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Microsoft faces another request from seven browser companies to alter its “Web browser choice screen” for European users of Windows. Originally introduced on March 1 to sidestep concerns from the European Commission (EC), the EU’s antitrust regulatory body, about the bundling of Internet Explorer 8 with copies of Windows, the ballot screen allows those users to choose from a randomized list of browsers including Apple’s Safari, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox.

In addition to those more prominent browsers, the browser ballot screen allows users to select from offerings by small companies, including Maxthon, SlimBrowser, Avant Force, Flock, Sleipnir, and GreenBrowser. Representatives from those companies had registered a formal petition with the EC on March 3, protesting that the screen was structured unfairly, with smaller browsers viewable only if the user scrolls sideways; now, representatives from those smaller browsers apparently want Microsoft to introduce even more randomization into the ballot screen, so that their products appear as prominently as ones from larger companies.

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• Horizontal scrollbar prompts EU gripe from 6 browser makers (arstechnica.com)

First, the data shows that Google’s Chrome browser has managed to snatch usage share from Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Here’s the data:

• Chrome: 5.20% (up from 4.64% in Dec ‘09)
• IE: 62.18% (down from 62.69% in Dec ‘09)
• Firefox: 24.41% (down from 24.61% in Dec ‘09)

Note: While we may debate as to whether Net Applications is a reliable metric or not, Mozilla both accept and use its data in its PR propaganda. 

Note that this is the second month in a row that Net Applications has shown a decline in Firefox usage.

I noticed over the holiday period that Google was aggressively pushing Chrome through ads, even going as far as to offer customized downloads that could be sent as gifts via email.

The top browser spot has also changed hands, now belonging to IE8, with 22.31%, beating IE6 (20.07%). Still far too many people browsing the web with IE6 … UPGRADE PEOPLE!!!!!

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• Google Chrome steals usage share from IE/Firefox, Win 7 breaks 10% (Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/Hardware 2.0) (techmeme.com)

Mozilla’s new Firefox 3.6 is about 15% faster than its predecessor, Firefox 3.5, but still is a slowpoke compared to the current speed demons, Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome, benchmark tests show.
According to tests run by Computerworld, Firefox 3.6, which Mozilla launched on Thursday, is the third fastest of five Windows browsers tested. Firefox renders JavaScript three times faster than Opera 10 and more than four times faster than Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 (IE8). It’s also 14.5% faster than Firefox 3.5, the Mozilla browser that debuted in June 2009, a slightly larger speed increase than Mozilla has claimed.

But even with the JavaScript speed boost, Firefox 3.6 can’t match Safari or Chrome. Safari is twice as fast — and Chrome 4.0 nearly twice as fast — as Firefox.

Safari edged Chrome for first place in the speed race, beating Google’s browser by about 6.5%, a slightly smaller lead than in a November time trial that pitted Mac versions of the browsers against each other.

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• Firefox, Opera downloads soar after IE warnings (computerworld.com)
• Firefox 3.6 Is 15% Faster – Does It Really Matter? (lockergnome.com)

Zack previously posted on the latest beta of Firefox Mobile for the Nokia N900 and to kick off the new year Mozilla gave us all a present with the Release Candidate 1.0 version available as of last night. I just installed it on my own Nokia N900 and look forward to trying out lots of different Internet sites.

Here is what’s new in Firefox RC 1:

Easy Navigation to Web Content

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• Firefox for Maemo “Fennec”: RC2 Released (techie-buzz.com)
• Firefox 3.6 RC1 Officially Released (techie-buzz.com)

Microsoft’s ability to hold off open source rivals is weakening.

Even as its proprietary browser market share is dropping hard, execs agreed to offer support for competitive browsers with its Windows operating system in exchange for an end to its legal nightmares in Europe.

It’s a win for the community in Europe but I’m not sure the open source rivals need the help. According to Net Applications’ statistics, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer market share has dropped more than 5 percent to 64 percent since January of 2009. Its share was roughly 70 percent at the start of the year, and it was at 75 percent in mid 2008.

Its share has fallen mostly to the two leading open source browsers, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Google’s Chrome has increased to 4 percent market share from 1.5 percent at the start of 2009. Google’s browser — whose use will no doubt increase after the release of the complementary Google operating system late next year — was first released in September of 2008. Not bad for 14 months on the market.

Meanwhile, market share of the leading open source browser, Mozilla Firefox, climbed to roughly 25 percent over the past year, also up 3 percentage points to 24.72 percent in November. Its share was 22 percent at the beginning of this year.

Opera stayed roughly the same with two percent market share, according to Net Applications. [Correction: Opera is not an open source browser, as this story claimed earlier and as one reader pointed out as incorrect. My regrets for the error.]

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• Firefox hits 25% (mybroadband.co.za)
• Chrome and others nibble away IE usage (news.cnet.com)

Firefox users should receive an offer to update their browsers Friday afternoon with Firefox 3.6 Beta 5, which offers some new improvements, including the HTML 5 API. As you might recall, the Firefox 3.6 update is oriented around the new HTML 5 improvements, which automate some taks which previously required a plug-in, such as video. (We’ve run a speed test here.)

• Support for the HTML5 File API.
• A change to how third-party software integrates with Firefox to increase stability.
• The ability to run scripts asynchronously to speed up page load times.
• Users can now change their browser’s appearance with a single click, with built in support for Personas.
• Firefox 3.6 will alert users about out of date plugins to keep them safe.
• Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
• Support for the WOFF font format.
• Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.
• Support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.

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• Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 Officially Available for Download [Downloads] (lifehacker.com)

Last week’s release of Google’s Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux gave the upstart Web browser a major boost in marketshare according to Net Applications, which tracks the browser habits of 160 million unique visitors each month to the 40,000 sites it monitors for customers.

Chrome’s marketshare jumped to 4.4% for the week of December 6-12, an increase of 0.4 percent over November. The boost was enough to best Safari’s 4.37%, even if only by 0.03%.

During November, IE had a 63.6% share, while Firefox’s was 24.7%.

Since the debut of the Chrome beta for the Mac the scrappy browser accounted for 1.3% of all browsers used on Mac OS X, up from just 0.32% during November. Vince Vizzaccaro, Executive Vice President of Net Applications, said that Chrome appears to have stolen marketshare equally from both Safari and Firefox.

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• Google Chrome Passes Safari to Nab Third in Browser Race (mashable.com)

Transmedia Dec. 7 will launch Glide OS 4.0, a fresh version of the company’s Web operating system for computers. Glide OS 4.0 is a browser plug-in that sits in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer, allowing users to access their computer applications. Glide OS 4.0 also includes Transmedia’s collaboration apps. Glide OS 4.0 includes a search box and lets users manage their personal files, search results and other online content on their computer. Any local content and files are mirrored in the cloud.

Microsoft’s next browser, Internet Explorer 9 (IE9), will offload image and text rendering chores to the PC’s graphic processor, one way the company plans to increase the browser’s overall performance, according to the firm’s top IE manager.

But Microsoft won’t be alone. Rivals including Mozilla, which makes Firefox, and Norwegian developer Opera, are working on ways to use a computer’s graphics processor unit (GPU) to accelerate their browsers.

Microsoft last week revealed a few details about IE9, which has no set ship date or even a publicly-disclosed development plan. While acknowledging that the company had a lot of catching up to do, however, Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft’s president of Windows and Windows Live, said that early work on IE9 had already shown significant performance strides.

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• Microsoft’s IE9 to tap PC hardware for speed boost (infoworld.com)