Microsoft’s next-generation operating system, Windows 8, is expected to release this fall, offering plenty of drastic (and a few not-so-drastic) changes from previous Windows operating systems.

Microsoft has announced a beta version of Internet Explorer 9, set to debut on September 15, 2010, at a launch event in San Francisco. They have hyped their latest release as “beautiful” and claim that “IE9 will change the web forever.”

In the world of internet browsers, people have traditionally stuck with the installed option that came with their computer. Internet Explorer on PCs and Safari on Macs. Internet Explorer has been losing more and more market share to Mozilla Firefox and Google’s Chrome browser. Firefox edged out Internet Explorer for the #1 spot back in January 2009. Chrome has been growing fast, and is quickly stealing the market away from IE, but let’s take a deeper look at the numbers to learn more.