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Firefox Breaks 8 Million, Gets Into Guinness
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Thu Jul 03, 2008 10:00 AM
from the right-next-to-the-worlds-fattest-motercycle-twins dept.
from the right-next-to-the-worlds-fattest-motercycle-twins dept.
Punkster812 writes "Mozilla has gotten the results back from the Guinness World Records and the official number that will be set as the record is 8,002,530 downloads. The day started out a little rough for them, with server troubles during the initial launch, but once they got everything going, they were able to transfer 62,419,734 MB in 24 hours.
You can get more information, including a breakdown of how many downloads each country did from around the world, by visiting spreadfirefox.com.
Congratulations, Mozilla, on the new record."
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Obligatory UserFriendly comic (Score:5, Funny)
Speaking of obligatory webcomic references (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Arbitrary but impressive (Score:5, Insightful)
It appears that this is the first recorded record by Guinness Book, so it's kind of arbitrary, however shuttling 62TB of data is pretty impressive. Now that the gauntlet has been thrown down, it'll be interesting to see if other software companies will try to compete. If nothing else, this gave Firefox some much-needed press.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Theres a few references to Adobe Flash being downloaded 10 million times on an average tuesday.
Its a gold medal when you are the only one competing.
Congrats on breaking the non-existent record (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Congrats on breaking the non-existent record (Score:5, Funny)
Protip: Africa is not a country.
Parent
Re:Congrats on breaking the non-existent record (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Congrats on breaking the non-existent record (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't think the map below the entry charts just the downloads on download day, given that simply adding Canada (at 790,624 actually comprising more per capita than the US) puts it far over their record count.
Parent
Re:Congrats on breaking the non-existent record (Score:4, Insightful)
Some random (a bit biased) selection of countries with downloads per capita (x1000). Data comes from the Spread Firefox webpage [spreadfirefox.com] and population from wikipedia [wikipedia.org]
Canada 23.74
US 25.40
Germany 30.00
UK 19.79
France 15.19
Spain 17.90
Luxembourg 36.72
Now, this tells me more than just downloads per country. Now Luxembourg looks better
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Per capita means nothing when less than 10% of a country has access to high-speed internet.
What I'd really like to see is how many people downloaded the Windows version, compared to the installed Windows base, per country.
Re:Congrats on breaking the non-existent record (Score:4, Informative)
2 Iceland 49.5
3 Luxembourg 38.02
4 Switzerland 37.52
5 Norway 36.37
6 Slovenia 35.57
7 Finland 33.96
8 Faeroe 33.84
9 Estonia 33.67
10 Liechtenstein 31.92
11 Germany 30.77
12 Singapore 29.43
13 Netherlands 27.7
14 Sweden 27.55
15 Austria 27.19
16 Denmark 26.11
17 USA 25.99
18 Hong Kong 25.04
19 Canada 24.43
20 Ireland 23.16
21 Hungary 22.99
22 Bulgaria 22.46
23 Australia 22.19
24 Poland 21.54
25 Bermuda 20.71
26 Belgium 20.53
27 UK 20.32
28 Latvia 19.66
29 Israel 19.58
30 New Zealand 19.19
31 Spain 18.33
32 Czech 18.11
33 Malta 17.87
34 Antigua & Barbuda 17.86
35 Romania 15.78
36 Andorra 15.69
37 France 15.67
38 Barbados 15.31
39 Qatar 15.17
40 Slovakia 15.05
41 Aruba 14.58
42 Greece 13.77
43 Anguilla 13.54
44 Maldives 13.35
45 Croatia 13.31
46 Italy 13.16
47 Chile 12.8
48 Portugal 12.68
49 Cyprus 12.1
50 Taiwan 11.3
51 Japan 10.77
52 UAE 10.52
53
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Congrats on breaking the non-existent record (Score:5, Informative)
No, 7.7m is the current figure. The US downloaded 2.5m [amiworks.co.in] of the 8m on Download Day.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
"Also, 7.7 million of the total came from the US. It would be great to see a larger overseas distribution, especially considering the pledges that were signed in places like Africa.
"
Indeed, there were a few hundred pledges from North-Korea. Anyone who knows anything about the state of the NK internet knows that it is a closed circuit.
Re: (Score:2)
Also, 7.7 million of the total came from the US.
No. 7.7 million of some other total came from the US. Adding up the numbers on the map gets a much higher result than the 8.0 million total mentioned, so the fraction of those that came from the US is likely quite a bit lower than 7.7 million.
Good work! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Good work! (Score:4, Interesting)
It has been several years since there was a justifiable, logical reason to stick with Internet Explorer (this isn't flamebait, oh holy Microsoft defenders, but the truth is that Microsoft just stopped caring about the browser market, and innovation dried up. IE 7 was a groaner, and IE 8 thus far is shaping up to be more of the same), so aside from pushing Firefox into people's awareness via gimmicks like this Guinness Record, it isn't like they just need to add that one last feature for it to be compelling.
If people are still using Internet Explorer, it can only be explained as ignorance or complacency.
While I hate to go there, at this point I think we need to see some apps that require Firefox (which isn't so onerous. Unlike demanding Internet Explorer, which intrinsically also demands Windows, usually at a contemporary version, Firefox runs on just about everything, and installing it doesn't change or screw with a properly running system). Offline app support, the canvas element, alongside numerous other web app bits and pieces, it really is the platform that Marc Andreesson [yafla.com] was promising a decade+ prematurely.
