Over 8 Million Firefox 3 Downloads in 24 Hours

Over 8 Million Firefox 3 Downloads in 24 Hours

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - by Daniel A. Begun
Despite running into a few glitches at the start of the record-setting attempt for the most software downloaded in 24 hours, approximately 8.3 million full copies of Firefox 3 were downloaded during the first 24 hours of its availability. The Mozilla folks are working with the blokes from Guinness World Records to determine if in fact a true world record has been set. As there is no previously established official record for the most software downloaded in a day, the record is likely to keep. We'll drink to that! 



At a highpoint during the download barrage, the Mozilla developers reported:

"Mozilla.com web traffic is pushing well over 2 Gigabits a second of just pure HTTP traffic. That is in addition to the 13 Gigabits a second or so of download traffic. We are still at around 14,000 download/minute and mozilla.com is responding well! Go Mozilla community and IT team!"



When the Firefox 3 download went online it was available in versions for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. Additionally, for all three operating systems, Firefox was available in 45 localized versions for different regions and languages--from Afrikaans to Ukrainian. 

So now that everyone and their grandmother have downloaded Firefox 3, the true test comes: Will the new version of the browser actually be used at least as much as Firefox 2 was? It's difficult--if not impossible--to find a consistent consensus on accurate, worldwide browser-use statistics. However, a number of industry pundits, such as Chuck Upsdell of the weekly Browser News newsletter and the Janco Associates management consulting firm, make estimated guesses that approximately 15 to 17 percent of the browsers in use by U.S.-based Internet users are Gecko-based browsers, such as Firefox. These are conservative estimates; other sites show stats as high as 40 percent Gecko users. Time will tell if Firefox 3 truly has the special sauce to send these numbers higher. At the very least, Mozilla's stunt put Firefox on the front pages of the NewYorkTime.com and BBC.co.uk.
Via: Mozilla | News Archive | Tags: Firefox, Fire, Download, Ads, DS, Ion, fox, downloads, DOW
Login or Register to Comment

Comments

By SqUiD267 on Jun 18, 2008

Good idea on Mozilla's parts. Come On IE, suck on that.

By Silent157 on Jun 18, 2008

Woohoo Firefox.

Official numbers, not some blah blah from a guy's mouth who works there.

By Der Meister on Jun 18, 2008

Sniff Sniff... I am one for the 8 million..

By higgamo on Jun 18, 2008

Der Meister:

Sniff Sniff... I am one for the 8 million..

woot to 8 mill

By digitaldd on Jun 24, 2008

I suspect I'm on it multiple times.

By Crisis Causer on Jun 19, 2008

I'm suprised India wasn't in the top bracket.  They do have a billion people.  I guess FF isn't popular there.

 

By miscpenguin on Jun 19, 2008

Ah, darn! I forgot to download. Guess I'll go do that now.

 

By amdcrankitup on Jun 21, 2008

 Well yall finally got me to download and use another browser since I havent changed browsers since the days of netscape! How embarresing is that to admit on here!LOL

By miscpenguin on Jun 21, 2008

OK, I grabbed it, and I have to say; the AwesomeBar is terrible! If I wanted to go to a bookmark, I'd click on it...

I haven't found a way to do a total conversion to the Firefox 2 search bar, but I have found some useful tweaks:

http://lifehacker.com/396517/four-extensions-that-tweak-firefox-3s-awesomebar

No other issues yet, so I'll refrain from calling it the "WORST UPDATE EVER". Stick out tongue

 

By amdcrankitup on Jun 22, 2008

 

Internet Explorer team sends Mozilla boys a cake

Yesterday marked the launch of Mozilla’s Firefox 3 and its attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the most downloads in a day. The downloads are still being counted until 11:16am PDT today, so you may still be able to help make a world record.

So far the Mozilla website shows that Firefox 3 has been downloaded 8,174,911 times worldwide with over 2.5 million of those downloads coming from the U.S. alone. The Internet Explorer team from Microsoft, feeling in a giving mood, sent the Firefox team a cake -- seriously.

The cake sported the Internet Explorer "E" symbol and read "Congratulations on Shipping! Love, The IE Team." Arcanology notes that the cake has become a tradition and the Internet Explorer team sent over a similar cake when Firefox 2 shipped.

Arcanology

also says that the "E" from the original cake was frozen and still sits in the refrigerator at Mozilla central to this day and it was pulled out and compared to the new cake.

I suspect the original "E" was saved as evidence in case any of the Firefox team met with an untimely demise or developed a severe case of pink eye. Those of you who have seen Knocked Up know what I am getting at.

By miscpenguin on Jun 23, 2008

That cake looks delicious!

By kid007 on Jun 23, 2008

 I love the way everything targets microsoft. knowing that they need windows and its platform to run their firefox but is all good. I think i'm one of the few that would not bother to download another browser. going back in the memory lane the last one that i downloaded was the netscape and it was back in 98...

By amdcrankitup on Jun 23, 2008

kid007:

 I love the way everything targets microsoft. knowing that they need windows and its platform to run their firefox but is all good. I think i'm one of the few that would not bother to download another browser. going back in the memory lane the last one that i downloaded was the netscape and it was back in 98...

 

 Did I read this right somebody besides this Ole Man  hasnt changed browsers since Netscape! Well I feel better now!  I THINK!!!!!!Confused

By ice91785 on Jun 23, 2008

Those numbers that mozilla touted at far as raw speed (downloads, response etc...) goes are quite impressive!

Hats off to them I guess but I still feel that its just a record that will be broken in a short matter of time....

 

By kid007 on Jun 23, 2008

 hahah make fun of me, but is true i been very dependable on IE

Post a Comment