Firefox Breaks 8 Million, Gets Into Guinness

Punkster812 writes "Mozilla has gotten the results back from the Guinness World Records and the official number that will be set as the record is 8,002,530 downloads. The day started out a little rough for them, with server troubles during the initial launch, but once they got everything going, they were able to transfer 62,419,734 MB in 24 hours. You can get more information, including a breakdown of how many downloads each country did from around the world, by visiting spreadfirefox.com. Congratulations, Mozilla, on the new record."

Obligatory UserFriendly comic

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20080623 [userfriendly.org]

Speaking of obligatory webcomic references

http://xkcd.com/198/ [xkcd.com]

Arbitrary but impressive

It appears that this is the first recorded record by Guinness Book, so it's kind of arbitrary, however shuttling 62TB of data is pretty impressive. Now that the gauntlet has been thrown down, it'll be interesting to see if other software companies will try to compete. If nothing else, this gave Firefox some much-needed press.

Congrats on breaking the non-existent record

Seriously, this is a great thing. But considering that no record existed previously, it's not exactly earth-shattering. I look to see this record broken with subsequent launches, as more and more people have access to the internet, and as Mozilla gains more share. Also, 7.7 million of the total came from the US. It would be great to see a larger overseas distribution, especially considering the pledges that were signed in places like Africa.

Re:Congrats on breaking the non-existent record

Also, 7.7 million of the total came from the US

I don't think the map below the entry charts just the downloads on download day, given that simply adding Canada (at 790,624 actually comprising more per capita than the US) puts it far over their record count.

Re:Congrats on breaking the non-existent record

Yes, you are right. Also, talking about per capita, is there somewhere a list of downloads per capita en each country? That would be nice to know, as total downloads mean very little (yeah, of course here in luxembourg we had very few downloads, the country is tiny!)

Some random (a bit biased) selection of countries with downloads per capita (x1000). Data comes from the Spread Firefox webpage [spreadfirefox.com] and population from wikipedia [wikipedia.org]

Canada 23.74
US 25.40
Germany 30.00
UK 19.79
France 15.19
Spain 17.90
Luxembourg 36.72

Now, this tells me more than just downloads per country. Now Luxembourg looks better :).

