Despite IE's dominance, a crop of alternative browsers has sprung up, providing as little or as much functionality as users need. Many of these browsers run on operating systems that Microsoft has refused to support with Internet Explorer.

A Night at the Opera

One such browser, Opera, is often called "the fastest browser on Earth." It is also one of the few that still has a price tag. Speed and a small memory footprint are its dominant features, though Opera also pioneered tabbed browsing and mouse gestures, which have found their way into Mozilla and Konqueror, another IE alternative.

Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO of Opera Software, which produces the program, told NewsFactor that "Opera is about giving power to the user.... We spend a lot of time listening to what users want, and that is what we strive to offer." He also noted that the Opera browser supports several operating systems, including Windows, Linux, OS/2, Solaris and Mac OS.

"Our cross-platform strategy is very important to us, as it sets Opera apart from its competitors," von Tetzchner said.

Hail the Mighty Konqueror

Another contender for browser market share is Konqueror, a part of the K Desktop Environment (KDE), a graphical user interface (GUI) that runs on Linux and Unix systems.

Konqueror, like Internet Explorer, is much more than just a Web browser. "Konqueror is very appreciated for its high level of integration into KDE, which means a consistent look and feel [and] a fast startup," David Faure of the KDE team told NewsFactor.

Simon Hausmann, another Konqueror developer, agreed that integration is vital. "I think it's ... the most important feature for the users out there," he told NewsFactor. "[For example], when saving a document to the disk, you get the standard file dialog and not something that behaves and looks totally different."

Faure added that Konqueror also leads the browser pack in terms of supported file types. "I think Konqueror is the browser that comes with the biggest number of viewer components," he said. "It can of course display HTML pages and directories, but also images, PostScript files, PDFs [and] text.... It can also embed components that play sound files [including MP3s] and videos."

Focusing on Security

One feature that is becoming increasingly important to users is security . In light of Internet Explorer's numerous vulnerabilities, the development teams working on Opera and Konqueror have made security a top priority. "Security is a great focus for us and always has been," von Tetzchner said. "We tend to go for security when there is a choice between security and something else. We try to keep the security system easy to maintain and thus simple and powerful."

Faure added that "the focus on security these days is very high." In fact, the KDE team delayed its 3.1 release because of security concerns raised during a prerelease audit. The release was pushed back to January 2003.

Of course, Opera and Konqueror are only two of the many Web browsers entering the market. With a number of mature Web browsers to choose from, and more being developed all the time, Internet Explorer's dominance might not always be the sure thing it seems today.