[Chris W]

Part of the rise in popularity of other browsers is due to the fact that many people have broadband (infact i would guess 90% of people who care which browser they use have broadband) so a new browser is easily downloadable. Saying that, on this pc at the moment i have IE6, firefox 0.9, mozilla 1.7, netscape 7.1 and HotJava 3.0.

I use firefox for most things, ie for the sites that i need too and the others just for testing/ playing with.

The main reason MSIE is so popular is that when you install windows on a pc, it is there and ready to use straight away. Most people do not have the time/ inclination/ knowledge to install anything else so they stick with IE6.

However, programs such as MSN explorer on winXP opened people's eyes to the fact that there is actually more than one browser out there. ok so msn explorer is built on IE but is just looks a bit different, but it is still a different product.

The rise in popularity of Linux means that fewer 'standard' (for want of a better word) uses will not be on windows. Three years ago the only people who i knew that used linux would have to be called "ubergeeks", but this situation has changed dramatically now.

A good example of this is India- not a place renouned for IT, but statistics that i was reading (will find the link later) showed that 92% of home users in India have linux not windows, because it is cheaper. If this trend continues, then fewer people will use IE, and more people will install other browsers, which will in turn lead to development of web content that is cross browser compatible.

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