Firefox Celebrates 100 Million Downloads in Space
Mozilla let out the big news yesterday that the Firefox browser has been downloaded by 100 million different web users. Firefox is approaching its 1st Anniversary out of beta (feels like yesterday) and will be celebrating the downloads and birthday with a big 21st century bash into the atmosphere.
NASA is sending the Firefox up to the reaches of outerspace on Saturday in a symbolic mission to let the world know that Firefox is here to stay. The Oregon State Linux Users Group, Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium, and the OSU Open Source Lab teamed up to launch “Firefox One”, a balloon satellite capable of carrying a 14lb payload to 100,000ft in elevation. The Firefox payload will be a large Firefox banner, CD, and camera to take photos of Firefox at the edge of space.
Firefox, which started to grow in popularity due to fears of safety holes in Microsoft IE, attributes its ongoing growth to the community of users which have helped to grow the browser’s distribution.
Asa Dotzler of the Spread Firefox community explained, “Our community of more than 100,000 Firefox developers, testers, and grassroots marketers, is rejuvenating Web browsing, which is why millions of new users make the jump to Firefox every week. Spread Firefox members look forward to the next 100 million downloads as they mobilize for the exciting new release of Firefox 1.5.”
