One billion reasons not to use Internet Explorer
Posted by andreaitis on July 30, 2009
Image via Wikipedia
On Friday Firefox is expected to hit a huge milestone: one billion browser downloads. One billion! Say it like Dr. Evil for full effect. That doesn’t mean one billion people are using Firefox. Still, it’s a remarkable number when you consider the first release was just five years ago.
Mozilla has a Web site and a Twitter feed where people can keep track of the total. On Thursday afternoon, the feed showed more than 999,180,000 downloads, with about 15 more happening each second.
Mozilla said initially that it expected to hit the billion mark some time over the weekend. An hour later, as the news trickled out and the pace of downloads increased, Mozilla revised its estimate to Friday. An enthusiast Web site with a “Firefox Download Guesstimator” predicts it will reach a billion on Friday at noon GMT.
Let’s put this in perspective. The one billion number includes all Firefox browser versions since 2004. The United States Census Bureau estimates the Earth’s population at 6.7 billion. If we assume people have downloaded 4 versions (with upgrades and all), that means approximately 268 million people are using Firefox.
Here’s the math:
1 billion divided by 4 divided by 6.7 billion = (rounding up) 4% or 268 million
Now, it’s no secret that I harbor some petulant dislike for Internet Explorer. It’s the Nicolas Cage of browsers for me: ever-present but never really delivering what I expect or need and never quite meshing with everything around it. So you’ll understand if I mark this Billion Browser Bash as a special occasion. Hey, I’m sure there will be refreshments and you can bet Firefox will pick up the tabs.
Hah. Refresh-ments. Tabs. Get it? Internet Explorer wouldn’t even attempt that kind of browser humor. Okay, I can see how that might be one point in their favor so i’ll just uninstall my pun plugin now…
de.tech.ting 
busterp said
Hi. I’m new to trueslant. Enjoyed your post and fairly successful attempt at humor. I smiled. Ha.
In my head billion is 1/7th of worlds population (rounded). Factor in 1/4th (for four downloads each) and you get 1/28th. Pretty close to your 4%.
Looking forward to your next writing.
andreaitis said
Update: Firefox did pass the billion mark, as expected. Browser market share looks like this: IE still leads the pack with 60%, Firefox has about 31% and Safari, Chrome and Opera are all less than 5%.
And busterp: “fairly successful,” huh? I’ll take it.
Elie Mystal said
Firefox is one of the few ways I can own a PC and take a stand against Bill “Windows Wasn’t Actually My Idea” Gates.
And it allows me to feel more tech savvy. IE users and the Amish are the only people I can feel that way around.