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Firefox 3 downloads smash 5m mark

Tom Espiner ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 18 Jun 2008 12:00 BST

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Downloads of Mozilla's Firefox 3 web browser have already passed the five million mark, approximately halfway through its 24-hour world-record attempt period.

The Mozilla team had aimed to exceed the 1.6 million downloads that Firefox 2 achieved in the first day of its release period, and had hoped for five million downloads for Firefox 3 in its first 24 hours of release, to set a Guinness world record.

Approximately 14 hours after its release, Firefox 3 passed the five million download mark. President of Mozilla Europe, Tristan Nitot, told ZDNet.co.uk that he felt as though he was in "a dream".

"We have exceeded our wildest expectations," said Nitot. "I'm so proud of the community. Five million downloads in 14 hours is mind boggling. I'm just concerned it's a dream and I'm going to wake up."

Nitot said it was difficult to predict what the final number of downloads would be, but that the total could reach eight million.

"Europe is just waking up, so we expect a few more million," said Nitot. "I don't know where it will end up, but we could get seven or eight million [downloads]."

Mozilla aimed to set a Guinness world record for the total number of downloads of a piece of software in a 24-hour period. As part of its marketing effort, it encouraged users to pledge to download Firefox 3 on its release, and to hold download parties.

The release was scheduled to begin at 6pm BST on Tuesday 17 June. However, the release could not begin as planned as Mozilla's servers had problems, which were exacerbated by the number of people wishing to download Firefox 3, according to Mozilla.

Nitot said that the main problems had begun before Firefox 3 had been released.

"It's true that downloads have exceeded out wildest dreams, but there was a failure even before the sites were open," said Nitot.

A Mozilla spokesperson confirmed that there had been problems migrating the servers, but said that the issues were fixed an hour later.

"There were a few technical issues migrating the sites and servers, then we went live an hour later," said the spokesperson.

A post by Mozilla marketing co-odinator Melissa Shapiro on the Mozilla blog on Tuesday, at the beginning of the release, said that the interest in Firefox 3 had been "overwhelming", and that Mozilla servers were under pressure.

"The outpouring of interest and enthusiasm around Firefox 3 has been overwhelming (literally!)," wrote Shapiro at the time of the release. "Our servers are currently feeling the burn and should be back to normal shortly. Download day will officially commence once the site goes live. The 24-hour period will be clocked from that moment."

As a consequence of the release being delayed for an hour, Firefox 3's 24-hour world-record download attempt period will end on Wednesday at 7pm BST.

Firefox 3 earns Guinness World Record

Mozilla's browser has entered the book of Guinness World Records for the most downloads from a website in a 24-hour period [03 Jul 2008]

Firefox 3 reaches six percent market share

The Mozilla Project has smashed its target of five million downloads in 24 hours, achieving a final tally of 8,290,545 and reaching a market share that peaked at over six percent [19 Jun 2008]

Talkback 5 Talkbacks

Firefox 3 suffers its first flaw

The Zero Day Initiative has reported that a vulnerability it deems critical was found five hours after the release of the new browser [19 Jun 2008]

Talkback 2 Talkbacks

Disable Firefox 3's 'awesome bar'

Disable Firefox 3's 'awesome bar'

If you're one of those users clamouring for an option to silence so-called 'awesome bar' in Firefox 3, released on Tuesday, look no further [18 Jun 2008]

Talkback 2 Talkbacks


Inside Firefox 3's security features

Inside Firefox 3's security features

Security takes front and centre in the new release of Firefox. Here's a tour of the main features. [18 Jun 2008]


Inside Firefox 3

Inside Firefox 3

Take a tour of the basic features in Mozilla's new Firefox 3 web browser. [18 Jun 2008]


Firefox 3

Firefox 3

If only for its speed, lightness of being and security, Firefox remains our Editors' Choice for the best internet browser. [18 Jun 2008]

Talkback 1 Talkback


Firefox 3 is released for download

Mozilla's Firefox 3 web browser is now officially available for download, as the organisation seeks the world record for the number of software downloads in a day [17 Jun 2008]

Talkback 15 Talkbacks

Firefox 3 gets a release date

The open-source browser will be available for download next week, says Mozilla [12 Jun 2008]

Mozilla releases second Firefox 3 release candidate

The organisation claims the second release candidate boasts improved memory usage and security features [05 Jun 2008]

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