Over 10 million of people download Firefox 3.0 in just two
days. Mozilla’s impressive effort to keep its servers alive it paid off and the
launch of Firefox 3.0 is the most commented subject of the week, and not only
in the tech world.
Firefox was officially born in November 2004, as the project
of Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross. In fact they began working an a new Internet
browser since 2002 and initially Firefox was known as Phoenix. H
owever, due to the trademark
problems with the Phoenix Corporation, the browser was renamed in 2004 as Mozilla
Firebird. The new name did not last long because of the opposition from the
community behind Firebird database and in February 2004 Mozilla’s browser has
become officially known as Mozilla Firefox.
Firefox was born in a period when Internet Explorer was the
undisputed leader of the market and its declared goal from the beginning was to
offer a better, speedier and more secure alternative to Microsoft’s king of the
Internet.
Many have thought that Firefox didn’t stand a chance in face
of Microsoft’ heavyweight browser, but year after year and version after
version, Firefox fought back, bringing new things, new enhancements, proving
the power of the open source.
Of course, in May 2008, right before the released of Firefox
3.0, Mozilla’s browser has reached only 18,1 percent of the browser market, but
let’s not forget that it had build its share by competing against one of the
biggest software company.
Microsoft tried to fight back and the company released in
late 2006 Internet Explorer 7.0, which was a big step compared to the previous
version, but it did manage top bring something new compared to what Firefox
already had to offer.
For example, despite the release of Internet Explorer,
Firefox won PC World 100 Best Products award for two years in a row.
As usual, Firefox 3.0 didn’t make an exception and the new
browser has a lot of improvements to enhance the way the users are browsing the
Web. As Mozilla promised there are over 15,000 enhancements. With 10 million
downloads under its belt, Firefox 3.0 is quickly moving to a share of 20 to 25
percent of the browser market, putting the future Internet Explorer under heavy
pressure.
So far, the only noticeable feature of Internet Explorer 8.0
shown in the first beta seems to be the one called WebSlices. The WebSlices,
the same as RSS, must be created by web masters and will be detected by the
browser. Internet Explorer 8.0 will indicate their presence by displaying a
special button, which allows you to save them in the bar below the Address Bar.
They are basically a sort of combination between an RSS and
a bookmark, that permit you to be informed at all times of what is going on a
certain page or even region of a site.
Still, after seeing Firefox 3.0 (and what it has to offer),
I guess I might say that Internet Explorer 8.0 will need a lot more than Web Slices
to keep its users from migrating to Mozilla’s browser. Of course, a second beta
is underway and maybe Microsoft has some aces up in its sleeve.
But one thing sure: Firefox 3.0 is here to stay and ignoring
it is a fatal mistake.