Re:Congrats on breaking the non-existent record

1    Lithuania        126.79
2    Iceland                49.5
3    Luxembourg        38.02
4    Switzerland        37.52
5    Norway                36.37
6    Slovenia        35.57
7    Finland                33.96
8    Faeroe                33.84
9    Estonia                33.67
10    Liechtenstein        31.92
11    Germany                30.77
12    Singapore        29.43
13    Netherlands        27.7
14    Sweden                27.55
15    Austria                27.19
16    Denmark                26.11
17    USA                25.99
18    Hong Kong        25.04
19    Canada                24.43
20    Ireland                23.16
21    Hungary                22.99
22    Bulgaria        22.46
23    Australia        22.19
24    Poland                21.54
25    Bermuda                20.71
26    Belgium                20.53
27    UK                20.32
28    Latvia                19.66
29    Israel                19.58
30    New Zealand        19.19
31    Spain                18.33
32    Czech                18.11
33    Malta                17.87
34    Antigua & Barbuda    17.86
35    Romania                15.78
36    Andorra                15.69
37    France                15.67
38    Barbados        15.31
39    Qatar                15.17
40    Slovakia        15.05
41    Aruba                14.58
42    Greece                13.77
43    Anguilla        13.54
44    Maldives        13.35
45    Croatia                13.31
46    Italy                13.16
47    Chile                12.8
48    Portugal        12.68
49    Cyprus                12.1
50    Taiwan                11.3
51    Japan                10.77
52    UAE                10.52
53    Saint Kitts & Nevis    10.5
54    Brunei                10.21
55    British Virgin Islands    8.87
56    Greenland        8.52
57    Bahrain                8.06
58    Bahamas                8.03
59    New Caledonia        7.98
60    Dominica        7.84
61    Trinidad & Tabago    7.79
62    Falklands        7.67
63    Iran                7.63
64    Grenada                7.63
65    Puerto Rico        7.44
66    Costa Rica        7.38
67    Turkey                7.25
68    Turks & Caicos        7.2
69    Saint Lucia        6.65
70    Malaysia        6.31
71    Argentina        6.04
72    Macedonia        5.66
73    Kuwait                5.45
74    Serbia                5.22
75    Mauritius        4.4
76    Belize                4.11
77    Jamaica                3.93
78    Panama                3.76
79    Bosnia                3.68
80    Venezuela        3.64
81    Montserrat        3.4
82    Brazil                3.27
83    Mexico                3.17
84    South Korea        3.15
85    Moldova                3.1
86    Colombia        3.02
87    Dominican        2.82
88    Uruguay                2.78
89    Thailand        2.72
90    Mongolia        2.6
91    Peru                2.59
92    Russia                2.57
93    Vietnam                2.48
94    Philippines        2.32
95    Ukraine                2.21
96    Montenegro        2.19
97    Saudi Arabia        2.09
98    Fiji                1.69
99    Jordan                1.63
100    Tunisia                1.61
101    Belarus                1.56
102    Paraguay        1.56
103    Ecuador                1.56
104    Suriname        1.55
105    Oman                1.52
106    South Africa        1.5
107    Lebanon                1.47
108    El Salvador        1.46
109    Guatemala        1.32
110    Guyana                1.31
111    Palau                1.2
112    Morocco                1.2
113    Tonga                1.18
114    Nicaragua        1.1
115    Bolivia                1.09
116    Palestine        1.07
117    Georgia                1.05
118    Reunion                1.00
119    Albania                0.96
120    Egypt                0.86
121    Sri Lanka        0.79
122    Armenia                0.78
123    Algeria                0.76
124    Honduras        0.74
125    Kazakhstan        0.73
126    Vanuatu                0.69
127    Indonesia        0.66
128    Namibia             0.65
129    China                0.58
130    Botswana        0.54
131    Cuba                0.49
132    Guadeloupe        0.49
133    Libya                0.46
134    India                0.46
135    Azerbaijan        0.43
136    Senegal                0.41
137    Gabon                0.41
138    Cape Verde        0.41
139    Bhutan                0.37
140    Ghana                0.35
141    Djibouti        0.30
142    Samoa                0.29
143    Kenya                0.25
144    Pakistan        0.24
145    Cote d'Ivoire        0.23
146    Nepal                0.22
147    Equitorial Guinea       0.22
148    Syria                0.20
149    Martinique        0.19
150    Camroon                0.17
151    Laos                0.16
152    Cambodia        0.16
153    Kyrgyzstan        0.15
154    Swaziland        0.15
155    Nigeria                0.14
156    Bangladesh        0.13
157    Solomon                0.117
158    Mauritania        0.097
159    São Tomé and Príncipe    0.095
160    Burma                0.089
161    Uzbekistan        0.085
162    Zimbabwe        0.085
163    Zambia                0.084
164    Sudan                0.083
165    Angola                0.082
166    Rwanda                0.079
167    Benin                0.078
168    Haiti                0.076
169    Madagascar        0.071
170    Yemen                0.069
171    Lesotho                0.066
172    Mozambique        0.065
173    Iraq                0.063
174    Togo                0.059
175    Uganda                0.055
176    Mali                0.045
177    Tanzania        0.043
178    Burkina Faso        0.043
179    Papua New Guinea    0.043
180    Guinea                0.042
181    Tajikistan        0.041
182    Malawi                0.040
183    Afghanistan        0.033
184    Burundi                0.021
185    Comoros                0.020
186    Ethiopia        0.018
187    Congo                0.016
188    Liberia                0.015
189    Sierra Leone        0.015
190    Guinea-bissau        0.012
191    Eritrea                0.011
192    Niger                0.011
193    Turkenistan        0.009
194    Somalia                0.008
195    Republic of Congo    0.006
196    Central Africa        0.005
197    Chad                0.004

Note: North Korea, Western Sahara, Timor Leste, French Guiana and a number of other territories had zero downloads.

PS: It would be interesting to compare these figure with the countries' GDP per capita.

Re:Congrats on breaking the non-existent record

Also, 7.7 million of the total came from the US

No, 7.7m is the current figure. The US downloaded 2.5m [amiworks.co.in] of the 8m on Download Day.

Re:Congrats on breaking the non-existent record

Protip: Africa is not a country.

