Dave Gee: Life from Right Field

The popularity of open-source web browser Firefox seems to be on the rise, with a new report revealing a big increase in users around the world.

Latest statistics released by European "web metrics" company Xiti found that Firefox increased its browser market share in most markets in March, climbing to a share of around 29% in Europe.

But the company found the "continent" where Firefox was most popular was Oceania (which includes New Zealand and Australia), where the browser has a 31.2% market share.

Breaking down the statistics to individual countries reveals that Firefox's biggest fans live in Finland, Poland, and Slovenia, where it is used by 43-46% of all web surfers.

The browser was least popular in Asia (with a 17.2% market share), where many people use the alternative browser Maxthon (a Chinese-created browser, which uses the rendering engine of Internet Explorer).

Usage of the Firefox browser slipped very slightly in North America (possibly due to increased competition from Apple's Safari), but analysts believe the mid-year launch of the faster and improved Firefox 3 will give the open-source browser another boost.

The rising popularity of Firefox comes despite many companies forcing their employees to use Microsoft's sluggish, buggy, and security-prone Internet Explorer browser.

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