Internet Explorer still leads the browser market, the research

According to Devil Mountain Software research, Internet Explorer still keeps its leading positions, with over 80% of the 22,0000 PCs in the company's community-based Exo.performance.network (Xpnet) run Microsoft’s browser.

Devil Mountain's network collects "realtime system metrics and application usage data from Windows-based PCs and servers around the globe," according to the company's website. That data is then used to offer up what the company calls "an authoritative" look at market share trends affecting the Windows OS.

IE isn't alone on the computers Devil Mountain monitors. A large chunk of business users run multiple browsers, acco0rding to Craig Barth, the CTO at Devil Mountain. Almost 50% of the monitored PCs run Firefox, while approximately 20% run Google Chrome.
Other means of browser measurement have tracked a steady decline in IE use from its usage share high of 95% in mid-2004. The most recent data from web metrics firm Net Applications, for instance, pegged IE's share of browser usage falling about 4.5 points in the last 18 weeks of 2009 to reach a new low of 63%.

Nevertheless, Devil Mountain's XPnet data,shows IE use fluctuating during the same period, with the browser's process appearing on between 80% and 88% of PCs' Tasklists.