Aside from a weakened investment portfolio, the browser maker has not been hit hard by the economic recession.

What did the major browser makers like Apple and Google do?

Web search is another area in which browser makers have sought to distinguish themselves.

"There's a mismatch between what people want to do on the Web and what the browser makers alone can provide," he said.

That seems to be exactly what the browser maker is doing with the "featherweight" project.

The original Acid1 test had forced browser makers to fix their applications or face embarrassment; Lie hoped that Acid2 would do the same.

This format was liked quite a bit by some of the browser makers, but it wasn't well known among the type industry," he told Ars.

While Safari's market share is not particularly impressive on the desktop, the big browser makers all copy from one another sooner or later.

These numbers conflict with what third-party browser makers are saying: they saw a big growth in download numbers.

This has eroded the market share of the leading browser maker, Netscape Communications.