In Brief: Firefox's year-end Browser Share speaks of Serious Challenge

Microsoft's Web browser, Internet Explorer (IE), has lost 5% of its users in the last year. IE now has just over 85% of market share. Almost all this change can be attributed to an increase in users of Firefox, which now has just under 10%, but Safari also picked up a small but significant set of users each month throughout 2005. And this group may grow, as Microsoft decided to turn its back on supporting IE for Macs during the year gone.

Netscape is now clearly on the way out, with only about 1.5% of the market at year end. Opera has been almost static in market terms over the last year, with a half percent. The Opera browser's business model changed in 2005, when it abandoned its two tier approach of free-with-ads and premium without. This seems to have had no discernible impact as yet.

The data above was compiled from global traffic statistics from websites tracked by NetApplications' HitsLink.com.

All change at the top for System Concepts
Source: System Concepts Ltd, 3 July 2009
 
Leslie Fountain has been promoted to joint Managing Director of leading usability consultancy System Concepts.

Life in UCD immortalised in fiction: you couldn't make it up
Source: UN, 2 July 2009
 
Sarah Herman's fictitious book on life in a user-centred design company has hit the shelves and The Guardian's book pages...

Interfaces Magazine - Issue 79: The Education Issue
Source: Interaction Group, 1 July 2009
 
The latest issue of Interfaces is now available as a free download from the Interaction Website.

Two new Behavioural research Tools from Noldus
Source: UN, 30 June 2009
 
Tool updates make on-site behavioural data collection easier.

Cell Phones that Listen and Learn
Source: MIT Technology Review, 29 June 2009
 
New software tracks a user's behavior by monitoring everyday sounds.

Top Six Don’ts for Usability Testing
Source: FutureNow Inc., 27 June 2009
 
Six tips for creating quality usability tests to ensure useful feedback from testers.

Usability: ‘Lovely software. But I can’t work it’
Source: FT.com, 26 June 2009
 
In a recent survey by Global Graphics, 77 per cent of office workers estimate they lose up to one hour a week because business software is difficult to use.

And what do you do?
Source: Dexo Design, 25 June 2009
 
How do you describe your job role? Here are the results of a recent 'Preferred UX/UI Title' Poll.

Most Doctors cite Usability as critical to Electronic Health Record Adoption
Source: TMCNet, 24 June 2009
 
It's all about 'meaningful use'.

Glossy monitors look good but can hurt
Source: QUT, 23 June 2009
 
A new advisory cites research which suggests high gloss monitors make users sit awkwardly.