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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."
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20080623
If you haven't been down-modded lately, you aren't trying.
Sacred cows make the best hamburger.
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.
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
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.
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.
the chairs that died to bring us this news....
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).
Congratulations to them on this success, but a shame a little more attention wasn't paid to making sure everyone knew when the hell to download - I suspect the 8mil could have been surpassed given a little more planning. But how and ever, well done :)
Funny... nobody from North Korea downloaded Firefox 3.
I wonder how downloads Windows Update gets every patch Tuesday? Automated downloads, but downloads none the less.
http://xkcd.com/198/
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Its amazing that over 300k people downloaded firefox from russia, despite the fact that in soviet russia, firefox downloads you. /groan
"Give someone a program, frustrate them for a day... Teach someone to program, frustrate them for a lifetime."
Firefox has finally beaten the previous Guiness record of Porn being downloaded 8,000,365 times in one day? Wow, that's some caveat.
It is great that they have had this many downloads but is it wise to support our terrorist friends in Afghanistan. They had 875 downloads. Now 875 children and puppies are going to die!
Very interesting results if you check them out. I found this funny:
...
(Downloads)
China? 72,154
South Korea? 148,006
North Korea? 0
I didn't need to download anything. IE7 comes with Vista.
Amazingly Iran has far more download than Saudi. No wonder being an US ally sucks.
I've been into Guinn
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.
It took me several hours after the starting time to get a download working. Anyone else have similar trouble?
I wonder how high it would have been with more servers!
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?
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Someone make a map like that but base it on percentage of population.
I was into the Guinness before I even broke any records...
Downloading updates and downloading a full product is two different things. You're not Getting Internet Explorer when you download updates. You're only downloading updates to something you already have. You *are* getting Firefox, then you download Firefox 3.
Pre-built binaries are for wussies — real women and men build from source.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Russia's huge!
I was referring to Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP, which is pushing as an automatic update now if I'm not mistaken.
Nevermind, I realise what you mean now.
With their main industries being fishing, gold mining and timber they are unable to build a castle and advance to the internet age, hence their zero d/l stats.
"Ahh, I see" said the blind man.
Well, just for the record, this was not a security patch. The record was set by individuals who chose to download Firefox.
The problem is that most (if not all) OEMs are stricly business. There has been no measurable outcry from their customers (who can download it anyway), and Microsoft pays them to include IE on the desktop.
So, how about Google - I mean Mozilla - pay OEMs too? That's the only way you'll see it pre-installed.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
That the actual end users explicitly seek out a piece of software, rather than settle for a defacto standard. Having users because they are too lazy to replace what the OEM gave them is, in my opinion, not as impressive.
As to the OEMs, there is the possibility of a kickback from MS from using IE exclusively, just like other 'free software', but I would think that would perhaps be too brazen considering the whole anti-trust thing.
Another possibility is a deep seated fear of distributing open-source software that seems to pervade these companies. Dell at least should be over it since it ships linux pre-installed, but then again, lawyers can insist that though the codebase is the same, they need to be paid to review different uses of it.
And finally, there is the possibility they believe it really not worth their time to bother. Would you *honestly* choose one brand over another *just* because of firefox being pre-installed, even if the firefox one is more expensive? It would take some work to migrate their crapware platform to make sure things work with firefox that would cost more than zero dollars. Meanwhile, the customers probably aren't looking for that explicitly, since they by and large can just download it truly for free themselves. Pre-install of linux is one thing, it gives an assurance about the hardware choices with respect to linux drivers, but Firefox is just a browser.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
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?
And it is not just that the Firefox programmers are brilliant and creative.
In its own way one should acknowledge the strategic brilliance of the way the record was planned. By being US centric (as in, failing to recognise that there is something like human beings abroad), the 24 hour period was set to start such that people in countries like NZ, AU and JP were frustrated in not seeing the new version when the due date arrived, (or downloaded old stuff, ha ha). For those who waited, they were joined by hoards of Europeans and Brits (I'm sure they appreciate this gesture) who had to wait until the evening before they could join the Americans to swamp the servers. Those Europeans who gave up before local 12 PM and didn't realise that they could still help to set the record by downloading it in the morning, also failed to add to the number of copies downloaded. So, in short, the Mozilla organisation has made it easy for themselves to beat their own record, provided they are brilliant enough to recognise the rude brilliance of the first record attempt.
