Firefox sets its sites high

Internet software company Mozilla is hoping to set a world download record of a new version of its popular web browser Firefox.

More than 1.3 million people have pledge to download Firefox 3.0 which was released online early this morning.

With Firefox currently used by about 15 per cent of net users, Mozilla marketing chief Paul Kim said: "It's a global effort to make history."

"There is actually no record for the greatest amount of software downloaded in one day, so for 24 hours from the moment we push the bits live, that's when the countdown starts".

While Mozilla claims it has no specific target for the number of downloads, Kim said racking up five million buyers would be "Awesome".

Firefox 2.0 registered 1.6 million downloads on the day it was made available on October 24, 2006.

New features in Version 3 include - automatic warnings when users stray on to websites bobby-trapped with malicious code.

Also in Version 3 will be a "Smart Location Bar" that lets people return to sites they have visited, even if they have not bookmarked them or cannot remember the full web address.

Firefox 3 will work with Windows 2000, XP and Vista and some Non-Windows operating systems including Linux.

The software first appeared in early 2004 and since then has steadily eroded the hold on the web browsing world of Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

And it appears that Mozilla is not alone in marketing the release of the new software. Acoording to the Mozillaparty website, more than 566 parties are planned for when the software becomes available.