In January, Microsoft also eased its licensing restrictions on IIS 7.0, the version of the Web server software that comes with Windows Server 2008, in an effort to help IIS better compete with Apache.

Even soft-spoken Windows Server general manager Bill Laing, when asked last month if he thought IIS would overtake Apache this year, said, "I think we have a shot in the next 12 months."

"We've always done pretty well on intranets," Laing said. "But a lot of the new features in IIS 7 are aimed at Web hosting and outward-facing sites. I think we're on a nice trajectory. So if we keep that going, and nothing unusual happens . . ."

But Apache appears to have regained its mojo during the last four months. Its share of the market is up more than 3 per cent since October, when it ended the month at 47.7 per cent -- the first time in a decade that the open-source software had fallen below a 50 per cent share. Meanwhile, IIS has commensurately slipped back from its October peak of 37.1 per cent, Netcraft said.

What has happened, Netcraft said in its Web server market share report for January, is the growth of blogging platforms other than Windows Live Spaces and Blogger, including a rapid, under-the-radar rise in the popularity of a social networking site called Multiply.

US-based Multiply says its site is aimed at users who feel uncomfortable using MySpace or Facebook, with their younger demographics and lack of privacy features. According to information on the site, Multiply lets its users finely control who can see their pictures, postings and comments. It claims to have had 8 million registered users as of January, double the amount nine months earlier.