Firefox 3 already rules the roost

Friday, June 27th, 2008

The full version of Firefox 3 has been available for all of 10 days now, and already it’s the most popular version of the browser being used to visit our website. I know Mozilla had a huge publicity drive to encourage people to download on day one and that Firefox is pretty active at encouraging people to upgrade to the latest version, but even still, the rapid take up of the new browser is impressive.

Here’s the breakdown of Firefox browser versions visiting www.pcpro.co.uk this week:

1. Firefox 3.0 – 55.13%
2. Firefox 2.0.0.14 – 39.27%
3. Firefox 2.0.0.11 – 0.96%

And for comparison, here’s the breakdown for Internet Explorer:

1. Internet Explorer 7 – 68.86%
2. Internet Explorer 6 – 30.97%
3. Internet Explorer 8 – 0.09%

So Microsoft still has three out of ten people running an old version of its browser more than 18 months after Internet Explorer 7 launched, while Firefox has converted more than half of its users to the latest version in just over a week.  That should set a few alarm bells ringing in Redmond…

The big question, reader David Wright asks on comments below, is what has Firefox 3 done to its overall market share with PC Pro readers? Here’s the answer:

1. Internet Explorer – 53.74%

2. Firefox – 39.40%

3. Safari – 3.83%

4. Opera – 2.15%

Watch out Microsoft. The Fox is gaining fast.

Check out next month’s PC Pro – on sale 17 July – for our Power User’s Guide to Firefox 3.

Microsoft celebrates with Mozilla

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

This is a piece of class. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team has sent the Firefox pack a congratulatory cake to celebrate the launch of Firefox 3. Say what you want about their browser and Microsoft as a whole but it’s a grand gesture between two extremely fierce rivals.

It’s not the first time they’ve done it, either. The Microsoft team sent Mozilla a cake after the Firefox 2 launch [pictured], though it has to be said the new one is nicer – follow this link to go and see the Firefox 3 celebration cake.

Firefox 3: Here be dragons!

Friday, May 30th, 2008

Whereas Windows’ constant “are you sure?”/”are you really sure?”/”I really don’t think you should do that, Dave” warning messages could push the Dalai Lama over the edge, it’s nice to see the Firefox developers have a sense of humour.

Type about:config into the address bar of Firefox 3 to start tweaking with your browser’s most delicate settings, and you’ll be greeted with the following message:

Do you think the “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button is a subtle dig at anyone, per chance?