sfx team's blog

Four Hundred Million Firefox Downloads

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 12:38:02 -0700

On November 9th, 2004, you all started a movement. Spread Firefox, supported by tens of thousands of contributors, took just 99 days to deliver 25 million downloads of Firefox to a world of people desperate for a better Web -- a Web that didn't overwhelm them with pop-ups, a Web that didn't infect their systems with viruses and spyware, a Web that was fun again, simply put, a Web that worked.

In less than six months, you all doubled that number to 50 million downloads, turned open source into a household word and reasserted the supremacy of choice and simplicity.

It took the Spread Firefox global community of activists only one year to reach the 100 million downloads mark and to let the world know that innovation was alive again on the Web.

And just one year ago you all helped to double that number again, to 200 million downloads. More than 50,000 of you, with Spread Firefox buttons and banners, not only helped Firefox achieve an amazing download milestone, but you all helped to make Firefox one of the world's most recognized and respected brands.

Today, you all have done it once again. With your amazing efforts, Firefox has reached 400 million downloads and demonstrated that not even the world's most powerful companies can keep people from a better, safer, and faster Web experience. You all, the grass roots and the heart of the Firefox movement, have helped hundreds of millions of people find that better, safer, and faster Web.

Thank you for building this movement. Thank you for helping Firefox to deliver on the great promises of the Web. On behalf of the hundreds of millions of Firefox users, thank you for all that you have done in just three short years.

Digg it!

Volunteer Spotlight

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:33:33 -0700

For 2 years and 29 weeks, this Spread Firefox member has been a consistent and strong advocate for choice on the Internet which is right in line with Mozilla's primary mission.

He has always been respectful with his opinions and input to replies of other members posts, and the posts that he writes himself are concise, factually accurate.
This month's Firefox Volunteer Spotlight shines on Kelson Vibber. A true friend and supporter of Mozilla and the overall health of the Internet.
We were anxious to learn more about Kelson so we conducted an online interview with him and here are the results of that Interview.

The question that is always asked of Spotlight Members is how did you hear about Spread Firefox, and why did you join?

I don't really remember where I heard about it. I think I must have read something on Mozillazine or Asa's blog when it was first announced.

I joined because I'd started promoting Firefox earlier that summer. I used to have "Netscape Now!" and Opera buttons on my site in the 90s and early 2000s, and after I made some favorable remarks about Firefox on my blog, Blake Ross asked me to put up a Firefox button. I figured, no problem!

Having done that, joining the new Spread Firefox site was just the logical next step.

There appears to be certain posts on Spread Firefox that you reply to more than others. Are there particular topics that make you feel compelled to give advice and your opinions more than others?

The main topics that tend to catch my eye are web standards and misconceptions (about Firefox, or about other browsers). That, and anything that I can answer quickly, off the top of my head.

What features or changes would you like to see in future versions of Firefox.

Speed. Firefox needs to be more responsive, particularly on Linux. It also needs to be able to better handle extremely large web pages, and pages with lots of plug-in content.

Also, better tab management. I use the Duplicate Tab extension to pull tabs off into a new window, but it's like adding an extension to maximize the window.

What is the Alternative Browser Alliance all about?

At its core, there are two main issues:

1. Keeping the web open, and not dominated by a single player.
2. Humanizing the discourse between supporters of different browsers.

It started as a response to some really nasty flame wars between Firefox and Opera fans during the spring of 2005. I felt that the bitterness was doing more harm than good. After all, Firefox and Opera had a common enemy: Internet Explorer. If someone wanted to look up Firefox, or Opera, and what they found was a bunch of squabbling and recriminations, they'd probably figure the whole alternative scene wasn't worth the trouble and stick with IE.

As I started putting together a site to explain this, I started thinking: why is IE the enemy? Because it's Microsoft? Because it's insecure? No, the root problem is that it's a near-monopoly. With all other players marginalized, Microsoft had no incentive to make improvements to IE. They disbanded the team and tied IE development exclusively to Windows upgrades. Not only that, the bad guys could get maximum results from targeting one platform.

