The Mozilla Foundation is having a party these days as their Web browser Firefox has surpassed 25 million downloads in 100 days.

The 1.0 version of the browser was released in November and an average of 25,000 people download Firefox every day while more than half a million Web sites feature Firefox promotions. They all make a great threat to Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which lacks many of Firefox' enhancements and is also a constant target for exploits and vulnerabilities.

Mozilla developed the program using donations and an army of volunteer programmers, many trying to come up with a tool good enough to kneel the mighty IE.

Microsoft has always defended the Internet Explorer browser, not admitting that it is more vulnerable to bugs than other programs.

However, the company announced last week it is planning to unveil a new version of IE, focusing only on security aspects. Microsoft has not revealed when the final version of IE 7 will be released, although the beta is scheduled for this summer. The final version is scheduled to arrive before Longhorn, which is expected in the second half of 2006.

Many specialists see this move as a response to the success Firefox is enjoying more and more and also an attempt to save market share. Already 4.8 percent of Internet surfers are using Firefox, while 92.7 percent are using IE, according to online measurement company WebSideStory's figures from January.

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