(CNN) -- A month ago, Google's three-year effort to push its Web browser, Chrome, took a major step when analysts said it had passed Mozilla's Firefox to become the second-most popular tool of its kind on the Internet. Today, that climb continues and has some tech observers wondering whether Chrome could do the unthinkable and topple perennial leader Internet Explorer from atop the browser rankings. According to Web analytics firm StatCounter, the most popular version of Google's browser, Chrome 15, edged out Internet Explorer 8 in early December to become the world's most used edition of a browser. (For those keeping score, the totals were 23.6% of worldwide browser usage compared to IE8's 23.5%.)
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Google's Chrome browser continues to gain on market leader Internet Explorer
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Analysts say Chrome has 27% of the browser market, trailing only IE at 37%
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Chrome's rise is part of a two-front Google vs. Microsoft duel that includes Web search
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Gartner analyst: New IE9 may help slow Chrome's rise
But that represents a 10-point drop by Explorer since 2010, while Chrome use more than doubled and @placeholder remained flat.
Microsoft, putting a positive spin on the numbers, emphasized that Explorer's latest (and generally well-received) version, @placeholder, is rapidly gaining ground as use of IE8 drops.