Some sites that informed the idea include the Viewable with Any Browser Campaign and Browse Happy.

You have a vast interest in many different subjects and fields from literature to web standards. With what area do your greatest passions lie?

This was a hard one to narrow down, but thinking about it, I'd say storytelling. I enjoy reading, but I prefer reading a book with a good story to one where the story is just a framework for the author to make a point. My favorite TV shows make heavy use of season- or series-long arcs. When I sang in college, I preferred musical theater to choir. I graduated with degrees in drama and computer science, and while I use the CS degree every day, it's the theater experiences that I really remember when I think about college. I even married a writer!

How do you have the time to maintain the numerous web sites and blogs that you have?

I tend to focus on one big project at a time, and my sites have been built up slowly over the last 12 years (which is actually kind of scary!). So while it seems like a lot, I tend to focus on my main blog and on the Flash site these days. Even the Alternative Browser Alliance doesn't take much time, since it doesn't change very often. I just have to make occasional updates, and keep involved in the browser and standards conversations.

That, and I tend to stay up later than I probably should!

You're apparently an avid comic book collector and dealer. What's the most valuable comic book in your collection both personally and monetarily?

I’m more of a collector than a dealer, and more of a reader than a collector. I keep most of the comics I read, and those that I don’t want to keep, I’d rather sell to someone else who might appreciate them than throw them away.

Personally, the most valuable comic I own is a copy of The New Teen Titans #2 (1984). It was the first super-hero book I bought, and it got me into what’s become a lifelong hobby and my first claim to net fame.

Monetarily, I’m not so sure. I have a small collection of books from the “Golden Age” of comics (roughly 1938 through the early 1950s), but since I’m in it for the stories, I’ve mainly picked up the battered, faded copies that don’t fetch the big bucks. The rarest one is probably the Flash Comics Miniature Edition, which was taped to cereal boxes as a promotion in 1946. It would be worth several thousand dollars if it were in better condition, but the one I bought was so damaged it only cost me $75.

On behalf of the Spread Firefox Team, congratulations.

Firefox Volunteer Spotlight

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 02:06:21 -0800

Jan Steffen (a resident of Germany) has been with Spread Firefox for
more
than two years now, so we figured that it was time to recognize yet
another
devoted Spread Firefox contributor, that is why he has been
chosen for the
Volunteer Spotlight for February. One can only image the
number of posts and
comments that he’s made over that two year time
period. He’s been on target
and concise with his comments that have been
very helpful to many Spread
Firefox members.
We conducted a brief online interview with Jan, and here’s
what he had
to say.

How did you discover Spread Firefox, and why did
you decide to join and
contribute?

I really can't remember where I
first heard of SFx. I was (and am)
always more active in the newsgroups. I
don't really like web based
forums, but I do like the community and the
efforts here at SFx so much
that it's one of a handful of web forums I visit
regularly.

What version of Firefox were you using when you first joined
Spread?
Firefox, and why did you choose it over the browser that you were
using
at the time?

My first internet experience was with NSCA-Mosaic
and Netscape
Communicator and I used the Mozilla Suite quite early. I
followed the
growth of Firefox when it was still Phoenix, but didn't really
switch
until late after Version 1.0.
That was around the time I discovered
SFx. The faster feature
development and availability of add-ons were the main
reasons to switch
to Fx & TB, but I'm still a big fan of the Mozilla
Suite/SeaMonkey.

How do you promote Firefox in the real
world?

Word of mouth and installing at friends and family is the easiest
and
best way. I also wear my Firefox-Shirt
often and show at diverse events.

In your opinion, what will it take
to get Firefox more into the
mainstream to reach the average Internet
user?

Firefox has been ready for the average user for quite a while
already.
But the
inertia of the average user to change habits and make
active decisions
is incredibly slow. Getting Firefox preinstalled on PCs or
promoted by
ISPs would be the final breakthrough.

Germany has one of
the highest amounts of active Internet users worldwide.
Do you have any
figures on the amount of Germans that use Firefox?

