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Firefox Goes for World Download Record
Posted by
samzenpus
on Thu May 29, 2008 06:59 AM
from the record-for-the-lamest-marketing-campaign dept.
from the record-for-the-lamest-marketing-campaign dept.
Kelson writes "For the upcoming release of Firefox, Mozilla is preparing Download Day 2008: a campaign to set a world record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. Participants are asked to pledge to download Firefox 3 on the day that it's launched. The exact date hasn't been scheduled yet, but everything seems on track for June."
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A Few Firefox 3 Followups 407 comments
An anonymous reader writes "Using data generated by the Mozilla Firefox download pledge page, the map on this blog post ranks countries, not by absolute number of pledges made, but rather on a per capita basis. This analysis yields some interesting conclusions about where open source is strongest and weakest."
Anonymous Warthog writes "That didn't take long. In a blog posting from the TippingPoint DVLabs security team (of Kraken and CanSecWest hacking contest fame), they confirmed that they reported a vulnerability in Firefox 3.0 to Mozilla a mere five hours after it was released. Additionally, there was a posting on the Full Disclosure security mailing list from someone that purports to have another vulnerability in the works as well. In the grand scheme of things, this probably means nothing to the general security of Firefox, but you can be sure the browser zealots on all sides will be watching carefully."
Finally, from reader Toreo asesino: "Microsoft have congratulated the Mozilla team by sending them their second cake (minus recipe) to Mozilla's Mountain View headquarters to congratulate them on shipping FireFox 3, which went live right on time last night." Congratulations are indeed due on both the browser and the release process — looks like the Firefox fever (despite some seriously taxed servers) resulted in more than 8 million downloads in 24 hours.
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Perhaps not the cleverest plan... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Perhaps not the cleverest plan... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Perhaps not the cleverest plan... (Score:5, Funny)
while
Well--I'm ready to help them meet their goal.
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Doesn't matter. On the Big Day, it's guaranteed that someone will announce it here, and within minutes we'll slashdot the server.
Someone else suggested getting the current beta version, because it seems to work just fine. This won't help their server, though, because on the Big Day, your beta version will check, find that there's an upgrade, ask if you want to download it - and you'll join in the slashdotting.
They should just put the server on a slow net c
Patch Tuesday (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Patch Tuesday (Score:5, Funny)
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Patch Tuesday (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Patch Tuesday (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Patch Tuesday (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Patch Tuesday (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Patch Tuesday (Score:5, Funny)
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How 12 words equal 0 words (Score:4, Funny)
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Patch Tuesday (Score:4, Interesting)
It would also be a great opportunity to promote bittorent as a mass downloading medium. Too bad it doesn't seem to be in the plan.
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Not the goal (Score:3, Interesting)
Could they track the number of downloads if they used bittorrent? Also, if their goal is a record number of downloads for Firefox, do they want to set up an additional hurdle for people? "First, you have to download and install one of these other programs. No wait, we can explain why. Come back."
Re:Patch Tuesday (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Patch Tuesday (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Patch Tuesday (Score:5, Informative)
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So guys... (Score:5, Funny)
Why would I have to "pledge" anything? (Score:5, Insightful)
Since presumably my Firefox 2 will bug me to update to 3 as soon as it's released?
Not to disparage Mozilla, but lately it seems like they've been a mite too concerned with press releases. They should release when it's ready, and we'll get it when we think it's ready. What's the big rush?
Press = good (Score:5, Insightful)
I think this is a cool idea. There are still lots of people who don't know there are other browsers in existence; when they open IE they say they're opening "the internet." Anything that makes the news and makes them aware of alternate browsers is good - especially if it's "hey this thing is really popular." For many people, that's the best argument for trying it.
Mozilla seems to have done pretty well by harnessing the power of fanatic users so far - remember the big newspaper ads? And check out the "pledge map" on the site. Think how proud you'd be to see that you're one of a very few people in your country who has pledged to download it. Kind of a mix of national pride and geek pride.
Every web developer's dream is a world where all users have more standards-compliant browsers, and IE is forced to follow suit. I say hooray for almost anything that makes that closer to reality.Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Not to disparage Mozilla, but lately it seems like they've been a mite too concerned with press releases. They should release when it's ready, and we'll get it when we think it's ready. What's the big rush?
Press releases, viral marketing, and publicity stunts like this are a big reason why worldwide Firefox market share is somewhere in the 30% range. Yeah, you've gotta have a solid product to begin with, but more open source projects would do well to emulate Mozilla's marketing and branding accomplishments.
Also, your post implies that Firefox will somehow be rushed out the door before it's ready, but if you've been following along you know that's very far from correct. Even the "download pledge"
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Pronunciation: \'tro\ [long o improperly copypasta'ed]
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English trowan; akin to Old English trowe faithful, true
Date: before 12th century
1) obsolete: believe
2) archaic: think
followed by most rollbacks to version 2... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:followed by most rollbacks to version 2... (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:followed by most rollbacks to version 2... (Score:4, Informative)
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
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big deal. (Score:3, Informative)
show of hands: who downloaded a linux dvd iso larger than 3.5 gigabytes before vista beta was released?
and, are they not going to consider the millions of copies of, say, internet explorer 7, downloaded the first day it was forced through as an automatic update? or how many downloads of itunes are there in a day when apple _requires_ an update?
Yeah! (Score:5, Funny)
That is not the important record ... (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not committing to anything. (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd really like to see continued support for the old style of searching in the url bar, too, but I doubt that will happen. And the new look is just uglier.
Re:I'm not committing to anything. (Score:4, Insightful)
So... instead of wondering if it will crash, why not find out?
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100% turn out from north Korea (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Only the windows downloads (Score:5, Insightful)
"The worst PR is no PR." (Score:5, Insightful)
If they set a record - they'll be in the news.
If they are so successful that the servers go down temporarily - they'll definitely be in the news.
As you can see, just submitting the idea has put them in the news. This is a great idea for a company with growing market share.
Make a big circle with a big marker. (Score:5, Funny)
I have a big circle around 2008, and a thin one around 2009 too, just in case the news gets any more vague.
Re:I pledge not to download it (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:I pledge not to download it (Score:5, Informative)
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captcha: divisive
Opera publicity? (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe they need more silly publicity stunts like this one.
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Re:more than just publicity (Score:4, Informative)
Don't get me wrong, I like Opera. I use it at work because it has the most compatibility with the websites I have to use without being IE. It's very fast and has a small footprint, CPU and memory-wise, but I just can't use it for my everyday surfing, simply because it lacks the ability to extend/support addons. The main addon I can't live without is adblock plus. Yes, I know Opera can do ad blocking, but who wants to add them by editing a file? And don't forget, adblock plus has pre-defined adblock list sources, so you don't even have to build your own just to get a decent amount of ads blocked; the list does it automatically.
Living without something like Adblock Plus is a deal breaker when using a browser.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Now you don't have to navigate your deep bookmark folders for that link, just start typing the name and it appears directly under your cursor.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The person who modded me informative... Has done something stupid. It only shows how stupid people are to not think for themselves... Tell them something that sounds remotely reasonable, something that they might agree with, and they'll believe, they'll follow.
Right. Into. A. Trap.
(I know I'm risking getting modded down to the hell. But who cares. Even only
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Some way of reverting to the old functionality would be nice.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
They don't care, so they're not snooping around (I don't live with them normally, there was a death in the family so I've come back home for a bit) but they don't appreciate my youporn stuff popping up in their face because of that silly autocomplete stuff. How can I got back to the old way?
Re:I pledge not to download it (Score:4, Informative)
Don't see the problem
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Re:Why should we? (Score:4, Interesting)
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