Firefox Breaks 25 Million Downloads

certron wrote to alert us that earlier this week, Mozilla passed the milestone of 25 million downloads. From the official site: "With a minimal set of tools--an affiliate system, a small donations fundraising system, blogs, galleries, forums, and the good old human larynx--you all are spreading Firefox to a quarter of a million people a day. More than 500,000 sites now link to Firefox according to Google--a fivefold increase from six months ago. What was just a small flame 100 days ago has since exploded into a phenomenal demonstration of the power of open source. Tens of thousands of devoted users and fans are a powerful and capable force of change. We have created a special commemorative image if you would like to mark this milestone on your own site." Reader asa also wrote to mention an interview with Bill Gates from this week where the mogul was asked directly what he thought of Firefox.

More = Better?

[samtihen]

25 Million Agree - IE SUCKS!

Although, the 25 million downloads doesn't actually equate to 25 million users. How many times have you downloaded Firefox? I'm over 10, that's for sure. And how many people got it from others, rather than downloading it?

I mean, it really doesn't matter, it really shouldn't be a competition anyway. If it is a good product, it will do well. Who really cares if it competes with IE? All more users really do is bring attention (very possibly malicious) to the project.

I guess he's talking about the 1.0 version

[cflorio]

"What was just a small flame 100 days ago has since exploded into a phenomenal demonstration of the power of open source."

I know I've been using firefox for over 100 days (I think i jumped on the bandwagon around the .4 release)

What bill says

[gowen]

In fact, we just announced that we'll have a new version of the browser so we're innovating very rapidly there

Wow, a new web browser 4 years after the old, and several years after you've declared that there wasn't even going to be another stand-alone version.

Four years of stasis.
Two years of complete disinterest.

That's some really rapid innovation, there, Bill.

The difference is simple :)

[KZigurs]

Firefox thinks about usability.

You wouldn't associate Open Source with usability even if forced to.

Re:More = Better?

[tehshen]

That is true; but for every person like you who has downloaded it ten times, there's a school or college or organisation that has only downloaded it once, but uses it a hundred times per day. It all tends to balance out in the end.

Re:More = Better?

[pbranes]

Perhaps 25 million can imply - 25 million computers. You probably only download it to 1 machine at a time. So, 1 machine at home, 1 at work, that leaves about 12.5 million distinct users. Still not a bad number. That's more downloads than the latest album of William Shatner singing. :-)

Re:More = Better?

[rbarreira]

It all tends to balance out in the end

More like - it all makes it too difficult to know how many people use firefox.

Re:More = Better?

[tehshen]

Why do we need to know how many people use Firefox? Yes, there are multiple downloads, networks, and so on, but the user count is going to be somewhere between 22 and 28 million, which is good whichever way you look at it. And as long as we can reach a nice number with six zeroes on the end we'll be happy.

Pessimists

[skogs]

I noticed several individuals saying that they had downloaded Firefox several times, when it only serves one or two actual users. Number of downloads does not equal number of users.

Remember this also: many responsible individuals, with good file management skills, have downloaded it once or twice, but actually installed and loaded it on several machines. I myself have turned roughly 25 users from the world of IE to Firefox. I have downloaded it twice.

If everybody did as I have done, then there would be ~65,000,000 users. While I realize not everybody will do this, I think it starts to make up for those that download it several times and only install it once. I think actually the number is probably about right for number of users. Many will download multiple times, many will decide that firefox is not for them, and many will share with friends. It all evens out.

Re:This does not mean 25 million users.

[Jason O'Neil]

I see what you mean, I have downloaded firefox a couple of times myself. But on the other hand, I have also downloaded a single install file and then proceeded it to install it on my computer, my brother's computer, and my Dad's laptop.

Schools, universities and businesses that are using firefox will be adding even more users that are not included in the download count on the website. I think the number of users who have not been registered on the download count will balance or even outweigh the number of users who have registered multiple times on the count.

Re:Power of open source?

[Junks Jerzey]

I see what you're trying to say, but I don't know whether you can call this newfound popularity due to open source. When I think of firefox, It doesn't even occur to me at first that its open source.

Yes, same here. Imagine if the Opera people had decided to make their browser free as in beer without any ads and whatnot. Then it very well could have been as popular as Firefox.

"Free as in beer" is a big deal in this case. There's no market for browsers you have to pay for.

Re:Interview with Bill Gates

[Anonymous Coward]

[dribbling troll crap snipped]

Yet most Windows machines used by the 'average' user are full of spyware, adware and viruses, and will continue to be. All that crap you spouted meant nothing.

Re:More = Better?

[Yolegoman]

Who really cares if it competes with IE?

I care. When we finally wipe IEs damned non-standard display of HTML and CSS from the internet, I won't have to spend hours and days attempting to get my websites rendering properly in Microsofts piece of crap they call a browser.

That's the main reason I root for FireFox. Sure, no spyware is nice, but for me it's a bonus. That IE thinks they are so l33t as to rewrite the W3 standards makes me angry to the core.

- Yolego

Re:The difference is simple :)

[TwistedSquare]

I think this is an interesting and important point. As Linux and Mac OS X gain market share and popularity, especially among developers, more and more applications are being developed cross-platform - a lot, but not all, originating from the Unix side of things. Once all the applications that you use are portable, or similar enough programs are available on each OS, your choice of OS becomes a much easier choice because you can choose on the OS's merits rather than what applications are available for it.

