The BBC website reports on the launch of the latest version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. The company has released a beta, or test, version of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9), which it hopes will help revive its fortunes in an increasingly competitive market. Since 2003, Microsoft has seen a 97% lead in market share dwindle to 60% in the face of increasingly popular browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.

The new IE9 browser contains a range of new features, many of which are designed to make the browser perform more like an application commonly found on smartphones, which offer a customised and intuitive way to interact with a website. IE9 is designed to help blur the boundaries between applications and the browser.

To do this, Microsoft has adopted technology that allows the browser to tap directly into a computer's graphics chip, rather than just its processor. This "hardware acceleration" makes web pages more nimble and behave more like software running directly on the computer. IE9 also supports forthcoming global web standards, such as HTML5, which allow web developers to create rich and immersive web sites with graphics and video.

The browser also introduces new functions, such as so-called Pinned Sites, a user's favourite websites that can be accessed directly from the Windows Taskbar, without having to open the browser. Other features, such as a combined search and address bar and a simplified menu, reflect the functionality already seen on Firefox and Chrome.

However, the new browser cannot be used with the Windows XP operating system which is still the dominant Microsoft version used by many computers. Therefore there is no firm release date for the full version of the new browser, which may allow competitors to gain an advantage, as this date may not be until sometime next year.

The recent news that Google is considering ending its operation in China following a cyber-attack in December has led to protests from the US Government and further concerns and issues being raised about attacks on various government websites worldwide.

In Germany the government has now issued a statement warning web users to find an alternative browser to Internet Explorer to protect their security. As reported by the BBC, this comes after Microsoft admitted IE was the weak link in recent attacks on Google's systems. However, Microsoft rejected the warning, saying that the risk to users was low and that the browsers' increased security setting (which is not the default level used by most users) would prevent any serious risk.

However, this warning has now been repeated by France, which - if heeded - will cause significant damage to the reputation and market share of Microsoft's browser. In reply, Microsoft have tried to downplay the concerns but clearly wants to get more users upgraded to the newer, more secure version of Internet Explorer. However, according to Australian security experts quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald, the European concerns are 'overblown'.

Regardless of all this - and despite their issues with China - Google must be taking a secret delight at the problems Microsoft are now having to fend off which were, presumably unwittingly, caused by the original China story. If many people do move away from using Microsoft's browser, the main alternatives are Mozilla's Firefox and Google's Chrome product.

The BBC website is among many to report the serious security flaw discovered in Microsoft's web browser, Internet Explorer v7. This flaw could allow criminals to take control of people's computers and steal passwords - it has come to light with gaming passwords being stolen, but the vulnerability could present other security issues for web users.

Microsoft has moved quickly to issue a security patch to fix the flaw, which has reportedly already affected as many as 10,000 websites. Since Internet Explorer is used by a majority of computer users the flaw could affect many webs users and some security experts have suggested that users changes their browsers to Firefox, Opera, Chrome or Apple's Safari system which are not vulnerable to this current flaw.

However, Microsoft have also provided this patch through their automated download system to user's PCs and they recommend that users do have this option selected to happen automatically in the case of these short-term issues.

Google has announced the launch of a new Internet browser that will challenge Internet Explorer and the growing popularity of Mozilla's Firefox. Called Google Chrome, the new browser is an open source browser that has been made available today across more than 100 countries.

A Google browser has been expected for some time and the company says that they are introducing this new browser to 'add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web'. The blog says that the web browser needed a rethink as the web has developed to one of rich, interactive applications and the browser aims to cater for this market.

The new Google Chrome browser window is 'streamlined and simple' so that it takes a back seat position to provide web users with the tools to get the most from their online activites. Each browser tab is kept in an isolated "sandbox" to prevent one tab from crashing another and to provide improved protection from rogue sites. Google claims that the browser offers improved speed and responsiveness and includes a powerful JavaScript engine to manage the next generation of web applications.

The beta launch is designed to generate feedback and further development as the initial Windows browser is also adapted for Mac and Linux. As an open source project the new browser uses components taken from Apple's WebKit and Mozilla's Firefox plus all the code is provided as an open source tool to encourage online collaboration to develop the product in the future.

The BBC website has reported that Mozilla's recent launch of the updated Firefox Internet browser has officially made history with a new Guinness world record for the largest number of software downloads in a 24-hour period. The confirmed record breaking figure of 8,002,530 downloads took place in June as existing and new Firefox users avidly took to the new version of the browser, which has also taken on a revised look.

Mozilla had promoted the world record attempt on its website and download page. There were some initial problems when the servers handling the downloads failed under the weight of visitors checking to see if the new version of the browser was available. However, once the servers were working and supplying the downloads they were handling more than 9,000 downloads per minute at the peak. Within five hours the number of downloads for Version 3.0 exceeded the 1.6 million set by Firefox 2.0 in October 2006.

Apart from this record breaking event, the more significant issue is that Firefox continues to gain in popularity as an Internet browser favoured against Microsoft's established Internet Explorer and this event will have no doubt helped the spread and awareness of Firefox. The market share for this browser is now at 19% according to the latest figures and Mozilla expect to reach a 20% share of the market within the next month as there have now been 28 million downloads of the software since the recent launch.