Chrome's simple interface and increasingly keen pace of operation are giving people compelling reasons to upgrade. And, of course, given that Google has the most visited page on the internet, and the search engine used by the vast majority of users, it has a sure-fire way to get that message across (even if it has to tread carefully for fear of annoying the regulatory authorities).
The Future
This doesn't, of course, mean that Firefox is facing a bleak future. Far from it. The next year or two at the very least it's likely to continue chipping away at Internet Explorer, with Microsoft's browser surely just a year or two away from slipping below 50 per cent market share at its current rate of decline. Firefox remains the most known and best-placed alternative, too, and the browser itself continues to improve.
Then there's the small matter of the ballot screen appearing on versions of Windows any minute now. This is certainly going to make a difference, as no longer will users of the world's dominant operating system be tied by default to Internet Explorer.