Bert
When I get into Guiness, the next day I'm hungover and in no position to code. How they managed to achieve eight million downloads is beyond me.
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
The previous record holder was the Paris Hilton tape.
"Ahh, I see" said the blind man.
Who picked up his hammer and saw.
Since the users on Svalbard and Jan Mayen .no extension do they get included with Norway. Is this why they have 0 downloads or were there truly no downloads?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_and_Jan_Mayen
use the
Other 0 download countries: Western Sahara, North Korea, Timor-leste, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Calvin:Do you believe in the devil? Hobbes:I'm not sure man needs the help.
In Soviet Russia, Firefox keeps tabs on YOU.
The SpearFirefox FAQ clearly states that the download count does not include duplicate downloads, incomplete downloads or downloads done through Firefox updates.
Good - This is the very first version of Firefox that didn't crash on me in the first half hour (or at all yet, three hours and counting). The last one was the only piece of misbehaving software on my system, and after half a day and at least a dozen crashes I gave up on it. Bad - I had no choice. It insisted on being my default browser. That's one of the indicators of bad software. That's not "Quicktime" bad, mind you, but it's a terrible choice nonetheless. In the end it's still my number 3. I use Opera quite often - in fact I much prefer Opera to Firefox. My "most often used" browser is still IE7. Go ahead and flame me.
The source build I have made on BSD works beautifully and if you see this, the failed submission is one of those 'sometimes happens' bugs. I've had v3 in its pre-released forms for some time. Perhaps it got a bit rushed for this publicity stunt? The Windows version I got, bombed on a new, fully patched install from some bad flash code. Fortunately 'ad-block' to the rescue.
It may not be perfect, but its by far the best. I'd like to see Mozilla Foundation concentrate more on quality than quantity, but marketing reality means one enhances the other. I guess an 'awareness drive' (publicity stunt) from time to time is good, but everyone should know by now there is probably nothing on the entire net that has more mass appeal than 'free' Firefox binaries.
Here goes the test....
Looking good, no bug confirmed.
Their intentions may have been grand, but I've done a lot of 'sciency' stuff over the years, and false-positive rates for a web-counter like that are usually pretty high.
IIRC, they restarted the countdown to start after they fixed their server troubles.
Which is why I had to turn automatic updates off.
For whatever reason IE7 WILL NOT install after I formatted and installed a fresh legit xp sp2. It downloads, and tells me I have updates to install. I click the little balloon and let it go. Then it constantly pesters me to restart. So I restart, and the process starts all over.
I tried a manual install just so I wouldn't have to deal with that automatic update loop but that turned out just about the same.
It worked just fine BEFORE I went legit which figures.
You're nothing; like me.
Grrr! who cam up with this lousy graphic that posts the numbers under the cursor, so you can't read it.
Am I the only one that notices?
Busy helping non technical users of OpenOffice.org - http://plan-b-for-openoffice.org/
Looking at that map on SpreadFirefox, the patriarchal hegemony that is Western Sahara hates Firefox (and probably, by association, the ideals of the Free Software Movement), with no downloads there at all. For shame, for shame! Even Chad has managed 34!
Adobe's Flash Player is downloaded 10-12 million times per day.
Amen to that, bro.
This was downloaded by free thinking people, who wished to and had the option to download it. Obviously this cannot be compared to "forced" downloads such as Adobe-Flash updates, as one of their spokespersons bragged about much more downloads a day that Firefox's.
I would've liked to see stats per operating system too.
FireFox stagged a publicity stunt and a bunch of anti-ms fanboys ate it up like candy.
First, FireFox asked/begged people to all download on a particular day to break this record. I've never been 'asked' to download any other piece of software on a particular day to break any record.
Second, what was the existing record? *GASP* you don't mean to tell me there *wasn't* an existing record? Well then....that's not really all that impressive - is it? WoW supposedly has 9 million users, and come patch day they'd all be glad to download files much larger than FF3....oh but that doesn't count because it's a patch? Gotcha.
