Firefox Sets the Record - It's Official!

It's finally official, Mozilla Firefox 3 now holds the Guinness World Record as the most downloaded software in 24 hours. Firefox 3 was launched on June 17 and Firefox fans from all over the world pledged to download the browser on that day, to help set the world record. On that day, a staggering 8,002,530 people downloaded their copies of the software! It took about two weeks for the guys at Guinness to verify and confirm the result, and the day before yesterday I got an email from Firefox informing me that the record is now official. Here's what the Download Day 2008 page says now: "Thanks to the support of the always amazing Mozilla community, we now hold a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. From 18:16 UTC on June 17, 2008 to 18:16 UTC on June 18, 2008, 8,002,530 people downloaded Firefox 3 and are now enjoying a safer, smarter and better Web." I'm glad that I'm a part of the record myself, as I had also downloaded my copy on the download day. Mozilla is also giving out certificates for supporting them in this effort. I got mine too. Here's a snapshot.

As for the software itself, one might ask, is it really up to the hype? My answer: OH HELL YEAH!. The already awesome browser just got better. There are quite a few striking new features in the new version. But the most brilliant work was done to the address bar. Start typing there and the browser constantly matches what you've typed with your browsing history and bookmarks. It doesn't only match it with URLs, but also page titles. Doesn't sound like much, but start using it and you will soon find out why the address bar has been dubbed as the 'Awesome Bar'. There are other useful upgrades as well. Read PC World's Review to learn more. Those of you who are already a Firefox fan will love the new version. For those unfortunate internet users who haven't tried Firefox yet, start now, and soon it'll be difficult even to remember the name of ..... what was that browser's name........ oh right....... Internet Exploring...... or something like that. Bottom line: FIREFOX RULES!