Surging open-source Web browser Mozilla Firefox 1.0 has garnered more than 20 million downloads in just 76 days, reaching that milestone more quickly than expected, The Mozilla Foundation reported over the weekend. Firefox has snagged almost 5 percent of the Web browser market from market leader Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), creating an increasingly serious problem for Microsoft. Until last year, IE had always gained market share.
According to Firefox Maintainer Asa Dotzler, Firefox has maintained a steady rate of downloads after spiking in November, shortly after the 1.0 release. Since then, Firefox has averaged between 210,000 and 270,000 downloads a week.
Looking forward, The Mozilla Foundation is planning a March 2005 release of Firefox 1.1, which the organization says will be a minor upgrade without major new features. One new feature that's come to light is a reworking of the Preferences dialog box that simplifies the presentation of large amounts of configuration information.
