Mozilla Firefox 3.0, the resurgent browser developer has come of age with its latest offering. The new browser has been downloaded well over 8 million times in 24 hours as against the developer's target of 5 million and has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for maximum number of downloads in a single day of download history. There was overwhelming support, both from the United States and the Euro zone with downloads in excess of 2.5 million apiece.

After America Online took over Netscape, they created a non-profit Mozilla Foundation in 2003. The first offering from them, the Firefox, itself was able to catch the imagination of the internet buffs. It is estimated, Firefox has 200 million users worldwide prior to the launch of the new version and the numbers are still growing rapidly. Millions of users had downloaded Firefox and started using the browser in lieu of the default browser Internet Explorer clearly indicates its user-friendliness and application.

The new Firefox 3.0 browser is faster than Firefox 2.0. The latest versions of Internet Explorer, which has 75% share among the web users and other leading browser developers including Opera and Safari do not match the speed rendered by the latest Firefox version. Like its earlier version, this too has added security features to expunge any misuse. It has in-built features to instantly detect phishing and malware forays. Moreover, one's computer's resources are less drained while navigating on the internet with Firefox 3.0.

Consequently, Microsoft also unveiled the public test version of the latest edition of Internet Explorer, version 8.0. So far Firefox 3.0 has no competitor in terms of effectiveness and efficiency to strike any comparison. But the fine tuned edition of Internet Explorer which is expected to be released by the end of this year may become a potential competitor in the e-space. It is learned that even Apple's Safari browser has shrugged off its previous image of providing surf solutions to its own devices, and would be extending its compatible browsing services to other devices as well.

Stiff challenges in future is likely to improve the efficiency of browsers especially the subsequent versions of Firefox, which already offers exploring of multiple tabs or windows, complex pages and lots of embedded content without crashing. The exciting response on the download of new version, the most customizable browser ever to hit the net will certainly prompt the Mozilla Foundation to improve on.

When Dean Hachamovitch, who heads the Internet Explorer team, was spurred to comment on the Firefox success, said that, they loved competition and the pressures have upped the ante of his team qualitatively and quantitatively. Likewise, John Lilly the CEO of Mozilla credited the success to the users and remarked a committed, energized global community could do amazing things when they unite for a cause. Analysts predict that the simmering truth would be, the coming days or months will trigger stiff competition in the browser developer space. They further added, it would enable especially users from e-commerce arena since they too functions on the same punch-line 'fast delivery'.