Parent
Thanks for the arrogance (Score:5, Insightful)
If people are still using Internet Explorer, it can only be explained as ignorance or complacency.
Or personal preference. I downloaded Firefox about a year ago, tried it alongside IE for several weeks, determined there were parts I liked, parts I didn't, and ultimately made the decision that I preferred IE. It's nice to have a choice, and I have made my pick. Others picked something else, whether it be Firefox, Opera, or something entirely different. Fine. Good for them. I don't care because I have my browsing experience the way I want it and that's all I really care about.
If Firefox works for you, hurrah. I'm not so smug and condescending that I'm going to start calling you names. Just let me have what I prefer and we're all happy. I don't care if you think I made a poor or even stupid decision, in much the same way as I don't care if a Honda driver thinks I shouldn't be driving a Toyota. Isn't that the whole point: for people to have choices and be able to choose what they prefer?
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I certainly didn't intend any holy war (though I got a chuckle out of the other poster calling me an "OSS blowhard": I'm the guy that has been called a Microsoft shill / astroturfer so many times on here that I started wearing it as a badge. I suppose zealots on either side attempt to strengthen their argument by exaggerating the positions they disagree with)
Just thing of all... (Score:2, Funny)
North Korea (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:North Korea (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Iran vs Saudi Arabia (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Funny... nobody from North Korea downloaded Firefox 3.
You mean THAT [globalsecurity.org] country? Yeah, really, how surprising. Last time I saw them on TV, they hardly had any teeth, let alone electricity.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:North Korea (Score:5, Funny)
Minesweeper.
Parent
Windows Update? (Score:2, Interesting)
I wonder how downloads Windows Update gets every patch Tuesday? Automated downloads, but downloads none the less.
Obligitory terrible joke... (Score:5, Funny)
Its amazing that over 300k people downloaded firefox from russia, despite the fact that in soviet russia, firefox downloads you. /groan
Re:Obligitory terrible joke... (Score:5, Funny)
You forgot to click on "Other Stats" on the downloads per country page:
People downloaded by Firefox:
United States..... 0
Canada............ 0
France............ 0
Spain............. 0
Soviet Russia..... 8,548,674
Parent
Download Stats (Score:2)
(Downloads)
China? 72,154
South Korea? 148,006
North Korea? 0
Re: (Score:2)
What I found funny was that I got an e-mail in my inbox thanking me for my participation in the download day but the name was already filled out for me [spreadfirefox.com].
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
It is not a sign of success, really. (Score:5, Interesting)
Imagine what preloading FireFox could do to the brand-differentiation of Dell or HP. Why do they not try this obvious move but insist on fighting on price? What really is in the undisclosed agreements between the big name PC vendors and MSFT? What it would take for them to break out?
Just the facts... (Score:2)
The problem is that most (if not all) OEMs are stricly business. There has been no measurable outcry from their customers (who can download it anyway), and Microsoft pays them to include IE on the desktop.
So, how about Google - I mean Mozilla - pay OEMs too? That's the only way you'll see it pre-installed.
I would call it a sucess.. (Score:3, Insightful)
That the actual end users explicitly seek out a piece of software, rather than settle for a defacto standard. Having users because they are too lazy to replace what the OEM gave them is, in my opinion, not as impressive.
As to the OEMs, there is the possibility of a kickback from MS from using IE exclusively, just like other 'free software', but I would think that would perhaps be too brazen considering the whole anti-trust thing.
Another possibility is a deep seated fear of distributing open-source software
^__^ (Score:3, Insightful)
Someone make a map like that but base it on percentage of population.
Are they counting source-code downloads too? (Score:3, Funny)
Pre-built binaries are for wussies — real women and men build from source [freshports.org].
Holy shit! (Score:3, Funny)
Russia's huge!
french guiana in need of stone (Score:3, Funny)
Brilliance (Score:3, Interesting)
And it is not just that the Firefox programmers are brilliant and creative.
In its own way one should acknowledge the strategic brilliance of the way the record was planned. By being US centric (as in, failing to recognise that there is something like human beings abroad), the 24 hour period was set to start such that people in countries like NZ, AU and JP were frustrated in not seeing the new version when the due date arrived, (or downloaded old stuff, ha ha). For those who waited, they were joined by hoards of Europeans and Brits (I'm sure they appreciate this gesture) who had to wait until the evening before they could join the Americans to swamp the servers. Those Europeans who gave up before local 12 PM and didn't realise that they could still help to set the record by downloading it in the morning, also failed to add to the number of copies downloaded. So, in short, the Mozilla organisation has made it easy for themselves to beat their own record, provided they are brilliant enough to recognise the rude brilliance of the first record attempt.
Bert
Stats by countries only? (Score:3, Insightful)
I would've liked to see stats per operating system too.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I doubt exactly, 8,002,530 people installed it and are using it. You know there were plenty of anti-microsoft nerds who downloaded it 50 times each.
We might as well just stick to bandwidth measurements, in which case YouTube would smash the above record.
I'm happy FF 3.0 is out and all, but I don't really see the big deal in this number.
Re:lame (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Downloading updates and downloading a full product is two different things. You're not Getting Internet Explorer when you download updates. You're only downloading updates to something you already have. You *are* getting Firefox, then you download Firefox 3.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
"Ahh, I see" said the blind man.
Re: (Score:2)