Re:Congrats on breaking the non-existent record

Those pinkos didn't put America on there either!

Good work!

An excellent move for Mozilla. Although I'm sure a lot of these downloads were from existent Firefox 1.5/2 users, I'm sure some of the people using Internet Explorer jumped on the FF bandwagon. Less spyware, better browsing, less bullshit. Good work.

Re:Good work!

I'm sure some of the people using Internet Explorer jumped on the FF bandwagon.

It has been several years since there was a justifiable, logical reason to stick with Internet Explorer (this isn't flamebait, oh holy Microsoft defenders, but the truth is that Microsoft just stopped caring about the browser market, and innovation dried up. IE 7 was a groaner, and IE 8 thus far is shaping up to be more of the same), so aside from pushing Firefox into people's awareness via gimmicks like this Guinness Record, it isn't like they just need to add that one last feature for it to be compelling.

If people are still using Internet Explorer, it can only be explained as ignorance or complacency.

While I hate to go there, at this point I think we need to see some apps that require Firefox (which isn't so onerous. Unlike demanding Internet Explorer, which intrinsically also demands Windows, usually at a contemporary version, Firefox runs on just about everything, and installing it doesn't change or screw with a properly running system). Offline app support, the canvas element, alongside numerous other web app bits and pieces, it really is the platform that Marc Andreesson [yafla.com] was promising a decade+ prematurely.

Thanks for the arrogance

If people are still using Internet Explorer, it can only be explained as ignorance or complacency.

Or personal preference. I downloaded Firefox about a year ago, tried it alongside IE for several weeks, determined there were parts I liked, parts I didn't, and ultimately made the decision that I preferred IE. It's nice to have a choice, and I have made my pick. Others picked something else, whether it be Firefox, Opera, or something entirely different. Fine. Good for them. I don't care because I have my browsing experience the way I want it and that's all I really care about.

If Firefox works for you, hurrah. I'm not so smug and condescending that I'm going to start calling you names. Just let me have what I prefer and we're all happy. I don't care if you think I made a poor or even stupid decision, in much the same way as I don't care if a Honda driver thinks I shouldn't be driving a Toyota. Isn't that the whole point: for people to have choices and be able to choose what they prefer?

North Korea

Funny... nobody from North Korea downloaded Firefox 3.

Re:North Korea

That's because people in North Korea are evil, the videos of them in black and white are not actually filmed in b/w, they're just so evil, they have no color.... at least that's what Lewis Black said anyway

Re:North Korea

Minesweeper.

Obligitory terrible joke...

Its amazing that over 300k people downloaded firefox from russia, despite the fact that in soviet russia, firefox downloads you. /groan

Re:Obligitory terrible joke...

You forgot to click on "Other Stats" on the downloads per country page:

People downloaded by Firefox:

United States..... 0
Canada............ 0
France............ 0
Spain............. 0
Soviet Russia..... 8,548,674

It is not a sign of success, really.

The real sign of success or progress would be when OEMs pre-install FireFox. I don't understand why the OEMs are so timid and still so tied to MSFT.

Imagine what preloading FireFox could do to the brand-differentiation of Dell or HP. Why do they not try this obvious move but insist on fighting on price? What really is in the undisclosed agreements between the big name PC vendors and MSFT? What it would take for them to break out?

^__^

Someone make a map like that but base it on percentage of population.

Are they counting source-code downloads too?

Pre-built binaries are for wussies — real women and men build from source [freshports.org].

Holy shit!

Russia's huge!

Re:

Considering Internet Explorer ships with Windows and most often is forced on users with automatic updates, this is hardly surprising. At least Firefox users choose to download it. (And yes, I know you can turn auto updates off).

Re:

yea but seriously, what does this number even mean??

I doubt exactly, 8,002,530 people installed it and are using it. You know there were plenty of anti-microsoft nerds who downloaded it 50 times each.

We might as well just stick to bandwidth measurements, in which case YouTube would smash the above record.

I'm happy FF 3.0 is out and all, but I don't really see the big deal in this number.

Re:lame

The SpearFirefox FAQ [spreadfirefox.com] clearly states that the download count does not include duplicate downloads, incomplete downloads or downloads done through Firefox updates.