Five years after being introduced to the Internet, Mozilla's popular open-source
Web browser Firefox has reached 1 billion downloads. But even though
Firefox has added another digit to its tally, the open-source browser is still facing an uphill battle against Microsoft's stalwart Internet Explorer.
While tallying downloads is an accomplishment for Mozilla's Firefox, the question of market share still remains. The open-source product has been competing against Microsoft's Internet Explorer since its inception and continues to play David to Internet Explorer's Goliath.
According to market share numbers from Stat Counter, Mozilla is catching up with Internet Explorer but still faces a long road before it surpasses Microsoft's browser.
Stat Counter reports that from July 1, 2008, to Aug. 1, 2009, Internet Explorer remained on top of the Web browser market share heap with 63.5 percent. Mozilla's Firefox is the closest to challenging Redmond's crown with 28.29 percent of the market.
Rounding out the top five Web browsers are Opera at 2.93 percent, Safari at 2.75 percent and Chrome at 1.89 percent.
The fascination with Firefox's download number was kicked into high gear in June 2008 when Mozilla embarked on its Download Day marketing blitz. The goal was to set a Guinness World Record for the most digital downloads of a piece of software in 24 hours. On Download Day, June 17, Firefox's plan was derailed by server crashes caused by the overwhelming number of download requests. Mozilla was able to repair the problems and get its servers back on track. And by June 26, Mozilla, through SpreadFirefox.com, reported that its Web browser had been downloaded 20 million times.
Guinness on July 2 confirmed that Mozilla had obtained the world record for largest number of software downloads in 24 hours, with the open-source Web browser being downloaded more than 8 million times on June 17.
