Firefox rocks 2 million downloads in 24 hours

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Microsoft, Mozilla, Browser Tips

Firefox rocks 2 million downloads in 24 hours

by Chris Gilmer Oct 30th 2006

Firefox's recent release last week did pretty good. Everyone I spoke with started downloading Firefox 2.0 the second they heard about the release. I just came across some fascinating numbers from Mozilla that proves the Firefox browser does indeed have a hardcore following that is steadily on the rise.

Firefox 1.0 had 1 million downloads in the first 24 hours
Firefox 1.5 had 1.5 million downloads in the first 24 hours
Firefox 2.0 had 2 million downloads in the first 24 hours. That's 30 downloads per second happening behind the scenes.

Now compare Firefox's results to IE7's recent release that took four days to hit the 3 million download mark. IE's results could be due to the fact that individuals and IT departments worldwide are always hesitant about installing the latest version of anything Microsoft releases. IE7 is still on my download list once it becomes a little more secure.

Who was part of those stats? And who is still awaiting more fixes to the IE7 bug list?

Tags: 20, browser, firefox, firefox2, ie7, mozilla

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Gardiner Westbound said 11:52AM on 10-30-2006

I downloaded Firefox 2 the first day and am pleased with its new features. Extension (add-on) updates are becoming available a little slower than earlier releases. My ISP is recommending subscribers delay updating to IE7 for at least six months to give Microsoft time to correct the initial bugs.

Peter said 12:33PM on 10-30-2006

"My ISP is recommending subscribers delay updating to IE7 for at least six months to give Microsoft time to correct the initial bugs."
Read as - we don't want to get all the support calls about sites that don't work properly anymore.

Pete said 1:35PM on 10-30-2006

I am using Vista RC1 so have had IE7 for awhile now, do not like it at all, runs slow, lot of web pages won't load, got the FF 2.0, much much better but having used Bon Echo for months now am used to the FF 2.0

Louis Barnett said 3:10PM on 10-30-2006

I downloaded the EI7 final version as soon as Microsoft released it.I have been using the RC1 version before they finally released it so I was used to using it.It has some much improved features over EI6
but still has a few bugs.I used to use Firefox 1.5 but was unhapply with it because it would not let me go into some sites.I have not tried the the 2.0 yet and I don't think I will.

Sanjay Goel said 3:58PM on 10-30-2006

Here in india, I frequently stumble across sites that wotk correctly only on IE. Infact, even blogger beta layout page has some issues with firefox (some javascript failure when I try to update a page element). Hence I need IE 6 for all these sites. I can't risk installing IE7 because if any site doesn't work on it then there would be no way I could go back.

james said 10:48AM on 10-31-2006

I recently installed both. I can't understand the logic in IE7's button reshuffle and I hate 'scrolling' through tabs in Firefox 2. I can't get rid of the Go button in FF2?! The spell check it brilliant.

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