Open source browsers such as Mozilla's Firefox and Google's Chrome are closing the gap on Microsoft's Internet Explorer, according to new vnunet.com figures.

Of the 1,000 vnunet.com readers taking part in our recent Internet Explorer 8 poll, 60 per cent said they preferred to use an open source browser such as Firefox, and did not plan to start using the latest Microsoft release.

The second beta of IE8 was made available to download at the end of August, with the full version expected by the end of the year.

A third of respondents said they would upgrade to IE8 when it becomes available, while the remaining seven per cent said they would stick with an older version of Microsoft's browser due to concerns about IE8 making it difficult to revert to an earlier release.

Separate data on the browser choice of visitors to the vnunet.com site supports the poll findings. Fifty-seven per cent of visitors to the site during September were using Microsoft IE, while 31 per cent used Firefox.

Google's recent addition to the open source browser market is already gaining good ground. Chrome accounted for only 1.5 per cent of all vnunet.com traffic, a small proportion but not bad for a beta release that has only been available since 2 September.

New figures from Nielsen Online also highlight Chrome's popularity. The internet ratings firm revealed that the browser's 'Thank You' page had received more than 1.9 million US visitors, or 1.4 per cent of all US users, within its first week of availability. Nielsen explained that a visit to that page normally indicates a download.