Mozilla has finally released Firefox 3 in its stable version. Faster, leaner, and full of more add-ons than ever before, the browser that broke Microsoft's monopoly on the market has even more features, including malware filtering, a smarter address bar, and improved font and CSS rendering.
Why am I blogging about a browser, you may ask? Because Firefox has inspired global pandemonium with FF3's launch. Mozilla is trying to set a Guinness record for most downloads in a 24-hour period. Since there is no such category, this means that Mozilla will surely get it.
According to Ars Technica, the first few hours of downloading have been very impressive
The rapid pace at which the downloads are occurring makes it difficult compute an exact total. The counter appears to be lagging behind the actual count, and Mozilla's statisticians say that the number could be as high as 3 million just four hours after Firefox's official launch.
For comparison with FF2's release, Ars says that FF3's total number of downloads in just the first four hours have exceeded the number for the first DAY for FF2's release back in October 2006.
Even more impressive is FF3's near-exponential market share growth
According to Net Applications, FF3's market share went from less than 1% this morning, to 2.54% in just the just HOURS. At this rate I wouldn't be surprised if FF3 overtakes its bloated predecessor within the next 2-4 months.