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Computerworld - Internet Explorer users abandoned the browser last week to try out Google Inc.'s new Chrome, a Web metrics vendor said today.

While Chrome accounted for 0.7% of all browsers used last week on average, Microsoft Corp.'s IE lost 1.4 percentage points in market share during the same period, said U.S.-based tracking company Net Applications. Microsoft's browser ended the week with a 71% share.

Mozilla Corp.'s Firefox, Apple Inc.'s Safari and Opera Software ASA's Opera also posted gains at IE's expense. Firefox's share climbed by 0.3 points, from 19.5% to 19.8% last week. Apple's Safari boosted its market share even more, from 6.3% to 6.7%, while Opera bumped up its share by 0.01 points, ending the week at 0.75%.

"IE took the entire market share hit from Chrome," said Vince Vizzaccaro, Net Applications' executive vice president of marketing. "And the rest of the alternative browsers all had gains as well."

Last week, Net Applications pegged Chrome's market share at approximately 1% within the first 24 hours. Then, Vizzaccaro wouldn't speculate on which browser or browsers had lost share to Chrome. "These are very early results, but when considering whether Chrome market share would come from IE or from other browsers, it's definitely coming from IE," Vizzaccaro said today.

Chrome's high point since its Sept. 2 debut was last Friday, when it averaged 1.2% for the day. On Monday, it averaged 0.9%.

Google launched Chrome as a beta for Windows XP and Vista last week. On Sunday, Google patched Chrome for the first time to quash several bugs, including multiple security vulnerabilities.

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