The reign of Microsoft's Internet Explorer as the world's top web browser is fading. According to web tracking firm StaCounter, Google's Chrome 15 became the world's most popular browser in the last week of November when 23.6 percent of browsers tracked by its global system were Chrome 15 users, compared to 23.5 percent for Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8.
Other versions of Microsoft's IE ensure that Microsoft's product remains the most popular overall, with 40.09 percent of the market, compared to 26.31 percent for all versions of Chrome.
Firefox enjoyed a 25.07 percent market share, with Apple's Safari at 5.86 percent and Opera at 1.91 percent.
The last time Microsoft did not own the market-leading browser was in the late 1990's when Netscape's Navigator led the pack until it was overtaken by Internet Explorer - prompting the US government's famous antitrust action against the Seattle-based software giant.
Microsoft is expected to wrest back the single version lead from Google when it moves to an automatic update system next year that will automatically install the latest browser versions on users' computers. Google's Chrome browser had a built-in updating system.
StatCounter said Chrome's growth is fuelled by its fast adoption by business users.
"It looks as if people favour Chrome on weekends at home but office commercial use has now caught up," said Aodhan Cullen, StatCounter CEO, in a statement.