14 DAY TRIAL // Firefox, the open source project that started the web browser 'Renaissance,' is celebrating its sixth birthday today. As the team is working on getting the latest version, Firefox 4, ready for launch, Mozilla is asking fans to let it know what they like about Firefox and why.
"The Mozilla community is excited to celebrate the 6th birthday of Firefox, the Web browser of choice for nearly 400 million people worldwide," Mozilla said.
"Mozilla was established more than 10 years ago as a non-profit organization with a mission to promote openness, innovation and opportunity on the Web. Six years ago, Mozilla released Firefox 1.0 offering people a better Web experience," it added.
Firefox is facing some serious competition today and all major browsers are rather well balanced, with no product standing out or falling too far behind.
Back in 2004 things were quite different. Internet Explorer dominated the landscape and, thought there were alternatives, its reign seemed unchallengeable.
The Mozilla team set out to change that. Based on the source code from the ill-fated Netscape, which Microsoft obliterated in the span of a few years, Firefox was born.
Firefox 1.0 came with such innovations as browser tabs and a search box, pretty much the most basic feature set of any browser today, yet something IE users wouldn't get for quite a few years after Firefox came along.
But the biggest innovation in Firefox was the way it was built. The browser was and still is a premier example of open-source software and the power of the community.
And to emphasize that, Mozilla is turning to the community once again, asking users to send in FoxCards to celebrate the occasion.
"This year, to celebrate Firefox and the Mozilla community’s work promoting innovation, choice and openness on the Web, we ask for your help to showcase how people love and use Firefox in your part of the world," Mozilla said.