Surfers that use the Opera and Firefox browsers are more satisfied than those who employ the services of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, according to research.
A survey carried out by NetApplications and SurveyWare found that Mozilla's Firefox is the considered the best browser software available. However, given its small user base, Opera seems to have the most satisfied customers.
"When the browser share is factored into the best browser voting, the analysis is even more revealing. The results imply that Opera has the most satisfied user base, followed by Firefox and [Apple's] Safari," according to NetApplications.
Opera is retaining its status as one of the internet's best-kept secrets - less than one per cent of surfers worldwide use the browser. Internet Explorer, despite having nearly 79 per cent of the market, was favoured least by respondents.
However, it isn't all bad news for Microsoft - a separate piece of research from NetApplications suggests that the rate of uptake for Windows Vista, the new Microsoft operating system, is increasing, seemingly at the expense of Apple.
Vista accounted for just over two per cent of the operating systems market in March 2007, compared to just under one per cent in the previous month. Apple's share of the market slipped for the first time since June 2006.
http://www.netapplications.com/ http://www.surveyware.com/