? Certainly the web browser's better performance overall has been a big factor with many users saying they believe Chrome is faster and has less bugs and security issues than IE or Firefox. Google has also been putting money behind marketing Chrome, including running television ads that show how Chrome works in relation to other Google products. Of course, Google would also like to see Chrome turn into its own operating system. The first Chromebooks started shipping earlier this summer; however, reviews of these Chrome-based laptops have been decidedly mixed so far.
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