According to the latest NetApplications survery, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser has demonstrated it’s first ever drop below the 60% market share threshold.  Google’s Chrome browser has a increased share of 6.73% while Apple’s Safari has a respectable 4.72%.  This trend is looking set to continue, putting increased pressure on Microsoft to improve and expand upon it’s renowned platform.

In a recent interview in the New York Times, Google’s lead engineer behind Android has delivered a blow to Apple by announcing that the next Android implementation (2.2) will include support for Adobe’s Flash format.  Apple’s firmly reluctant stance to embrace the Flash platform has constantly been met with widespread criticism and disfavour, with users longing for the ability to stream video and music from Flash-powered web applications.  Whether the plugin will be pre-installed or an optional update, Google feels that this will raise the image of the growing mobile platform.

Despite all of this however, Google has never been an outward supported of Adobe’s Flash, in fact, quite the opposite.  And they are not alone.  They join the coalition of Apple, Microsoft, Opera, and Mozilla in an ongoing battle to oust the internet of reliance on Flash, by working on solutions in HTML, CSS, and technologies such as WebGL, O3D, and JavaScript in order to reproduce (and improve on) the abilities of Flash.

Ubuntu have released the latest major update to their popular open-source operating system, aiming for a further increase in market share against Microsoft and Apple.

Interestingly, they have incorporated on-the-fly social networking direct from the OS, and a newly developed iTunes equivalent (something sorely missing from earlier incarnations).

It ships with Mozilla Firefox as default but includes a simple option to add Google’s Chrome browser.

It is available for free download from www.ubuntu.com

According to Macworld, Adobe Creative Suite 5 has begun shipping. Each of the 14 constituent packages have been updated by Adobe and the set will be available in a variety of conformations ranging from the Design Standard package which includes Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Acrobat 9 all the way to the top-end Master Collection.

Of interest to the world of web design, are the various enhancements to streamline and improve the process of developing for the world wide web. Subject to Apple’s approval, they postulate that direct publishing to mobile devices such as the iPhone will be possible.

We await reviews at www.macworld.com