'Firefox Download Day' Flops, But Version 3 Is Expected to Rock

Published: June 18, 2008

by Alex Woodie

Mozilla's quest to set a Guinness World Record for the most downloads in a day with Firefox 3 didn't pan out quite as planned yesterday, as the company's Web site and www.spreadfirefox.com download site both crashed under the load. The events marred what is expected to be a solid release of Firefox, one that mounts serious offensive against Microsoft Internet Explorer's dominance as the world's preferred portal to the Web.

Officials with Mozilla acknowledged the frenzy to download Firefox 3 quickly overwhelmed the company's servers shortly after the new Web browser became available at 1 p.m. EDT. The company, which is based in Silicon Valley, rushed to bring more Web servers online to satisfy demand.

While server downtime would have appeared to have spoiled Mozilla's attempt to set a world record for the number of downloads in a single 24-hour period, the jury is still out. The company reportedly was seeking to complete 1.6 million downloads of Firefox 3 during a 24-hour period covering yesterday and today. However, because it's a new record category with no previous record holder, Mozilla's may have succeeded anyway. There was certainly a lot of demand.

A release candidate (RC) version of Firefox 3 published a week ago demonstrates a number of new enhancements that should be well received by users. It features an overall cleaner layout, better bookmark handling, better stability, more security, and faster Web page rendering. However, users must contend with several known issues in the latest RC, such as the lack of a Windows Media Player plug-in for Vista machines, and no support for Microsoft Silverlight version 1 (Web presentation technology).

Even with these slight flaws, version 3 will likely boost Firefox's standings in the worldwide browser market, at least until the next release of IE. Firefox, which traces its roots to the original Netscape Navigator Web browser, currently accounts for about 18 percent of the browser market, compared to about 74 percent for IE. Apple's Safari has about 6 percent, and is coming on strong, particularly with the mobile version that ships on the iPhone. Currently, there is no mobile version of Firefox, which is something Mozilla is working on.

Microsoft is not sitting still while Firefox and Safari get all the action. IE 8 is currently in beta, with an RC expected in August. Microsoft has not said when it will ship IE 8.

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