IE6 use drops below five per cent

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Internet Explorer version 6 (IE6) appears to be finally on the way out in the UK, falling below the 5 per cent market share by usage for the first time.

According to data released Tuesday by the web analytics firm StatCounter, IE6 usage dipped from 5.08 per cent in April to 4.78 per cent in May. The figure was 10.3 per cent in May 2009.

Meanwhile, usage of IE8 is on the up, StatCounter found, from 8.46 per cent in May last year to 34.63 per cent in May this year. However, Microsoft's overall market share is being eaten into by competitors because IE7 use is tumbling.

“At these levels, web developers now have valid justification not to support IE6 in the future," said Aodhan Cullen, chief executive of StatCounter. “IE6 has been a bit of a pain for many web developers and designers who have often had to recode their site to get it to work. There are also security implications in its continued usage,” he added in a statement.

Ryan Gavin, Internet Explorer business group lead, recently told IT PRO, that he is looking to get IE6 use down “as fast as humanly possible”.

A report from Net Applications, has also revealed the size of the erosion of Microsoft's browser market share. Net Applications said Microsoft's market share dropped from 59.95 per cent in April to 59.69 per cent last month.

According to Net Applications, Mozilla’s Firefox also saw its share decline from 24.59 per cent to 24.35 per cent, as Google Chrome continued to perform well, going up from 6.73 per cent to 7.05 per cent.

With Google announcing the release of Chrome 5 for Windows, Mac and Linux earlier this month, uptake of Chrome looks set to rise in the coming months.

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