Mozilla’s latest version of browser not only came to answer Internet users’ demands, but also came to shake Internet Explorer’s world, as it gains more market share each month. Sure, there’s still a long way to go, and Internet Explorer has almost four times the market share Firefox has.

However, following the June 17 launch, Firefox 3.0 managed rapid share gains of 4% worldwide, according to Net Applications. In just one hour after the release, Mozilla’s latest version of browser gained 1% of worldwide share.

The statistics have shown that Firefox’s share gains came mostly from Firefox 2.0 users who decided to upgrade their browsers. However, the overall usage share growth of approximately 0.4% was sustained by Internet Explorer users crossing over “to the dark side.”

Internet Explorer’s share fell 73.17% at the beginning of June, to 72.90% at the end of the month and following the release of Firefox 3.0. Overall, Internet Explorer lost approximately 6% market share over the past 10 months because of Mozilla Firefox.

A recent study conducted by researchers at The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology revealed that out of the 1,408 million Internet users worldwide, Firefox users are the most responsible, using the latest, safest version of Web browser (83.3% of them).

The same study also found that Firefox’s automatic update was the most efficient method to ensure users a safe Internet session.

The release of Firefox 3.0 not only broke some records, but also made some analysts predict a 30 percent market share, which means Internet Explorer’s share will decrease even further. This probably got the people at Microsoft wondering what Firefox 3.0 has that IE doesn’t have.

The answer to that lies in a revitalized Firefox, which offers an unprecedented browsing experience, improved performance, better stability, less CPU usage, more sustainability, and a personal touch through the “Awesome bar.”

Mozilla developers created a browser with malware protection capabilities, web forgery protection page, as well as anti-virus integration, Vista parental controls, better protection against cross-site JSON data leaks and much more.

The upgrades are obvious in terms of speed and performance; with the help of the JavaScript engine, a reduced amount of memory used and better reliability (with user bookmarks, cookies and preferences stored in a secure database format) Firefox 3.0 prevents data loss and system crashes.

The new address bar makes the search a lot easier, by allowing the browser to automatically search for matches in the user’s bookmarks and history. The password manager no longer offers to remember passwords at any failed attempt, while the download manager has now resume capabilities, making downloads less of a pain.

Another proof that Firefox 3.0 in the browser capable of eating a big part of Internet Explorer’s market is that it not only did it achieve a Guinness World Record for the largest number of downloads in 24 hours, 8,002,530 to be exact, but it also created an unprecedented worldwide buzz before and after the official launch.

Mozilla and Firefox seem to be gaining new adepts every week, and despite the fact that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is still way ahead in terms of market share, things are likely to change at a steady rate, as statistics have shown and most analysts predicted.