Microsoft gains in Web server wars

Microsoft is the winner in a new survey of Web server usage, but it appears that the company's gains have been made as part of a trend away from smaller vendors and towards the big three, Microsoft, Netscape and Apache. According to SiteMetrics' Internet Server Software Trend Report, a survey of 53,000 Web sites owned by large US enterprise, the three companies increased their combined share to 83 per cent, up from 78 per cent in the last survey in February. Microsoft gained 6.4 per cent to 28 per cent, while Apache held the lead with 36 per cent and Netscape trailed with 19 per cent. Netscape still leads in companies with more than $1 billion revenue, but its 33 per cent share represents a narrower lead than in February. The market is however highly volatile. Over 17 per cent of sites had switched servers in the past six months, and eight per cent in the past three. ® Click for more stories