/// Source Yahoo! News: FULL ARTICLE HERE
Firefox Passes 10 Million Mark - Eyes 10%
[font=arial][size=-1] Open-source browser Firefox has been downloaded over 10 million times since its November release, according to the Mozilla Foundation. [/size][/font]
[font=arial][size=-1] Mozilla’s Web site notes that it took the group 10 days to reach 2 million downloads of the Firefox preview release. The current milestone surpasses that achievement by quintupling the download number in only 32 days.[/size][/font]
[font=arial][size=-1] Mozilla has said that its goal is to gain 10 percent of the market over the next year, a figure that seems attainable to many, given the browser’s speedy adoption rate. [/size][/font]
[font=arial][size=-1] Security Force [/size][/font]
[font=arial][size=-1] Many analysts and industry observers point to security problems in Internet Explorer to explain Firefox’s popularity. During the past few months, almost two dozen holes have been found in Microsoft’s (Nasdaq: MSFT - [url=“http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/biz/nf/tc_nf/storytext/29039/13702865/*http://biz.yahoo.com/n/m/msft.html”]news) browser. [/size][/font]
[font=arial][size=-1] Although security firm Secunia has warned that every browser has flaws, there is still a widespread perception that IE is the most insecure. [/size][/font]
[font=arial][size=-1] This belief is bolstered by efforts like that seen at Pennsylvania State University, which officially advised students to discontinue using IE and switch to Firefox or Safari. [/size][/font]
[font=arial][size=-1] Taking on Redmond [/size][/font]
[font=arial][size=-1] IE, which has dominated the market for some time, definitely is slipping in its market share, said Niels Brinkman, co-founder of Dutch market research firm OneStat.com. [/size][/font]
[font=arial][size=-1] The firm reported that IE had fallen to 88.9 percent in the third week of November, down from 93.9 in May. [/size][/font]
[font=arial][size=-1] “We’ve seen IE losing market share for some time,” he told NewsFactor. “It started the decline at the beginning of the year and steadily decreased.” [/size][/font]
[font=arial][size=-1] The trend is likely to continue, Brinkman said. “There’s every indication that IE will keep falling in the ranks, especially with the success of Firefox.” [/size][/font]
[font=arial][size=-1] Microsoft has disputed these numbers, according to news reports, because OneStat.com does not track corporate use. [/size][/font]
[font=arial][size=-1] Open Sesame [/size][/font]
[font=arial][size=-1] With the success of Firefox, it is possible that the Mozilla Foundation’s other offerings will also see more interest. [/size][/font]
[font=arial][size=-1] Specifically, it could get a boost for Thunderbird 1.0, an e-mail client released in the first week of December and designed as a companion to Firefox. [/size][/font]
[font=arial][size=-1] The two releases should give more exposure to the Mozilla development platform, and highlight the group’s ability to deliver on a full range of Internet applications, Thunderbird’s lead engineer, Scott MacGregor, told NewsFactor in an interview after Thunderbird’s release. [/size][/font]
[font=arial][size=-1] “Driving choice and innovation is a constant focus for us,” he remarked.
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[font=arial][size=-1]Just Love Firefox 
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