GOOGLE HAS UNVEILED A NEW PLAN TO SPREAD THE OPEN-SOURCE FIREFOX INTERNET BROWSER, STARTING OFF A NEW PHASE IN THE BROWSER WARS WITH MICROSOFT, DPA REPORTED. AN OFFER FROM THE INTERNET SEARCH GIANT ENABLES WEBSITES TO RUN SMALL ADS PROMOTING FIREFOX AND GAIN A REFERRAL FEE OF ONE DOLLAR FOR EVERY DOWNLOADED VERSION OF FIREFOX THAT HAS A GOOGLE TOOLBAR. GOOGLE LAUNCHED THE NEW PROGRAMME WEDNESDAY EVENING BY RUNNING AN AD FOR THE FIRST TIME ON ITS USUALLY AD-FREE HOME PAGE. THE CAMPAIGN ALSO REPRESENTS THE FIRST TIME GOOGLE HAS OFFERED A FINANCIAL INCENTIVE FOR THE ADOPTION OF FIREFOX. EVEN WITHOUT SUCH HELP, THE OPEN SOURCE BROWSER HAS STEADILY BEEN GNAWING AWAY AT THE DOMINANCE OF MICROSOFT'S INTERNET EXPLORER BROWSER SINCE 2004. FROM A MARKET SHARE HIGH OF 95 PER CENT, INTERNET EXPLORER IS NOW DOWN TO 85 PER CENT, AS WEB SURFERS DISCOVER THE SMOOTH DELIGHTS OF FIREFOX, WHICH OFFERS BETTER SECURITY AND POWERFUL FEATURES, INCLUDING TABBED BROWSING, WHICH ALLOW YOU TO OPEN MULTIPLE WINDOWS IN A SINGLE BROWSER, AND "AUTOFILL" WHICH AUTOMATICALLY COMPLETES FORM APPLICATIONS. GOOGLE ALREADY EMPLOYS SOME OF THE KEY TEAM MEMBERS CONTRIBUTING TO FIREFOX AND ITS LATEST INITIATIVE UNDERLINES ITS DESIRE TO KEPT FIREFOX'S MOMENTUM BUILDING. "GOOGLE IS GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT FIREFOX, AND HAS GIVEN THE UPSTART BROWSER ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL MARKETING TOOLS ON THE INTERNET - A SPOT ON THE GOOGLE HOMEPAGE," COMMENTED THE RESPECTED ARS TECHNICA WEBSITE. BUT MICROSOFT DOES NOT PLAN TO LET THE EROSION OF ITS MARKET SHARE CONTINUE. EARLIER IN THE WEEK THE SOFTWARE GIANT LAUNCHED A NEW TRIAL VERSION OF ITS INTERNET EXPLORER BROWSER THAT, IN ADDITION TO BEEFING UP ITS NOTORIOUSLY VULNERABLE SECURITY, HAS ALSO COPIED ALL OF FIREFOX'S BEST FEATURES. --MORE 2352 Local Time 2052 GMT
