Microsoft Skeptical of Firefox's 1 Billion Downloads

[kingnoobe]

1 billion internet users != 1 billion computers.. Enough said..

Myself o around 12 times.

 

[methal]

I've DLed it hundreds of times for multiple machines. IE is a shit pile of burning goat crap. I would choose everything over it.

 

[lashton]

I dont loike firefox its too slow on my computer IE is soooo much faster, and talk about proxy settings they need to fix that on firefox and lets not talk about memory leaks they still have not fixed this 20 odd version later, talk about slack

 

[Guest]

Have you heard Apple now has over a billion downloads of iTunes. Steve announced "..it wasn't all that hard. We have been releasing updates almost daily for years now and hope to hit a trillion by the end of 2010."

 

[jojesa]

I find that that fact believeable, it could be even higher.
I usually get one download of Firefox for 1,200 computers and some other people that manage large quantity of systems (companies, universities, colleges, labs, etc) do the same.

 

[win7man]

well, microsoft is wrong, they have no reason to dought it, the reason as to y its possible for firefox to get that, and likely IE to have less is, no one downloads IE, it comes with the computer, most ppl done care and update it or anything, were the teky's that do dam well no IE is no good and download firefox, plus that 1 billion or so downloads includes all version of firefox (there r a lot more versions than IE or so i would think) that and its also repeated downloads, for different users multiple times and that many ppl have more than one computer, so it all adds up a lot, plus, dosen't every non KDE link distro come with firefox as the default browser? so in the end, that will add up to more than 1 billion

 

[coolvoodoo]

Firefox FTW

 

[azxcvbnm321]

I use firefox and have downloaded it multiple times as I've upgraded OS and computer systems.

What is worrisome for Firefox is the new IE. Is the new IE better than firefox? I think Micorsoft has come a long way and IE is finally competitive, Firefox is not obviously the best out of the two anymore. This reminds me of the Netscape battle where Netscape was way better until Microsoft came out with a new IE version (5? Forgot) that was better than Netscape. That was the end of Netscape, they couldn't match the resources of Microsoft.

One thing Microsoft does well, and it's shown this repeatedly, is copy other people's ideas and make it marginally better in terms of interface, looks, or ease of use. Microsoft hardly ever invents or comes up with a new idea, but they're great at modifying other people's ideas to make them better. IE copied all of Firefox's great ideas, and you can only come up with so many great ideas, it's hard to keep on inventing. Is this the end of Firefox?

 

[ebattleon]

Well i have lost count of how many time i have down loaded Firefox so i know i contributed tho the one billion served thing

 

[geoffs]

I believe it's believable, that it's impressive, and that it's not a particularly useful number.

1. Believable. I have generally downloaded each security update to Firefox within a week (usually 1-3 days) of it's release. I've given the more major updates a little more time, but generally started using them within a couple months of their release. I use Windows and Mac OS, so I've downloaded almost every version at least 2x for my personal use. In this case, the number of downloads is many times the number of users.

2. Impressive. 1B downloads it a lot, I don't care what product you're talking about. Even though it doesn't tell you the actual number of users, it does tell you that it's popular. Also, as others noted, I download once and install it on multiple systems. I'm a computer networking consultant, and at many of my clients, we've installed Firefox without automatic updates. After we've tested it, I'll put one copy on the server (sometimes downloaded from Mozilla, other times from my flash drive using the download I did for myself or another client) and push that update to all the machines. In those instances, the number of users may far exceed the number of downloads, just the opposite of #1. Anyway you look at it, it's popular, and there are a LOT of users.

3. Not particularly useful number. See #1 and #2. All you can assume from 1B downloads and the # of versions releases is that the number of users is likely to be > 50M. How much > 50M is not anything you can predict from those numbers. Data from other sources (e.g. percentage of browser market at various web sites) suggests the number of Firefox users is hundreds of millions.

Personally, I think IE is wonderful, for Windows Update only. 😉

On a more serious note, if a non-Microsoft site requires IE, I generally won't use that site. I'll make an exception when it's something I must have (e.g. client needs it, etc.), but if it's not a necessity, I won't use IE and I won't support sites or products that require (or any other specific browser for that matter, the web is supposed to be standards based).

 

[steiner666]

downloading firefox is one of the very first things i do on either my personal pcs, work pcs, or pcs that i repair for customers at work. I probably download it 50+ times a year.

and yeah, it sounds like M$ thinks mozilla is claiming thats how many ppl are using their browser... how stupid.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

Dunno if it's correct, and it really doesn't matter. Those who want to use firefoxx will download it, and the majority that is left won't. Who cares how many downloads they have? It doesn't improve their software (or make it worse for that matter)

 

[geoffs]

This just in, Microsoft is skeptical of any news or statistics that didn't originate from MS's PR department or a study that MS didn't sponsor.