During CES Walt Mossberg got a chance to sit down with Dean Hachamovitch, who oversees all things Internet Explorer at Microsoft, to discuss the browser world.

While much of the conversation was about privacy there was one little interesting tidbit about market share that came out in their conversation. It seems that Microsoft is more than pleased that not only is IE6′s market share going down but Internet Explorer 7′s is as well.

WALT: Okay, that was a nice ad. But please talk about reports that you’ve been eclipsed in Europe by Firefox.

DEAN: Yes, we used to have 90 percent market share back in the ’90s. But now we look at how many people choose to use our most recent versions. “We are delighted that IE 6 market share is going down. We are delighted that IE 7 market share is going down.”

DEAN: And bear in mind how much the Internet is growing. “There are a lot of different factors. It’s a very complex situation.”

Now if we could just get Microsoft to start iterating IE9 at Google speed.

In other news I want one of those tee-shirts that Dean was wearing.