AfterDawn: Tech news

Firefox sets record for most single-day software downloads

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 28 Mar 2011 1:33 User comments (9)

Firefox sets record for most single-day software downloads In its first 24 hours, Firefox 4 was downloaded 7.1 million times, followed by a second day boost of 8.75 million, blowing away the previous Guinness World Record record for single-day software downloads.
The previous record was held by Firefox 3.0, which saw 8.1 million downloads in one-day in 2008.

After a year of development, 12 betas and two RCs, Firefox 4 launched to much fanfare last week.

The new record will be unofficial because there were no Guinness representatives on-site this time around to independently audit the number.

Mozilla also crushed Internet Explorer 9's download numbers, with Microsoft reporting 2.3 million downloads for the first 24 hours. That number may be deceiving, however, as many Internet Explorer users are in corporate environments where updates are controlled by the IT team and are normally rolled out slowly. An overwhelming majority of Firefox downloaders are personal and "power" users, not corporate, says CW.

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9 user comments

128.3.2011 04:38

I downloaded the new Firefox and it's crap for what I wanted. Same with Chrome.
I will say they are both faster, but really the main new stuff is the stores for apps and their own advertising. It's very annoying.
I used to have firefox as my default and google would come up for searches Now they have Bing (the most annoying search engine in creation)What a nightmare.
The new Firefox gives me a stupid blank page that I have to type in keywords to get gmail or google -what the hell And many pages I go to completely closes all tabs and I end up on a strange page with no back arrow so I am forced to start over again.
This is Firefox
Chrome is a worse mess and hard to use- but then I have only been on internet daily for about 20 years so what do I know?

228.3.2011 04:46

Hated the removal of the status bar and placing tabs on top of the URL bar and a few other things, but tweaked the setting and installed an add-on to restore the status bar and all's well on all my computers.

Now need to see if someone builds a PPC version like was possible w/ some of the betas!

328.3.2011 04:56

Originally posted by grumpygramma:
I downloaded the new Firefox and it's crap for what I wanted. Same with Chrome.
I will say they are both faster, but really the main new stuff is the stores for apps and their own advertising. It's very annoying.
I used to have firefox as my default and google would come up for searches Now they have Bing (the most annoying search engine in creation)What a nightmare.
The new Firefox gives me a stupid blank page that I have to type in keywords to get gmail or google -what the hell And many pages I go to completely closes all tabs and I end up on a strange page with no back arrow so I am forced to start over again.
This is Firefox
Chrome is a worse mess and hard to use- but then I have only been on internet daily for about 20 years so what do I know?
All of the problems you talk about are easily changed in the preferences menu. It seems like someone who has been online daily for 20 years would have an idea of how to change basic settings in a browser.

428.3.2011 08:12

Originally posted by grumpygramma:
I downloaded the new Firefox and it's crap for what I wanted. Same with Chrome.
I will say they are both faster, but really the main new stuff is the stores for apps and their own advertising. It's very annoying.
I used to have firefox as my default and google would come up for searches Now they have Bing (the most annoying search engine in creation)What a nightmare.
The new Firefox gives me a stupid blank page that I have to type in keywords to get gmail or google -what the hell And many pages I go to completely closes all tabs and I end up on a strange page with no back arrow so I am forced to start over again.
This is Firefox
Chrome is a worse mess and hard to use- but then I have only been on internet daily for about 20 years so what do I know?
GrumpyGramma needs to read the docs. It's tough for we old people to except the slightest bit of change. Check the option menu, you will find old friends there.
I think FF4 rocks.
Jeff
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 28 Mar 2011 @ 8:14

528.3.2011 09:19

Can't get weatherchannel and Youtube Firefox 4 plug-ins installed so far.
Did Anyone try it out ?

Taulisa

628.3.2011 09:35

Originally posted by TAULISA:
Can't get weatherchannel and Youtube Firefox 4 plug-ins installed so far.
Did Anyone try it out ?

Taulisa
I use Weather Watcher Live.
No problem with YouTube
Adblock + has a new update for v.4.
Jeff

728.3.2011 10:05

Originally posted by grumpygramma:
I downloaded the new Firefox and it's crap for what I wanted. Same with Chrome.
I will say they are both faster, but really the main new stuff is the stores for apps and their own advertising. It's very annoying.
I used to have firefox as my default and google would come up for searches Now they have Bing (the most annoying search engine in creation)What a nightmare.
The new Firefox gives me a stupid blank page that I have to type in keywords to get gmail or google -what the hell And many pages I go to completely closes all tabs and I end up on a strange page with no back arrow so I am forced to start over again.
This is Firefox
Chrome is a worse mess and hard to use- but then I have only been on internet daily for about 20 years so what do I know?
goto about:config (type this into the browser and click you'll be careful)

now type in keyword in filter to get to the option we want to change.....next edit the field
keyword.URL and enter this http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=

this will revert firefox to google search when in the address bar like it was in FF3

Enjoy ;)

828.3.2011 11:01

I've been using the Beta since the 3rd installment, and I have to say, I enjoy all the features that they launched since the RC. With some mild tweaking here and there, I have made the browser the way I want it to be.

930.3.2011 05:18

So far, I'm liking FF4. My one true gripe is the removal of the progress bar. I had become accustomed to the look of the Fission extension (ff) and Native-looking progress meter for Fission extension (stylish). Then again. I disliked that FF 3 didn't get along with the Tab extension. But if I learned to live without "Tab" I suppose learning to live without a progress bar shouldn't be too difficult.

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