First-day downloads: Firefox 4 mauls Internet Explorer 9
by Steven Mostyn - Mar 23 2011, 11:15
All the same performance as IE9, but with personality. Image: Mozilla.
Only last week, the smiley suits over at Microsoft were telling anyone who’d listen that Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) had racked up more than 2.3 million downloads within its opening 24 hours of availability.
However, let’s put that corporate self-congratulation into perspective by focusing on Mozilla Corporation’s new Firefox 4 browser, which, according to Mozilla Glow, amassed some 4.7 million first-day downloads (it currently stands at 5.55 million).
That figure is all the more impressive given that Mozilla launched Firefox 4 earlier this week without much bluster or fanfare—something that can’t be said for the build up to IE9’s grand unveiling.
It’s perhaps also worth noting, therefore, that the previous full version of Firefox launched by Mozilla to the sound of open-source trumpets pulled in a whopping eight million downloads within 24 hours of release.
In terms of core improvements crammed into Firefox 4, the latest iteration of the world’s second most installed browser (we stopped short of using ‘popular’) includes optimized JavaScript, improved load times, enhanced security and privacy, and the introduction of WebM video and WebGL 3D graphics.
According to a January report into browser market share, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer accounts for 41.56 percent of total usage, while Mozilla’s Firefox holds a 28.71 share, and Google’s surging Chrome rounds out the top three with 11.75 percent.
The Firefox 4 browser can be downloaded directly from Mozilla Corp. by clicking this link.
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