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.

Comments

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.

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.