Google Chrome makes big usage share grab in November

Google's Chrome browser gained a whopping 0.75% usage share over the month of November, according to data released by web metrics firm NetMarketShare.

During November Google Chrome jumped from 8.50% to 9.25%. Other browsers didn't fare so well. Microsoft's Internet Explorer fell from 59.18% to 58.26%, Firefox fell from 22.83% to 22.75% and Opera fell from 2.29% to 2.20%. The only other major browser player to make a gain was Safari, making a modest jump from 5.36% to 5.55%.

Google's Chrome 7 also saw the second largest monthly usage share gain in NetMarketShare's history, gaining 5.64% in November (the number 1 spot is held by Firefox 3.6, which saw a 6.09% gain between February and March of 2010).

As far as operating system trends go, not much change. Windows down a smidgen, Mac up a fraction, Linux up a little more, iOS up a little more still ... but overall, no change worth reporting.

NetMarketShare uses data captured from the 160 million unique visitors browsing some 40,000 Web sites it monitors for clients.