In a further challenge to Internet Explorer’s browser hegemony Opera 8 has reached two million downloads.
Just two weeks after it was released users have apparently flocked to the new version, replacing Opera 7, which eventually accumulated more than 60 million downloads.
"Considering Opera's last version, Opera 7, accumulated more than 60 million downloads, the successful launch of Opera 8 in April 2005 reflects that even higher download figures await for Opera," said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO at Opera software.
The English language version has been by far the most popular, accounting for 1.4 million downloads. But Opera has also been very popular in Germany, where 400,000 have acquired the software.
The news may come as a blow to Microsoft which has recently seen its share of the browser market dwindle. Through April only 53.4 percent of visitors to the SC website used Internet Explorer, reflecting concerns the security community has over the various vulnerabilities within that browser.
Last week SC reported the Firefox browser had surpassed 50 million downloads. That figure is now more than 51 million.
Watchguard Technologies has also <link rel='prefetch' href='https://www.scworld.com/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=newsDetails&newsUID=93bada63-9547-43dc-a14a-6620b066a5fb&newsType=News&s=p'urged network administrators to consider alternatives to IE, as it is a target for spyware.