The Mozilla Firefox Web browser has reached the one billion download mark, as Firefox supporters use Web 2.0 to discuss and celebrate the historic milestone.
The one billion figure includes people who have multiple copies on separate computers and users who automatically update the browser to the latest version. One billion downloads obviously doesn't mean Firefox has one billion users, but it still is an extremely notable event, supporters say.
Since launching in Nov. 2004, Firefox has built a userbase of more than 300 million active users. Firefox had its most memorable day in June, when Firefox 3 was downloaded almost five million times in a 24-hour time period.
I've been a user since the beginning, and have enjoyed the constant level of evolution and progression now seen in the browser. It's still not a perfect Web browser, but the reason it has such a strong following is understandable after using it for a while.
The Mozilla Foundation's browser continues to take marketshare away from Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. IE still leads the way with close to 60 percent marketshare, while Firefox now controls around 22 percent of the market. Google Chrome, Opera, and Apple Safari share the remaining market, as nobody is able to compete with IE and Firefox.
In four months of release, Internet Explorer 8 has been downloaded more than 200 million times.
In 2007, IE had more than 90% market control, though continues to lose ground to Firefox. Microsoft will continue to lose more control due to the European Union's recent crackdown on IE -- although Windows 7 will ship with a Web browser, Microsoft is in less control of what OS users can run -- which includes the ability to uninstall IE.
