Pledge to download Firefox on June 17

Firefox is a brilliant browser. It’s also fast. I discarded Internet Explorer (IE) about two years ago. It wasn’t an ideological decision, I wasn’t trying to make a point… it’s just that Firefox is a better browser. I still have IE7 on my laptop, but use it only for testing purposes. I find it slow when it browses and hangs longer when you load it. Compared to Firefox, Internet Explorer is a tractor.

I couldn’t wait for the new Firefox, so have been downloading the beta versions. I’m currently on FireFox 3 beta 5, which I’ve found to be even faster. It’s not just about speed, but the functionality. It was Firefox that first introduced tabbed browsing (which Explorer promptly copied), and the latest version has a useful feature which remembers which sites you were last on when shut down. I wonder how long it will take Microsoft to copy this feature for Explorer?

So Firefox should be supported. I noticed via The Grid Blog that the folks at Firefox are trying to set a Guinness World Record for most software downloads in 24 hours for the Firefox 3 final release. All you have to do is download Firefox 3 on June 17, 2008.

To participate, you need to go to the official website and make a pledge to download the browser. At the time of writing this, only about 4,000 South Africans (indicated on the map below) have pledged to download the browser so far… surely, we can do better than that?

So if Firefox has worked for you, then make your pledge now!