So umm, basically, FireFox made up some very specific rules so that they could break a record held by nobody so they can get their name in the paper for something that will say, 'FireFox most downloaded browser ever!' or something.
Besides which, who exactly was counting the 8 million downloads?
Nothing to see here, just marketing hype.
MS surely gets more downloads. Adobe gets more downloads.
Warez downloads over P2P networks don't qualify for Guinness records.
23 downloads from the Falklands... so, the whole population uses Firefox then?
Zagreus sits inside your head, Zagreus lives among the dead, Zagreus sees you in your bed and eats you in your sleep.
Anyway, the population is 3000 people.
but I had the dev team pegged as Corona guys.
"NBC announced two significant technology partnerships with Microsoft and Wavexpress today to provide 2008 Olympics coverage over the web. The new initiatives embody a natural evolution for Olympics coverage considering the timesâ"but they're available only to users of Vista or Silverlight."
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080623-nbc-olympics-on-the-go-download-service-is-vista-only.html
Yes, i downloaded firefox with 8million people more. P.D: this joke sucks.
Africa needs to pick up the slack!
I'd hate to pay that bill.
First impression is that it compiled much, much faster on Gentoo.
I am not much a fan of this theme and no-one has built a 'firefox2' theme for Linux. There is one for Windows and a beta for OSX. The author of both claims that it looks a lot like the old theme already.
I call bullshit. The old theme didn't use the Tango Icon Set... which I am not very fond of. It's free, sure, but just doesn't look right compared to the old version.
I am updating the rest of my system right now so it's a tad slow... we'll see when everything is done compiling. Only 3 packages to go.
Anyone else surprised how high-tech Iran is?
Duh. That was the figure for just 24 hours.
Plenty of people have downloaded it since then, but those don't count towards the record. To date, there have been more than 29 million downloads in total.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
"...im not sure about iTunes, as I avoid it with a 10^10 foot pole, just added it because of its popularity." /. UID, you should avoid us with a 10^10 foot pole, just added it because of our popularity. *hint*
Because of its popularity?
And another one:
"...they were "going for the world record" which, I don't really seem fair... because unlike 99.9% of the other records where advertising just means people will watch, advertising this actually effects the outcome of the record, it should have been a secret, until after."
Hmmm....so, advertising does not work? Ah, I see. Advertising works so you have to be against it. Gotcha.
Or this one:
"It was all just a marketing ploy, now they can advertise "we are the only Web browser in the Guiness Book Of World Records"... so what, I actually avoided downloading it, because of that."
So, according to yor
What a delightful and constructive post you have to add to the discussion!
It must be sad having as your only claim to fame a pseudo rebellious cause to live by. Enjoy!
*stupid git*
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
You also get this, and this!
Hurray! Get vista + Ei7 and for no extra charge, dozens of exploits and more malware than you can shake a stick at!!
*stupid git*
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
You can create many interesting hypothesises from viewing those download statistics. For example, why does Iraq have only 1,754 downloads, compared to Iran which has 535,796? Do you think this is mainly due to the war on Iraq? As you would assume that the cultures were quite similar that their would not be a huge difference between them software wise. Or am I just stereotyping? One hypothesis is that 'there is a directly proportional relationship between the percentage of the population that downloaded firefox and the standard of living', or it could be just that their is preferred browser in that area, similar to preferred IMs in different parts of the world. China has 1 billion people in population and just over 700k downloaded the browser .. yep, time to stop rambling and get back to work.
theyre not talking web-counters though, there using an FTP server, which will log unique IPs
IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
well, considering NAT'ing is such a popular technology, are you suggesting a company with 10,000 employees sharing a single or a few IP's, will only be counted 1 time?
I don't see the difference, technically speaking, when it comes to FTP or HTTP and IP addresses.
You are wrong to believe FTP counters are somehow so much more accurate than HTTP counters.
... but it is flash content and Firefox just crashed on me while watching it. I hope it stops crashing every 30 mins on my Linux box when I'm watching Flash content.
my $0.02
They are in the "space age", with rockets and satellites...
-- Rastignac was here.