Absolutely false. IE makes up 66% of browser usage according to most web statistics and, in Europe, makes up only 50%. IE hasn't been that high in 3 years and is the worst browser on the planet!
IE8 is the worst browser on the planet. Incompetent at best. Unable to perform most modern standards and practices. Unable to display XHTML served as XHTML, SVG, use proper DOM, decent javascript, etc. IE8 is the browser for people who don't know better.
Don't know if it's THE best, but it's a very good one and it has lots of open-source add-ons from the open source community.
I believe Firefox is destined to be the most important web browser, and possibly browser, of all time.
I think firefox has to be the browser of choice now. However, you can never count out Google in the long term.
I agree about the newest version of IE. I hated IE for many years, had to build everything to suit their code. This one works like a REAL browser for once. I have been a Firefox fan for years now, but a lot of webmaster (SEO, etc.) apps are written around the .NET program code, which means they rely on IE to work. Kudos to Microsoft for finally getting it!