Firefox's market share slipped last month for the first time since the alternative browser began its battle to offer a popular alternative to Microsoft's ubiqitous Internet Explorer software. This consistent growth suffered a set-back when Firefox fell back from 8.71 per cent market share in June to 8.07 per cent in July, acording to web analytics firm NetApplications. Over the same period Microsoft's share rose from 86.56 per cent in June to 87.2 per cent in July, so Firefox's loss was Microsoft's gain.

NetApplications mentions Mozilla decision to launch a commercial arm in explaining why some might have gone back to using IE. Other theories could include an end to the "honeymoon factor" and recent security problems tarnishing Firefox's image as a more secure alternative to IE. NetApplications' stats comes from a survey of 40,000 customers of NetApplications Web site montoring service.

Monthly browser share figures, from NetApplications

• Microsoft Internet Explorer - 87.2 per cent
• FireFox - 8.07 per cent
• Safari - 2.13 per cent
• Netscape - 1.50 per cent
• Opera - 0.49 per cent
• Mozilla - 0.5 2per cent
• Other - 0.09 per cent

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