Knowledge of browser usage can be important for web developers who must ensure compatibility across different platforms. The problem for rivals of Microsoft is that the risk of them being ignored increases with its market dominance.
Microsoft's latest version of its browser, IE 6, is now the leading browser on the web, with global usage of 57.6%. The most prevalent version of Netscape Navigator is version 4, at 1.1% of the total market, although the latest version of Netscape is version 7. It carries just 0.6% of the market.
The following are the figures from OneStat.com:
Microsoft IE 6.0 = 57.6%
Microsoft IE 5.5 = 18.3%
Microsoft IE 5.0 = 16.9%
Netscape Navigator 4.0 = 1.1%
Mozilla 1 = 1.1%
Microsoft IE 4.0 = 0.9%
Opera 6.0 = 0.8%
Companies with the largest total global usage shares on the web are:
Microsoft IE = 95.0%
Netscape Navigator = 3.0%
Mozilla = 1.1%
The research was based on a sample of 2 million visitors from 100 countries.