Happy birthday: Mozilla's Firefox web browser turns nine today

Shawn Knight

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happy firefox mozilla happy birthday web browser

Mozilla’s Firefox web browser is celebrating its ninth birthday today. Version 1.0 debuted way back on November 9, 2004, as a standalone browser alternative to the bloated Mozilla Suite which consisted of Navigator (web browser), Communicator (Mozilla mail and newsgroups), a web page creator (Mozilla Composer), an IRC client (ChatZilla) and an address book.

Mozilla announced plans to shift their focus from the Mozilla Suite to Firefox and Thunderbird in April 2003 but it wasn’t smooth sailing from the get-go. The browser project was originally known as Phoenix but was forced to change its name to Firebird due to trademark disputes with Phoenix Technologies. Of course, Firebird wasn’t a popular selection either as it drew criticism from the Firebird free database software project.

Finally, in February 2004, the foundation decided on the name Mozilla Firefox, or more commonly referred to simply as Firefox. Following its debut later that year, Firefox soon became a serious competitor to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as it garnered 100 million downloads in its first year. By 2009, the browser had been downloaded over a billion times.

At present, Firefox is the second or third most popular browser in the world depending on which stats you follow. For example, social analytics firm Shareaholic recently proclaimed Google Chrome as the top web browser in the world at 34.68 percent market share with Firefox coming in second place at 16.60 percent. StatCounter, meanwhile, ranks Internet Explorer ahead of Firefox by nearly 10 percent.

What is your web browser of choice these days?

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Happy birthday Firefox, may you have many more. Although I used it for a couple of months I found something better, it's called Chrome.
 
I've tried to use Chrome and I just don't get it. Virtually no customization options, flaky add-ons and Google spying baked right in. Yes, FF does have Google Analytics hard-coded into it but there are ways around that :) I'll stick with FF, which does it all and adapts to the user rather than making the user adapt to Google. That having been said, I'm getting pretty tired of the Mozilla team slavishly copying Chrome's look and feel over the last year or two. The feedback is overwhelmingly negative but, like Microsoft, they persist in trying to copycat without seeming like their doing it. News flash, Mozilla: if your browser was included with *every piece of software in existence* like Chrome is you'd probably get a lot more new installs.
 
I've tried to use Chrome and I just don't get it. Virtually no customization options, flaky add-ons and Google spying baked right in. Yes, FF does have Google Analytics hard-coded into it but there are ways around that :) I'll stick with FF, which does it all and adapts to the user rather than making the user adapt to Google. That having been said, I'm getting pretty tired of the Mozilla team slavishly copying Chrome's look and feel over the last year or two. The feedback is overwhelmingly negative but, like Microsoft, they persist in trying to copycat without seeming like their doing it. News flash, Mozilla: if your browser was included with *every piece of software in existence* like Chrome is you'd probably get a lot more new installs.

It's all down to personal preference. I started using Chrome from it's inception and never seriously thought about switching from it although I did try FF for a couple of days a few of months back but I never came to terms with it so it got ditched.
I'll take IE 11 for a burn one of these days seeing I have it installed and not much I can do about it's presence.
 
I too used Google Chrome at its beginning & loved it, but IMHO nothing is better than Firefox.
But then again, it all comes down to the user & their knowledge of how to "tweak" a browser.
I've uninstalled & reinstalled GC more times than I care to remember.
Happy Birthday Firefox
 
I'm pretty sure that the browser is older than 9
It was called Mozilla Phoenix first and Mozilla Firebird later

Just the name firefox has 9 years old
 
Firefox has to be the one. At least you can encrypt any passwords you save - unlike Chrome. IE while much improved is still bloat extensive.
 
I have used Firefox for at least 4 years now. I have tried Chrome and I just don't care for it. Chrome is great for the average web browser but Firefox is for that more advanced user. I enjoy all my addons for Firefox and like all the options it gives me access to. Firefox is doing a fantastic job!
 
Nice mozilla firefox birthday.
netscape is gone, opera is now a google chrome clone with a slightly different makeup, and ie11 for windows 7 is now released.
and the firefox stuff toy pictured in the article does not bode well for mozilla since fat = bloated.;)
 
Firefox supports proper add-ons that make the browser more secure than Chrome. However if speed is your prior, at least go for Chromium (not Chrome). Chromium is Open Source and what Chrome is based off of, but it doesn't include Google's spyware.

Oh and Happy Birthday Firefox!
 
Firefox remains the last and only browser that has not earned the Big Brother Seal of Approval. Its purpose is to serve rather than enslave. Microsoft and, especially, Google are foaming over who ultimately will win those coveted totalitarian-of-the-future contracts and awards, while Firefox, hopefully, will trudge along as the browser for those who value the concepts of freedom and free choice.
 
Firefox supports proper add-ons that make the browser more secure than Chrome. However if speed is your prior, at least go for Chromium (not Chrome). Chromium is Open Source and what Chrome is based off of, but it doesn't include Google's spyware.

Oh and Happy Birthday Firefox!
Why does Chrimium come in a zipped folder? Sorry, I mis spelled it, Chromium.
 
Best browser there is, have been using it since 1.0 and will continue to do so, happy birthday Firefox!
 
I think most poeple stick with the first browser other than internet explorer they start using.

In my case firefox.
Not that I mind chrome. have to use it every now and then.
 
@ learninmypc : That way it is portable. If you want it "installed", copy it to your program files folder and make a shortcut to the executable.
 
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