Varying sources state
20-40% of Firefox users, but never trust
statistics ;-) I'd guess that over
50% of private PCs in Germany use
Firefox nowadays, but much less in the
corporate environment. Firefox is
promoted very much by all PC-magazines and
that. So Firefox is really
strong in Germany.

Do you use any other
Open Source software?

Yes, Thunderbird and Sunbird of course. But also
OpenOffice, Filezilla,
GnuPG, Linux etc.
There is so much great Free &
Open Source Software out there. Spreading
it and giving support (here at SFx
and in newsgroups) is my way of
saying thanks to the developers and giving
something back.

Thanks for your time Jan

January SFx Volunteer Spotlight

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 09:49:12 -0800

Seventeen year old John Karahalis (A.K.A. Johnny K) from Long Island, New York is a fairly new member to Spread Firefox, but he brings with him new excitement and fresh ideas that have begun to invigorate the community. He is a positive, assertive and highly active member who is not afraid to ask questions to learn better ways to get projects going. His latest project proposal Posters has begun to gain momentum and support from SFx members, and his other ideas are just as good. For these reasons, the SFx Team has chosen Johnny K for the Volunteer Spotlight for January, our first member of the month for the new year. We conducted an online interview with Johnny and here’s what he had to say.

How did you discover Firefox? In the spring of 2005 I was working on a website. I'm not exactly sure where I first heard of Firefox, but I knew that it was somewhat popular, so I wanted to make sure my site looked good in it. Of course, the site didn't look perfect because I had been writing Internet Explorer-specific CSS without realizing it. At first I only used Firefox to test out how my site looked as I was fixing up the CSS, but I grew to love Firefox and began to use it as my default browser.

What made you decide to use Firefox as your default browser? What I loved most about Firefox was how fast it was. That's really what did it for me. As I became more familiar with Firefox, I learned about more features and was amazed at how easy everything was to use.

What is your favorite thing about Firefox? By far my favorite thing about Firefox is how easy it is to use. I remember the first time I installed an extension (Web Developer). I clicked "Install" and before I knew it, it was installed. I seriously sat there in awe. "No InstallShield?! I don't have to close all applications?! I don't have to restart my computer?!" Recently, there have been new versions of competing browsers (cough, cough) with new features. But the competing browsers can't seem to add new features without making everything so much more complicated. Firefox 2, however, added similar features and more, but at the same time remained easy to use. That's what makes Firefox great.

How did you hear about Spread Firefox? I'm not sure, honestly. I think spreadfirefox.com came up under a Google search or something like that. I started to get involved with SFX when the commercial project was announced. I was excited to support Firefox and was proud that my name was listed as a supporter on TV.

What makes you continue to visit Spread Firefox and contribute your time? I want people to know that there is a better and easier way to surf the web. I want them to know that they don't have to "click the blue e". I want software in general to become easier to use, and I think Firefox is a step in the right direction. But in order for Firefox to really have an impact on the future of software, it needs support.

You have some great ideas, what do you think that it’ll take to turn them into projects? More than anything, what they need is support from the SFX community. Many people have given positive feedback to my ideas, but haven't put my ideas into action yet. I think people need to find a reason to get excited about spreading Firefox. I think people need to realize that spreading Firefox, either by one of my ideas or by anyone else's, can be fun and worthwhile.

What would you like to see in future versions of Firefox? I'd like to see Mozilla really take advantage of Firefox's edge of being so easy to use. I'd like to see future versions of Firefox really stress the simplicity of the browser while at the same time adding new features.

Congratulations Johnny! The SFx Team

December’s SFx Volunteer Spotlight

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 08:52:33 -0800

Otto de Voogd is December’s Spread Firefox Volunteer Spotlight member of
the month.

Otto is the owner and operator of 7is7.com where he
has several pages devoted to Firefox content including Firefox Utilities and Fire up the Fox!.
He is an active and loyal member of Spread Firefox, and he always
responds to comments on SFx in a helpful and accurate way.
Otto has selflessly been a great contributor to Firefox and he’s a
strong supporter of other Open Source products such as OpenOffice.org
and Linux.
He is also trying to contribute to the Open Source community with his
own project, StatEye, a traffic analysis tool for webmasters.
For more information on Otto’s current and ongoing projects, visit 7is7.com

The SFx team interviewed Otto on various topics and he was gracious
enough to answer.

