Firefox 3 Sets World Record?

Published on June 19, 2008 By kryo In Personal Computing

Following Tuesday's release of Firefox 3, and despite a couple of server downtimes (due to the huge demand), the Mozilla Foundation has announced that the new version of their browser was downloaded more than 8 million times in the first 24 hours of availability! Their claim to the record of most downloads in one day is still being verified by Guinness, but it's still quite an amazing feat.

Personally, I've only just gotten the browser this morning (I first tried during one of the above mentioned downtimes), but already it seems tremendously faster than Firefox 2. I haven't really had much chance to look into the new UI elements just yet, but at least most of my add-ons (all the important ones, anyway) had updates available, and so far they all seem to be working well.

What does everyone else think so far, especially those who weren't previously Firefox users? Is Firefox 3 going to make you switch from IE or Opera? If not, why not?

Comments (Page 2)

PurrBall

on Jun 19, 2008

I've been using FF3 for ages. It's the first version for me which has completely replaced IE for every day use. With FF2 I always had to go back to IE for some things.
Sadly the shop I get my groceries online from only lets me login with IE...

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419

cplair

on Jun 19, 2008

IE7 serves every single solitary need I currently or will most likely ever have. I've never had a security issue or a serious performace issue with it either. So, no, I won't be switching.

Ditto! Besides being built into the Operating System, which in turn integrates your entire OS with the web.

For me IE7 has been a good thing and never a problem since the beta days of 1992!

I've never been to a site that wouldn't work because of my browser, that sucks. By default IE7 is cool and immediately works, no plugging in, although you can fill it up with junk as an option.

This is one thing for me that doesn't need to be fixed, because it ain't broke!

Congrats to the FireFox developers, but IE isn't going anywhere as long as MicroSoft make the Windows OS. Ask the folks at NetScape!

Cp

DethAdder

on Jun 19, 2008

I had been using the FF3 RC 1 and now RC2 and was expecting some type of automatic update to the release version, but it seems I have to go redownlaod the thing myself. I am pretty much a new FF user and mainly switched due to the bugs this site has with IE. I had tried FF2 and dumped it pretty quickly for Maxthon, which is still my first choice. FF3 though hasn't been a bad experience as long as I can eventually get plugins for all the things that are already built into Maxthon and Opera(both those have features that can spoil a guy

) .

Loupdinour

on Jun 19, 2008

Just 5 hours after the official release of the latest refresh of Mozilla’s flagship browser, an unnamed researcher has sold a critical code execution vulnerability that puts all Firefox 3.0 users at risk of PC takeover attacks.

LOL that's what I thought this post was about. Fastest time until notification of security threat. Can't point many fingers directly at FF3 though since it's also prevalent in FF2.

Proud FF3 user here though.

erathoniel

on Jun 19, 2008

Just DL'ed it, it's awesome. I need different themes, but it's awesome.

Hankers

on Jun 19, 2008

Sadly the shop I get my groceries online from only lets me login with IE...

Try this add-on - IE Tab

You can also find it on the Mozilla Add-on site.

I was able to get the latest update while the servers were OK. Great program and very fast.

Kitkun

on Jun 19, 2008

Thanks to extensions, FF has a feature set that can't be beat.

With FoxyTunes, I can play music through the browser, and not switch to another screen. ForecastFox gives me info on the weather. IE Tab pretty much eliminates compatibility problems. There's a wide variety of themes and even the Personas for FireFox extension that had a bunch built in and can be changed with a couple of clicks. Then there's the Awesome AdBlock Plus and FlashBlock combo that makes online ads history.

To top it off, it moves almost five times as fast as my IE7.

erathoniel

on Jun 20, 2008

AdBlock Plus is really all you need, I've never heard of FlashBlock and never had any problems.

Nimbin

on Jun 20, 2008

no surprises there. FF is one classy bit of kit

P5yy

on Jun 20, 2008

I can never seem to play isketch with Firefox.

BlueTemplar

on Jun 20, 2008

I'm not gonna switch from Opera. It's just not good enough to give up Mouse Gestures and the mail client for

Furthermore Opera 9.5 was released a few days before Firefox 3.
So I really don't see why I should switch from Opera to Firefox.

andrew_

on Jun 20, 2008

Plug/Troll https://forums.wincustomize.com/315706

BlueTemplar

on Jun 20, 2008

You might like Dragonfly.

garion333

on Jun 20, 2008

Plug/Troll https://forums.wincustomize.com/315706

Thanks andrew. That post completely made my day. 3.0 is a half-step back for me. I don't see how it is faster (is it because I have a high-end rig and the improvements aren't noticeable . . . ?) and I think the overall UI is terrible.

Maybe it'll take some time to get use to, but I'm considering using Opera regularly. I got use to Firefox, I can get use to Opera (which is just as fast, imho that's the most important thing).

DethAdder

on Jun 20, 2008

All the spewing of this browser being faster than that browser is just mainly exaggeration of fanboys. I spent a week with each major browser not long ago in a personal search for one I liked and found there to be no discernible speed difference between any of them. They all take the same amount of time for initial load and then based on your speed, surfing can be almost instantaneous with any of them.

It really came down to compatibility and features. FF is still more bare bones when it comes to built in features, but if you don't mind installing plugins you can still get all the extras offered by Maxthon or Opera(the two most feature rich browsers).

Compatibility across the net is still in IE's court, though thanks to the last two versions everything else sucks about it.

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