Dating back to even before Netscape Navigator bit the dust, Microsoft's Internet Explorer has been the top dog in browsers, at least in terms of overall market share. But as competitors begin to close the gap, is it too early to begin talking about IE's demise?

EWeek certainly doesn't think so, which posted 10 compelling reasons why Internet Explorer's dominance is coming to an end. Chief among them is the European Union, which has been a costly thorn in Microsoft's side (and wallet), most recently forcing the Redmond software maker to include a browser ballot in Windows.

According to eWeek, however, should IE fall from its throne, Microsoft can't just the point the finger elsewhere. Ranking No. 2 on eWeek's list is Microsoft's complacency, something that was most evident in between the time IE 6 and IE 7. Microsoft has since picked up the pace, but even so, it seems as though Microsoft is usually playing catch-up with other browser makers rather than blazing a trail of its own.

A lack of features, both in quantity and in implementation, Chrome's rise in popularity, and increasingly tech savvy users are among some of the other reasons eWeek sees IE falling faster than the Dallas Mavericks come playoff time.

What browser are you rocking?

Few could have guessed at the time of release 8 years ago that Internet Explorer 6 would turn out to be such a resilient browser, but here we are on the heels of IE9 and IE6 is still going strong, even against the warnings of security experts and Microsoft itself.

According to a recent study conducted by Chitika, a search-targeted advertising solutions firm, IE6 ranked fourth among all browsers, claiming 13 percent of usage during peak business hours. What this means is that IE6 is being used while at work, between the ours of 5AM and 2PM CST. After hours, however, the usage number drops to 6 percent of all Web traffic, Chitika noted.

"It almost looks like individual Internet users are more tech-advanced at home than the IT departments where they work," said Alden DoDrosario, Chitika's CTO, in a statement. "It's crazy to think that people whose job description revolves around employees having secure ways to browse the Web would keep IE6 alive, while these same employees go home to more secure browsers."

The same pattern holds true when broken down on a day-by-day basis. During the week, IE6 remains the fourth most used browser, and then loses nearly half of its market share to Firefox and IE8 during the weekend, Chitika says.

The big news in browser development today is that Microsoft made a series of announcements surrounding its upcoming Internet Explorer 9 at MIX10. Chief among them is that the IE9 Platform Preview is now available for public consumption, but that's really just the tip of the iceberg.

Microsoft also announced that IE9 includes expanded support for HTML5, hardware-accelerated graphics and text, and a brand new JavaScript engine build from the ground up.

"Internet Explorer 9 enabling GPU-accelerated HTML5 is a milestone for visual computing," said Drew Henry, general manager of GeForce and ION GPU business unit at Nvidia. "By harnessing the power of Nvidia GPUs, Internet Explorer 9 removes the glass ceiling for Web developers, enabling them to build graphically rich, high-performing Web applications."

Keeping in mind that this is a Preview release, you'll notice that IE9 doesn't come with a fleshed out user interface. The Preview is basically designed to show off the JavaScript engine -- codenamed "Chakra" -- and GPU acceleration. Look for a lot more preview builds before the browser goes beta.

Nvidia's Take
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