How long have you been using Firefox?

I have been using Firefox since the summer of 2004, it was still in
version 0.9. I would have been using Firefox a lot earlier if I had not
been traveling
at the time, as I have always been looking for a good alternative browser.

For what reason(s) did you start using Firefox?

The first time I tried Firefox I was so impressed it felt like a breath
of fresh air, a kind of liberation!

Why did you become a member of Spread Firefox?

Mozilla gave me a great browser demanding nothing in return from me. But I
wanted to contribute somehow in order to give something back.

Then one day I discovered Spread Firefox after having installed Firefox on
a computer in an Internet cafe and checked the default bookmarks. I
signed up immediately and added a button to my site (actually there was
a button already but not with the affiliate link).
After my travels I started to become more active on SFx.

As Firefox is the most successful open source project it is a beacon
that can serve and inspire other open source projects. I hope OpenOffice.org
and many others will follow in our footsteps.

For what reasons are you such a strong advocate for Open Source?

That is a good question.
My interest in open source started years ago when I noticed the superior
quality of open source products, like the GNU C compiler and the Apache
webserver.
Some of the reasons open source products are often better include, the
inclination to adhere to standards and best practices, the ability of
code to be reviewed and modified by peers resulting in
quicker detection and fixing of bugs for example.
If I am using open source software and want a feature added or bug fixed
I can do it myself or pay someone else to do it for me without having to
rely on the company that made the software, it just makes
it much more versatile.

At this point in time, as a developer and programmer, open source is
also an attractive option, it helps you in two ways, your work spreads
faster and others may help with the development. You can still make
money by providing support and other services to those that require it.

Then there is the issue of open formats, I strongly believe in that,
just imagine if the HTML standard belonged to one company and we'd have
to pay
each time we use it. Hence I avoid the use of proprietary formats myself.

You wrote the software offered on your site including the Firefox
search plugins generator, Browser Wars Checkers and others.
Why did you take the time to create these for Firefox, rather than
writing programs that you could profit off of?

The software that you mentioned are all part of my attempts to spread
Firefox, sometimes with a bit of humor, as Browser Wars Checkers, where
IE is a
cold blooded machine and difficult to beat.
Others are intended to be useful to people who use Firefox.
It was a lot of fun making them, sometimes there were interesting challenges
I learned from.

What would you like to see for Firefox in the future?

I am curious about the new 'places' feature in Firefox 3, as I have so
many bookmarks that I need a better way to search and order them.
But more important than what should change in the future is that which
should not change:
I'd like Firefox to stay the slick and easy to use tool it is right now,
it has smart defaults, yet let's you customize everything you may want.
It is not trying to be all things to all people, it is trying to be a
browser and trying to be the best at that job.
It is clear that the people behind Firefox really think about what they
are doing and love their product.

I hope that Firefox will one day no longer be the alternative browser
but the first browser of choice for most people, that OEMs will start to
pre-install Firefox on computers, that more people will choose
alternative operating systems as these tend to have Firefox by default.

Final comments from Otto

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in the Spread
Firefox community for all their efforts, each person's contribution
whether big or
small is worthwhile as it really does add up. Seeing the community that
has developed around Firefox gives me a warm feeling.

Volunteer Spotlight Member

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 03:50:04 -0800

SpreadFirefox Volunteer Spotlight for the month of November is Dylan

a.k.a. ALIENDUDE5300. Dylan is a 14 year old 8th grader living in the

United States. His interests include computers, the Internet, image

manipulation, and of course Firefox.
He’s been a great supporter to all
of his fellow SFx members, their
ideas, and projects,
and it’s hard to
find a post on Spread Firefox where he hasn’t left a
positive or helpful
comment.
We did an online interview with Dylan and here’s how it
went.

