The teen who competes with Microsoft

Blake Ross is a 19-year old boy who created the FireFox browser in his parents' house in Miami. The growth of Firefox is a threat to Microsoft because it could be used as the basis for programs that bypass Microsoft's Windows operating system, which generates $11.5 billion in annual sales.

A Microsoft vice president, said the company is accelerating its browser development to boost security. "If you look at the number of security vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer versus Firefox, we feel very good about where we are," said Nash.

About 30 million users have downloaded Firefox, and Ross predicts the software will capture as much as 15 percent of the browser market in the next year.