With 600,000 downloads of Opera's newest browser - Opera 8 - in the first 48 hours of its availability, what are Internet users saying about the browser market. Clearly, the strong interest in Opera 8 and the fact Firefox has been downloaded 46 million times suggests many people are looking for an alternative to Internet Explorer. I wonder how many of the these downloads are a result of curiosity and how many are people seriously looking to replace IE. While Opera and Firefox have their shortcomings, there is enough discontent with IE that many people don't see the negatives as an obstacle. One thing about technology is that innovative products pick up momentum from all different corners. Look at how Google came out of left field to dominate the search engine market. With more than 90% of the browser market, IE is still king but there's real competition out there so Bill Gates better do something dramatic with the next version of IE or watch a pillar of Microsoft's strength crumble.