14 DAY TRIAL // One of Firefox's biggest innovations were browser add-ons. Its add-on platform enabled third-party developers to build new functionality for the browser and cater to any user need out there. Mozilla is now celebrating a major milestone, the first browser add-on to pass the 100 million downloads mark, AdBlock Plus.
"Today we’re very happy to celebrate a huge milestone: Adblock Plus became the first browser add-on to be downloaded 100 million times!," Mozilla announced.
"Customization has always been one of the best features of Firefox, and 100 million downloads of a single add-on combined with 2.2 billion add-on downloads overall shows just how important that extensibility is to our users," it added.
"Many developers dream of creating software that has worldwide impact and affects millions of people, so it’s thrilling for us to provide a platform where this kind of success is possible," Mozilla said.
"Congratulations to Wladimir Palant and the Adblock Plus community!," the blog post concluded.
Firefox was the first to implement an add-on platform. It enabled developers to change the way Firefox functioned, looked and behaved. This lead to a huge number of interesting add-ons created for Firefox.
Since then, every major browser has built support for add-ons and extensions, with Opera the last to join the party, yet Firefox's implementation has remained the most popular, thanks in part to the size of its user base and the fact that it's the oldest.
Yet, despite the big number of add-ons available, one in particular has always been the most popular, AdBlock Plus. The add-on blocks any type of ads from websites ensuring a clean, distraction free experience.
The popularity of this add-on shows how many people are frustrated by the assault of annoying, in-your-face ads the web keeps sending their way.
While there is a number of people who would block these ads regardless how inconspicuous they are, most people wouldn't mind ads that would let them get to the content they want.
Still, regardless of the reasons, the milestone celebrates the success Mozilla has had with its add-on platform.