Mozilla not too keen on IE-esque dominance

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One of the driving forces behind Mozilla's Firefox browser is "kind of worried" about Firefox achieving the monopolistic status of Internet Explorer.

Firefox has only just tipped past the 20 per cent mark in worldwide browser market share, and is still a long way away from achieving the 90 per cent-plus market share that Internet Explorer enjoyed in its heyday. But nonetheless, the alternative browser’s architect Mike Connor has concerns about its popularity going forward.

Firefox has a market share of more than 50 per cent in some countries and is hugely popular among PC enthusiasts: Firefox was used by around 40 per cent of visitors to IT PRO’s sister site PC Pro last month, and Connor claims the browser is used by about 80 per cent of visitors to Digg.com.

Connor admits the prospect of achieving monopoly status - defined as two thirds of the market in the US - has been a topic of discussion at Mozilla HQ.

"We are kind of worried about the monopoly thing," Connor admitted in an exclusive interview with PC Pro. "We don't want to kill everybody else."

However, Connor admits Mozilla is largely powerless to prevent Firefox's increasing popularity. "When we get to 66.6 per cent we're going to have to figure something out," Connor half-joked. "We're going to have to tank our own market share or something."

Connor believes that market forces will ensure Firefox never achieves the level of dominance that Internet Explorer once had. "Eventually people will use different browsers based on their own specific preferences," Connor adds.

However, Connor says he definitely doesn't want Firefox to be bundled with Windows, a course of action currently being considered by the EU.

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