Firefox has been the browser of choice for quite a lot of regular internet users. In fact, it has been the only browser in a decade or so to be able to successfully challenge the might of Microsoft Internet Explorer. Its gradually eating away the market share of the world’s most popular web browser since its inception. According to a recently concluded study, as of December 2007, the market share of Firefox in Europe is close to 28%, which is quite substantial.

The figure has jumped quite a bit after the successful launch of Firefox 2 in October last year. The Firefox team has been working continuously to make the browsing experience even better. With this in mind, they’ve been working on a new version since late 2006. The latest version of this popular web browser, Firefox 3 is almost ready to be launched. One of the major changes in Firefox 3 is the implementation of Gecko 1.9, an updated layout engine. The new version fixes many bugs and implements new web APIs.

To celebrate this grand occasion and to make it memorable in the history of software development and open source movement, in particular, they’ve set their sights on a mission. The mission is to set a Guinness World Record for the most number of downloads for a software in 24 hours. They’ve aptly christened it as the “Download Day 2008“. The launch date is yet to be announced but you can pledge to help them in their mission and make it a success. Visit the Spread Firefox website to pledge now!