SFx Team
How did you become involved with Spread
Firefox?
Dylan
I originally downloaded the Mozilla "Firebird" browser when
it was at
version 0.8, and used it as my primary internet browser.
Eventually
Firebird became Firefox, and a bit after it became 1.5, I
discovered
Spread Firefox and decided to check it out. I then became a
member of
the Spread Firefox, and I have been a member for about 37
weeks.

SFx Team
Why do you support and promote
Firefox?
Dylan
Mozilla Firefox is an free open-source web browser with
many people
donating their time and effort to create. I think that if people
spend
that much time on something then people should be aware of it. Me

creating "Why to Use Firefox" is just one way to help this project. If

people don't support and promote Firefox then the developers wouldn't

have any reason to continue building onto Firefox and it would

eventually cease to exist.

SFx Team
Do you use any other browser?
If yes, for what purpose?
Dylan
I often load my webpage in Internet
Explorer and Opera to compare how it
looks to how it looks in Firefox, as my
site's main audience is not
current Firefox users but non-Firefox users. If
I simply created my site
to look good in Firefox, it would not help promote
Firefox, but bad coding.

SFx Team
What is it that you want to do when
you graduate?
Dylan
I am highly considering a job in the technology
industry. I may be a
graphics designer or a website designer.

This month’s Volunteer Spotlight

Sat, 14 Oct 2006 04:56:25 -0700

Ken Saunders

Thirty eight year old Ken Saunders has been a contributing member of Spread Firefox for more than a year and a half now. He is the owner and operator of www.MouseRunner.com and www.AccessFirefox.com, and he is also a member of the SFx+ team. Ken is always doing his best to promote Firefox on the Internet and in the real world. He supports and encourages his fellow Spread Firefox members whether it may be a new website of theirs or a project idea. Ken’s current Firefox project is www.AccessFirefox.com, a website that focuses on Firefox accessibility add-ons and themes.

We asked Ken a few questions and here’s what he had to say.

SFx Team: What do you like about Firefox?

Ken: It’s easier to say that there isn’t anything about Firefox that I dislike. To me,Firefox isn’t just a vehicle to browse the Internet, it’s a powerful tool that I use to accomplish a lot of tasks that my PC would typically handle making it an integral part of my computing.

SFx Team: What's your inspiration for promoting Firefox?

Ken: I’m not an IE basher, I used it for 8 years, but in that time I’ve lost a lot of data and I’ve done numerous full re-formats due to IE’s weak security. People should be aware of the risks of using an unsafe product, plus Firefox is all around excellent software and I want to share what I know about it.

SFx Team: What would you like to see in the future with Firefox?

Ken: First and foremost, increased market share. I’d like to see more built-in accessibility tools and options. Also, I’d like to see more businesses, organizations and computer manufacturers adopt Firefox.

Jamey -(on behalf of the sfx team)

Become a part of the fox tales

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 11:21:01 -0700

SpreadFirefox has been a great place to meet and discuss ideas for spreading Firefox, but where do you brag once you've executed them?

In honor of the 200 million milestone, we're pleased to announce The Fox Tales, which tells the stories of other famous underdogs who were challenged, ridiculed and doubted and invites you to contribute to our own underdog story—the Firefox story.

This concept grew out of our fifty million celebration, where you guys and gals sent us the funniest and sometimes the most outrageous tales of "Firefox in the wild" we'd ever heard. Tattooing Firefox to your forehead, knitting a Firefox hat, baking Firefox cookies, and my personal favorite, making a Firefox backpack out of frosting, back before we were too small to justify production non-edible ones.

Last time we gave away 50 custom-made gold coins to commemorate the milestone. The more practical among you might be glad to hear that this time we're giving away 25 limited edition Firefox watches (courtesy of branders.com) to the best and most unusual stories of spreading Firefox. We'll also be giving away memorabilia from our fellow underdogs, such as original Beatles concert tickets (from back when, you know, "guitar music is on the way out"), as well as gear from the Mozilla Store.

If you covered the 200 million milestone, we want to know that as well so we can feature it on the page.

