Firefox 4 netted 24 million downloads in its first three days.
Mozilla Foundation's Firefox 4 web browser has already been downloaded over 24 million times in three days, according to Mozilla's download statistics.
Firefox 4 was officially announced on Tuesday 22 March, and netted 7.1 million downloads in the first 24 hours it was available. This is three times as many downloads as Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 9 browser managed during the first day of its launch on 14 March.
To see how many downloads Firefox 4 has currently notched up, take a look at the
Download Stats page, where you can also see the proportion of downloads attributed to different locations.
At the 25 million download mark, achieved at around 4pm GMT today, Europe had the largest number with 9.75 million downloads. Next was North America with 8.34 million and then Asia with 4.25 million downloads.
Meanwhile, Google released
version 10 of its up and coming Chrome browser earlier this month too. The next few months could see significant changes in browser usage, with the three companies vying for market share with much-improved browsers.
Have any of the latest releases tempted you to change your browser allegiance, and which browser is your current favourite? Let us know in the
forums.
60 Comments
Discuss in the forums ReplyAbout the same rate as the record breaking FF3 iirc.
Something about just typing in the address bar and running a search got me hooked, that said IE does it now as well as I still use IE for "live stuff" but the main Browser is Chrome, might give Firefox another go to see how it shapes up, which reminds me still need to finish off the Skin I was making.
Other than that it seems okay. So far I've only had it running on a really slow internet connection, so I can't comment on it's performance.
This page alone has at least 15 unwanted (as far as I am concerned) scripts and bugs that are being blocked by my setup.
Only downside is most addons don't support 4.0 yet. Not fussed much about that.
Oh, and... those godawful tabs above the bookmark tab is one incredibly shitty idea. One of the reasons I very rarely use Chrome.
when i say breaks facebook games, it blocks cross site scripting by default, you can run them in compatability mode, and it works for a while, but then blocks again
some webpaages that are designed for ie sometimes need compatability mode, since ie9 is now standards based.
using the Dev version - they soon sort any blips
and its quick even with extensions
It pretty much waits until your current WU is finished before responding to your mouse clicks.
(OK, so its not that bad, but waiting 4-5 seconds after you have clicked new tab for one to appear is a bit annoying)
ie9 does not have shrink tabs or app tabs or whatever u want to call it so i can't use it. Also i don't like their addon system. Still the best browser microsoft ever produced though
This is completely unscientific but it actually seems slower now for some reason,
Was thinking of trying IE 9.
Well I can tell you my experience. I've been using it, since Adobe launched Flash 64-bit beta.
I think it works very well; the only thing annoying about it is that you can't force windows to use IE9 64-bit as your default browser (it's only possible with the 32-bit version).
under 1 min installation time, FF restarts itself, and presto, I was done.
Unlike IE8 (winXP only goes till8 appearently).
No update function in IE itself, instead it redirects to a MS website.
Installing IE8 then rebooted my system twice.
And killed all settings and bookmarks.
All in all, 20 minutes spent for nought...what a great experience.
About Chrome, I can't seem to find a "look for updates" function here either. Will updating chrome shoot my settings and bookmarks too?
Browser Review
I also think IE 9 is fantastic. Great job once again from Microsoft (no sarcasm there, I really do think MS do a good job at a lot of things).
But I may add, all three major browser have their flaws.
Firefox 3 to 3.6 was perfect:
-search bar for search
-awesome bar for jump straight to the webpage
with chrome, type in the bar digg, takes you to google search of digg. type in "wiki computer" takes you to google search of terms wiki and computer simply stupid and dumb. BUT with firefox 3 to 3.6, both terms takes you straight to the correct page with information. it was awesome.
and FF4 have dumbed down for the mass. it has made awesome bar not awesome by making it do search :(
but i've found this: to restore its former gloary:
http://farmdev.com/thoughts/93/what-happened-to-the-feeling-lucky-search-in-firefox-4-s-awesome-bar-/
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions/795446#answer-152292
you do know you can hide the searchbox in FF ?
you can also use keywords for different search engines, for example when i want to google something i just type "g pictures of boobs" and press enter, same thing for youtube, imdb, discogs, amazon, ebay, etc.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Using_keyword_searches
The single bar solution was used because the search bar was totally redundant.
no, search bar is not redundant. it allows to decide where to go. use search bar for search, use awesome bar for going straight to a destination.
basically, there is no other browser with address bar that behaves similar to FF's awesome bar. no other browser when type "trailer king's speech" goes straight to a trailer of king's speech. all other browser just takes you to a search page.
the workaround restores that great feature. does it not seem logical to type and be looking at the content you are thinking? instead of going through a search page? there is a search bar for searching.
Personally i prefer the tabs above, little extra screen room available i guess aswell!
is this a troll comment? if not i am somewhat confused!
The wasted screen real estate was really beginning to get to me, but with the new interface I feel like I've just upgraded to a bigger monitor. I also like the tab groups and pinned tabs. My only gripe is that I had two windows open when I set up my groups and pins and I closed them in the wrong order, thus losing all the changes :(.
Now I'm too busy with my iPad to set them up again.
However IE has closed the gap to nothing. In my opinion they are both as fast as eachother. IE infact starts up slightly faster on windows7 64bit and it seems it loads pages a little more smoothly. I use IE at work and FF at home because I am use to my FF addons. If it wasnt for the addons then I would probably use IE9
Chrome for me just feels and looks wrong and from working in suport haven't come across a browser which cause more headaches then Chrome.
I've very impressed with what M$ has done with IE9, it definately is a competitor and my 2nd choice to FF4 but just the feel, the look, and now the app tabs and tab groups I'm addicted to I can't see myself using any other browser and all this is PRE add-ins which I've not been playing with but will definately improve by browsing experience and fix youtube.
NO, it's a fact.
Very happy it's easily customised now though.
Chrome updates itself in the background. By default you cant turn it off and it doesnt tell you there is an update being installed. It might do if a update changes alot of things in the UI but most do not, certainly none since the silent update method has been used.
You have to tinker with the registry to stop it updating, not sure if there is an extension that does it though.
http://blogs.sitepoint.com/how-to-disable-google-chrome-updates/
Its an opinion at best
I'd like to "initiate" an Update, chrome is installed on a computer I rarely use these days, and is probably quite a few updates behind.
Is that possible?
Any browser which want to look like Chrome clone is D.E.A.D. for me, forever.
Using Maxthon for stubborn "designed for IE/FF" sites, otherwise...
Opera FTW! Mauling competition since version 3.0.
NO, it's a fact that don't want or need FF.
I prefer the tabs the tabs laid on top. Also the speed is much better in FF4.x (I tried the early Windows betas and they were all over the place)!! What with Firefox sync and all my other add-ons I don't need another browser really (now the speed issue has been sorted out). The Mozilla Foundation claimed to have completely rewritten the code-base for this release (in a podcast I was listening to recently) - appears to be the case as well!
*sigh* was a "look for updates now" button really that much work? :(
Click the settings button, and then 'About Google Chrome'. This forces an update check.
Strange