The release of Firefox 3.0 last June 17 is the most talked about news in the internet world these past few days

It has just set a new world record for most downloads in a day – the unofficial estimate is more than 8 million downloads in the first 24 hours.

For those who didn’t know, Firefox is the best web browser around (debatable only by Internet Explorer (IE) fanboys). It is currently the second most used browser worldwide, next to IE – which is conveniently bundled with all Windows OS.

The Birth of a Legend

The first ever Firefox release was on November 9, 2004. It was the project of Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross, who started working on the browser as an experimental branch of the Mozilla Suite project. The Mozilla Suite was a cross-platform integrated internet suite being developed by Netscape (do you remember Netscape Navigator? THE web browser of the 90s?). The folks at Mozilla Organization wanted to develop a one-stop internet solution for all common internet uses. The suite had several programs included: Navigator (web browser), Communicator (mail client and newsgroups), Composer (web page developer), ChatZilla (IRC client), and its very own electronic address book.

However, the two believed that the suite was bloated with too much software that the bundle was overbearing. So they created their own small and basic stand-alone web browser that would do away with all the other stuff not connected with browsing. After much promise in the development of that browser, the Mozilla Organization announced on April of 2003 that the focus of the organization will move from the Mozilla Suite to two basic programs: a compact web browser (soon to be known as Firefox) and Thunderbird (a mail client similar to Microsoft’s Outlook).

The browser was first known as Phoenix. Then it was renamed to Firebird due to trademark issues with Phoenix Technologies. That, too, was problematic due to trademark issues with the Firebird free database software project. Eventually, Mozilla Firebird became Mozilla Firefox on February 9, 2004, and pretty soon it was known simply as Firefox.

The very first major update to the browser came a year after the 1.0 release. Not much difference there. But on October 24, 2006, Mozilla released Firefox 2 – the groundbreaking browser that, to me personally, changed the way people enjoyed the internet. The new version had so many great features: tabbed browsing, integrated search, session restore, inline spellcheck, anti-phishing, and most especially, pop-up blocking.

Being an open source software, the Firefox became the preferred browser of those users who wanted more out of their ordinary browsing experience. Instead of imposing features on its users, the Mozilla Organization let their users decide which features to add - through the groundbreaking extensions manager.

The Future is Here

Firefox was created in a time when the internet browsing market was dominated, check that, OWNED by Windows’ Internet Explorer. IE was, and probably still is, THE internet browser of the world. But ever since its humble beginnings, Firefox has promised to offer a better, faster and more secure alternative to IE. So far, they have delivered.

No one expected them to do so. Everybody KNEW that Firefox did not have a chance against the Microsoft giant. Mozilla fought with newer versions and better upgrades – each time creating a more powerful browser that will eventually topple the one at the top.

Firefox had a community of developers behind them – thanks to the power of open source. Open source, simply put, is a way of developing a program that makes it accessible to other developers – like an open story to which everyone can contribute. With that “team” behind them, all the loopholes were exposed, all the bugs were fixed, and all the lacking features were created.

Soon, Microsoft was developing IE to counter Firefox’s capabilities.

That brings us to the latest version. Firefox 3.0 is three times faster than Firefox 2.0. It uses less memory when rendering and layouting pages to deliver them to the user as fast as possible. It has a new malware and phishing protection that helps keep the user safe when browsing the virus-, worm-, spyware-, and trojan-filled landmine that is the internet. It is fully customizable with over 5,000 add-ons to choose from. It has a new Library function that not only archives browsing history and bookmarks, but also remembers tags. It has a new full-page zoom function that lets you zoom in on any specific location within any kind of web page.

All in all, Firefox 3.0 promises over 15,000 enhancements. Imagine that. 15 G’s of IE butt-kicking goodness. A culmination of years of development from thousands of CONCERNED developers. And the best part is that it’s all free.

Of course, we still have to see for ourselves within the next few weeks where and how these enhancements fit in. But with more than 8 million downloads in the first day alone, we know that Firefox 3.0 is pipin’ hot. From the 18% market share it had last month, the new release probably brought the number up to 25.

The only thing stopping Firefox from dominating the internet browser market is the bundle system. Since most internet users use computers that run on Windows, they all use IE for internet browsing. They use it out of necessity. Because they don’t know how else to do it. Firefox gives them a choice.

Don’t get me wrong, IE is good enough for browsing. But the total browsing experience can still be improved. And Firefox delivers all the goods necessary for that improved experience.

I am asking everyone to support Firefox 3.0. Don’t be afraid of something new. It’s not as complicated as you think. Download it. It’s free, compact, and easy to use. It might sound odd, but it truly is better than what you’ve been using all your life. Once you get Firefox, you’ll forget how IE works.

Because in the modern world of Firefox 3.0, IE simply doesn’t work at all.