So for example, my web browser is Firefox and my mail client is Thunderbird. I can handle text editors on both Windows and Linux, which means the only things remaining that bind me to Windows are games and IM clients. If I didn't use them, I could choose between OSes based on say stability, features (e.g. available filesystems), and so on.

Re:Power of open source?

[LittleKing]

I love Firefox and the community, however, lately I'm starting to have issues with the community. We all talk about how better firefox and open source is and how buggy IE is. We say that OSS, while may have bugs, can be fixed quickly when an exploit is found.

My problems is since the URL exploit has been brought to light (and some can argue it's not firefox fault) there hasn't been an official update, only the manual hack. This really bothers me. When a security issue like this comes up, I want firefox to automatically update, or at least tell me there's an update.

While I can do the manual fix I know many users that if using FireFox would not or even know about the problem. Why do we talk about better security and quicker updates when it isn't actually happening. I am not a programmer, but I love the community and support where I can. This issue needs to be addressed before the script kiddies and Hackors start to use the exploits that are found.

Finally, I want to say thanks to the developers for a great product and congrats for the 25 million downloads.

They are so far behind, it's funny.

[phaxda]

Bill sez: "Also the idea of how the phone and the PC are coming together. Where you will be able to see the calls that you missed, or even when your phone rings see immediately who that is that's calling, or control how that is forwarded, or even set it up so that the screen is part of your interaction. We are seeing that as increasingly important and are putting a lot of research into that."

I loved this part of the interview. "Will be able to?" Like when, the next time someone calls my Nokia cell phone and their number is displayed on my PowerBook screen via Bluetooth and the Address Book? And then maybe I will even get the option to send the caller to voicemail FROM MY COMPUTER?! WOW!

Hey, maybe Microsoft will even come up with a program that will pause the music on my computer when someone calls me. Or logs missed calls in my phone's calendar? Now that would be cool. Just like Salling Clicker.

Microsoft: yesterday's technology, today. Still.

Really, all I could do is laugh at this one. How do you Windows people deal with it?

Where did you get that????

[heybo]

I'd even venture to say that if Free OS's had the same installed base, the same virus-target-area, as MS today, a new WinXP (SP2) system would be more secure than a new RedHat system. Why? Because if Linux had the same base as MS, it would have the same number of viruses, and RH doesn't come with virus software, and Windows (when you buy from most OEM's) does.

Where did you get that FUD! The one big thing and the simplest security feature that keeps RedHat more secure over Windows is it is built and configured for users NOT to run as Administrator. This is the biggest screw up of MS. 80% of the spyware anf virus out there will not load unless you are running under and Admin or Root account. Try to install something on a RH box. See if you don't get a window asking for the root password. The default set up of Windows makes the default user an Administrator. Hell some MS programs won't even run unless you are an Administrator. You call that secure????

If Microsoft's products where the best I would buy them. Why do I use RedHat? It isn't the cost it is the built in security and realibity.

Did you ever wonder why the NSA used RedHat as its base for SELinux? If Windows is so superior why didn't they use Windows as the base of their in-house secure operation system?

Re:Sounds familiar...

[oldosadmin]

I greatly disagree. With 2.0 coming out, we have an Access killer app, OOo Base, which should round out the suite. I think given all considerations -- open standards, feature completeness, cost -- that OOo comes out on top everytime.

Firefox Benefits Everyone

[Goo.cc]

Even Windows users who don't ever plan to use Firefox benefit from it because it forces Microsoft to do something instead of letting IE languish. Additionally, Firefox growing popularity will encourage people from coding sites dependent solely on IE.

I think that it is a win-win situation.

Re:Update!

[4of12]

Only 374,758,170 downloads left to match the estimated 400 million worldwide IE (windows) users ;)

IE users didn't have to download their browser.

IE users didn't even have to make a conscious decision to include it with their pre-installed operating system that came on their PC.

Firefox's adoption would have reached 400 million if it had the same advantage in deployment.

Re:More = Better?

[fm6]

25 Million Agree - IE SUCKS!

That pretty much summarizes the reason for Firefox's recent surge in popularity.

Although, the 25 million downloads doesn't actually equate to 25 million users. How many times have you downloaded Firefox? I'm over 10, that's for sure. And how many people got it from others, rather than downloading it?

You've downloaded it 10 times? You're obviously an early adopter, which makes you pretty unrepresentative. On the other hand, many downloads never get past the evaluation phase. I myself tried Firefox 2 or 3 times, but resisted changing until a nonbuggy Googlebar became available.

Oh yeah, and don't forget upgrades.

Anyway, the download number is just another gee-whiz statistic [usga.org], unconnected with any real measure of Firefox's progress. I'd be much happer to see evidence that its user share has grown out of the single digits. Pity Google stopped tracking browsers [google.com].

Slightly offtopic: I have to put in a word to Firefox extension developers, which seem to be legion these days. (I have 13 extensions installed, everying from a RSS browser to a simple tweak that prevents right-click from being disabled.) Extension are easily Firefox's coolest feature. But they're also its biggest potential problem, because nobody bothers to sign their extension. Please start doing so, before the malware bozos decide that your extension is something they can steal and modify to their own ends.