All of you have been writing our tale from the start. Now it's time to memorialize your contributions.

World Firefox Day Launches

Sat, 15 Jul 2006 23:41:29 -0700

World Firefox Day!

From the very earliest of Spread Firefox days, we've been trying to find ways to make it as easy as possible to spread the word. We've got a great affiliates program for people with blogs and websites, we've pushed the envelope with amazing campaigns like the New York Times promotion, and we've harnessed the talents of creative types worldwide to capture the Firefox message in 30 second commercials with Firefox Flicks.

We've relied heavily on blog posts and buttons but to date, we haven't made it easy enough for "regular users" to spread the word. That's all about to change with World Firefox day.

Today we're launching a new program that will make it super-easy for each and every Firefox user to rescue one more person from the pain and perils of surfing the web with an oudated and unsafe browser. This new site, located at World Firefox Day will guide users through the simple steps of 1. selecting one person (and only one person) who needs to be saved. 2. inviting them to download and install Firefox. 3. registering to have both of their names listed and celebrated in an interactive display inside of the Firefox 2 program.

We've localized the site into French, German, Spanish, Polish and Japanese so if you visit the site using a browser set for one of these languages, you should see a localized version.

Thanks to your amazing efforts over the last two years,we've got tens of millions of users and we need your help reaching as many of them as possible with the simple request that they tell just one more person about the benefits of Firefox. Each of you has already helped to rescue many others and now we're asking for some help spreading the word about World Firefox Day and the easy new tool for spreading Firefox. Head over to World Firefox Day, familiarize yourself with the new site, and then start telling all of the other Firefox users you know about how they can help improve the Web.

Firefox has achieved what no other program has, all thanks to the efforts of this amazing community of contributors. So roll up your sleeves, bust open your contact list, and tell all your friends about World Firefox Day!

Early Firefox Flicks Testimonials Available for Viewing

Wed, 14 Dec 2005 14:10:46 -0800

We're very excited to let you all know that the first of the Firefox Flicks Testimonials are now available for viewing. Click here to launch the Testimonials viewer, or to record your own!

When you get to the Testimonials viewer, take a minute and click on the "Help" button to get an overview of how to navigate around the globe and pick videos to watch. You can also click on the "View Random Video" button to watch a random testimonial. And click the "Record Video" button to make your own testimonial. Please share these videos with your friends (especially your own) by clicking the "E-mail video to a friend" button.

We're planning to add additional features to the Testimonials viewer, and we'll let you all know about them first here on Spread Firefox. We've built a video infrastructure that should scale to meet high demand and we'll be monitoring performance and making adjustments as needed.

We're also exploring ways to open up and syndicate the content you guys are creating, so start thinking about how you would share or create cool mash-ups of the testimonial video content. Post ideas or suggestions in the comments here.

If you haven't yet (and there are still tens of thousands of you who haven't,) take a look at the guidelines for recording a testimonial, then get over to the Testimonial viewer, turn on your webcam, and record your own to tell the world what you think about Firefox. We're excited to hear what you have to say!

Welcome to Spread Firefox

Sat, 03 Dec 2005 14:39:46 -0800

Spread Firefox is the central meeting place for the Firefox open source marketing effort. We are an authentic, creative, action oriented, and user-driven community.

If you love using Firefox, we invite you to become active in our community. We are counting on you to get involved by spreading the word. Here are some easy starting points:

Become a Firefox affiliate: Once you sign up as a SpreadFirefox member, add a Firefox button to your website and a link to your e-mail signature. (Buttons in languages other than English are available here.) Every time someone clicks on your link, you'll get a point. Points earn you prizes and visibility in the roll call, which will drive significant traffic to your website.
Tell the world what you think: Help us encourage other people to use Firefox by reviewing and rating it at popular download sites such as cnet Download.com (Windows Mac), ZDNet (Windows Mac), Windows Marketplace and BetaNews (Windows Mac Linux).
Print a stack of flyers and leave them somewhere accessible to people. For example, if you're a college student, leave them by your dorm's door. If you work in an office, leave them in your mailroom. (Get permission if necessary.)
more ...

