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Word-of-mouth among technical experts has spurred Firefox to surpass the 200 millionth download mark, its not-for-profit developers have declared. Posting last week on SpreadFirefox, Mozilla’s Asa Dotzler thanked “tens of thousands” for using “buttons, banners and links” to raise awareness of the alternative web browser. Although achieving the 200 million mark does not represent the actual users, Dotzler said it is “a huge accomplishment” that 200 million attempts have been made to get Firefox onto systems. The Mozilla lead said he wanted the Foundation to find a new system for measuring the number of Firefox users, so all the community would enjoy a ‘better way to measure its success.’ In the UK alone, Firefox currently commands 4.3 per cent of the active Internet population - on the back of a massive yearly growth of 135 per cent, says 2006 data from Nielsen/NetRatings. Alex Burmaster, its internet analyst for Europe, yesterday said that since June this year Mozilla shows a unique audience in the UK of 1.14 million. He refused to be drawn on whether Firefox is still a browser “just for techies,” but said such an elite following wouldn’t inhibit its future growth. “Remember that Google started out as a search engine only really used by the tech community,” Mr Burmaster told Contractor UK. “However, once the techies started recommending it and how good it was it exploded onto the general consumer sector.” The figures from Nielsen/Net Ratings indicate that Firefox, a browser released into the wild less than two years ago, is now more popular worldwide than audio podcasting in the United States. However, estimates in April suggested Firefox will need another ten years of current adoption rates for it to overtake Microsoft’s IE, the dominant web browser. Add-on features for Firefox coupled with less day-to-day glitches in the browser and fewer security issues than experienced with IE are some of the reasons given for ‘going’ alternative. The very fact Firefox is pitched against Internet Explorer in a type of David versus Goliath battle has also been helpful in giving the browser extra momentum. “It is only natural that people will look for an alternative to such a dominant market leader, in this case Microsoft's IE,” Mr Burmaster said. “People sometimes resent the power one organisation wields over their PC habits so will always look for a viable alternative if one presents itself.” Yet the analyst thinks some of the 200 million will be people fed up with being told something like, ‘I know and use something you don’t know about.’ “There is also a cache of using something that the majority aren't,” - particularly when it comes to technology,” he said. Aug 7, 2006 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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