Mozilla close to world record award

Mozilla's Firefox browser 3 could earn it a place in the Guinness book of records

When it released the latest incarnation of the Firefox browser the Mozilla Foundation announced that it was hoping to break a world record for the number of downloads in a single day. According to the firm it achieved that, racking up some 8m downloads.

The attempt to set the record began on 17 June at 8pm, local time. Today, a note on the Spread Firefox web site reads, "Thanks to the support of the always amazing Mozilla community, we got more than 8 million Firefox 3 downloads in 24 hours. That’s more Firefox downloads than we’ve ever had in a single day -- an impressive feat indeed!"

At the time this was published a ticker on the same web site claims that the total number of downloads had risen to 13,588,404. It adds that Guinness is currently evaluating the group's world record claims.

The new version of Firefox is roughly two to three times faster than its previous release, said the firm, and includes some 15,000 improvements. "We’re really proud of Firefox 3 and it just shows what a committed, energized global community can do when they work together,” said John Lilly, chief executive officer at Mozilla.