We're Workin' On It

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 15:02:14 -0700

For some time now, a dedicated team of Spread Firefox volunteers, have been working to define the requirements for and start building out a major update for Spread Firefox. This effort has the full support of the Spread Firefox Admins and Mozilla. It won't happen overnight but we would like to see the new and improved Spread Firefox up and in production as soon as possible.

The revamp will try to maintain everything that currently works well in order not to rock the boat with all of our existing members. But the new and improved Spread Firefox will move away from a focus on blogs, forums, and general discussion to become very much a project and action orientated site (though blogs will still remain a feature.)

It is a shame that there have been many great project ideas that either never got off the ground or had little member contribution. With the current setup, what tends to happen is that 2 or 3 people end up doing all the work then have difficulty being heard and some great projects have eventually ended up failing completely or failing to make as big an impact as they should have.

Blake and I are working with this team of volunteers to make sure that with the revamped Spread Firefox we have the tools and the process so that good ideas can become great projects with a major impact on spreading Firefox.

At the same time, Ian Hayward, who leads up this volunteer effort, has also been commiting significant resources to keep the current SFX site working. Bugfixing, security updates, and even feature improvements will continue here while the team works to get the new and improved SFX standing up.

We've still got a lot of work to do but as we leave the planning stages on the upgrade and start the implementations, we'll be posting more information and soliciting more feedback. Stay tuned!

You've Taken Firefox to 70,000,000

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 12:53:29 -0700

Seventy million is a huge number and the downloads are _not_ leveling off. Please take a moment to congratulate yourselves on this inceredible achievement. There is no doubt that our download number and our download trend is in a huge part due to all of the work by the Spread Firefox community. 70,000,000 downloads!! That's just amazing.

Firefox a CNET.com Top 10 downloads of the past 10 years

Sun, 10 Jul 2005 16:56:10 -0700

As part of its 10 year anniversary celebration, CNET.com has posted a list of their Top 10 downloads of the past 10 years and Firefox comes in at #4. It's an amazing accomplishment and all of us here at Spread Firefox should take great pride in helping to get Firefox in front of tens of millions of users.

CNET.com's Download.com is the premier download site on the web and there is no doubt that all the great reviews you all have contributed there are helping to drive downloads at this astonishing rate. If you haven't yet, head over to the Firefox listing and add your review (just click the "add your own review" button under the main listing.)

If you have friends and family using Firefox, let them know that this is one of the easiest and most powerful ways to help spread Firefox. You can find a link for Download.com feedback in the Featured Projects box at the top right of this page.

Taking Back the Web - One Sidewalk at a Time

Fri, 13 May 2005 16:06:31 -0700

Spread Firefox is dedicated to the task of spreading the word about Firefox. There are lots of ways to do that and we built this site as a tool to help facilitate your outreach activities. This site, and it's admins (Blake and I) are just facilitators, though. You all are what makes this engine run. You are the ones spreading Firefox in your schools, at your blogs, at your places of work, in your homes and the homes of your friends. 100,000 of you are making the difference every day.

Taking the Firefox message to those who haven't yet heard is the primary goal here and so I thought it was worth taking a minute to recognize one of the most ambitious and exciting (not to mention dangerous ;-) Spread Firefox efforts to date.

Alex Polvi writes: "Between the hours of 12-6am Saturday morning a group of friends and I 'took back the sidewalk' by painting a 24ft x 24ft firefox logo in the middle of the quad. We used 100% earth friendly materials: cornstarch, kool-aid, and water. Our process involved drawing a large grid with yarn and then chalking outlines for the different areas of paint. We only got talked to by campus police once and they were very understanding."

Now this is what I call spreading Firefox! Be sure to check out the photo documentation of this project. (You can find some other great SFX efforts here.)

The admins here at SFX are well aware that the site needs some work to become more functional and to be able to support both our ongoing projects (like the affiliates program) and emerging projects. We're working on that, but the good folks from the OSU LUG have demonstrated quite clearly that spreading Firefox doesn't have to wait on SFX site improvements.

- A