Internet Explorer's growth slowed once again, and Chrome shook off its slump in August, new statistics show.

Although Microsoft made progress in its goal to exterminate IE6 in favor of IE8's more modern and secure design, Internet Explorer overall slipped from 60.7 percent to 60.4 percent of global usage, as measured by Net Applications.

Chrome had slipped for the first time in its history, sinking to 7.2 percent in July, but returned to growth with 7.5 percent of August usage, Net Applications said.

Mozilla's Firefox market share was essentially flat, with 22.9 percent usage. Apple's Safari rose from 5.1 percent to 5.2 percent, and Opera dipped from 2.5 percent to 2.4 percent.

After years in which IE's dominance led to a largely dormant browser market, the software has become highly competitive again, with new entrants and new uses. The Web is growing increasingly significant as a medium not just for browsing content but also for using applications; as Web technology evolves, so must browsers.