Half a billion is great but...
Posted March 4th, 2008 by angrykeyboarder
Between what I've downloaded for myself (on numerous operating systems) plus what I've downloaded for others (Firefox evangelist that I am), I've probably responsible for 150 of those myself (and I go back to the late "Phoenix" days).
Half a billion is a great number, but the reality is, they can't track how many first time downloads there have been and that's the number that really matters.
Meaningless Number
I hate to spoil it for the over-exciting Mozilla fans and programmers, but this is a meaningless number.
How could what Ethan wrote not be the first thing that *YOU* thought of when you heard or saw this number? In the past, the upgrade function didn't work for a couple of years (through most of the 1.x version). You were forced to download the entire package again every time a new version was released.
I've downloaded this probably a hundred times. If you're trying to get Vista to work, you may have downloaded it dozens of times after continually reinstalling that OS. (Yes, I'm still using it, but I wouldn't be if MS would give me a refund).
Anyway, Firefox is great, but if you have 500,000,000 total downloads, then you need to divide that by at least 20 to get a more accurate number.
congrats
congrats
Congratulation Firefox
Congratulation Firefox
Firefox fans
Congratulation Firefox...of Heart...!!! Firefox fans Naples
francesco1976
Well, as you said, there's
Well, as you said, there's no realistic way to tell how many first-time downloads there have been, or exactly how many people use Firefox. That's not really the point though. The point is we have a number, it represents how many times Firefox has been downloaded. And it's a very large number. Most people have learned to take this number for what it really is (in news stories I typically see an explanation of what the number means when someone uses it), so there's no problem.
I disagree with saying that 500,000,000 downloads is not a number that matters as well. First, those downloads of yours that are for other people are significant because they actually represent a first-time download, not a re-download, since they are for someone else. So considering that let's assume that your actual repeat downloads, just for yourself, is around 75. Whether you get a new computer, you were hacking Firefox and wanted a clean start, or for any other reason, you downloaded Firefox 75 times. The thing is, you didn't just decide to start using IE when you got a new computer ('cause that would be stupid), you downloaded Firefox again. I see that as a legitimate download. Every time you needed Firefox, for whatever reason, you downloaded it. Those downloads don't represent the number of people using Firefox, they represent in some abstract way people's need for Firefox.
I've been using Firefox since the beginning of 2005 and have downloaded the installer maybe 30-40 times for myself. This is the case with a lot of Fx users. The fact is, when they need it, they go get it again. The important factor here is that people want Firefox. All of these multiple downloads contribute to the overall download count, so this can't in any reliable way represent the number of people using Firefox, but it does give an (abstract) idea of how much Firefox is needed by Internet users around the world.
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Ethan
Good points, totally agree
Good points, totally agree with you Ethan.
Misunderstanding
I have to agree with Ethan. People often misunderstand what the download counter is, but the misunderstanding is on their side since no-one is making any claims that it means anything else than a count of the number of downloads.
There are other metrics to measure market share (through collecting statistics from websites), or the number of daily Firefox users (measured through the auto-update function), etc... these are obviously the more significant metrics from a marketing point of view. But they lack the same, simple and easy appeal that a download counter has. The download counter is a marketing tool in itself as it's easy to add to your site (like I do) and/or blog and talk about.
- Otto - SOS