Google recently released beta versions of its Chrome browser for the Apple and Linux platforms. After they became available, the number of Chrome users surged past Apple's own Safari browser to become the third-most used browser. But......that's not saying all that much. The number one spot belongs to Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which commands fully 63.6% of the browser market. Firefox is a distant second with 24.7%. If you do some quick math, you'll see that IE and FF hold 88.3% of the browser market. Anything else has but a meager following at best.

Net Applications compiled all the data. It does so by monitoring how some 160 million unique visitors browse through more than 40,000 sites each month. According to its calculations, Chrome's share reached 4.4%, which was an uptick of a measely 0.4% when compared to Chrome's presence in November.

Where does that leave Safari? Sadly, it owns just 4.37% of the desktop browser market. Chrome just barely edge it out of the third spot by 0.03 percentage points.

Chrome has been available on Windows-based machines for more than a year. Prior to last week, Chrome was only available in developer versions for those willing to put up with an unstable browser.

Since I am an Apple user, I was excited to download the Chrome beta for Macs. I am currently switching between Chrome and Safari. So far, I find Safari to be a bit better, but Chrome is growing on me.

[Via ComputerWorld]