I'm wondering *when* it really starts. In my timezone, June 17 is over in 5 hours.

Examining the Download Day site which promises 15,000 improvements, I can see only 4 features listed - some of which are not new to v3, and no mention of anything like "we fixed that problem with memory gobbling that we promised to fix for v2.0".

Aaah IE3, back in the good old days when Microsoft was run by developers.

@Mike,

The twenty-four hour period starts at 10 PDT (San Francisco time) or 1700 UTC.

Yes, it took Mozilla waaaay too long for them to do a calculation that lot of the world would actually already be onto the next day by then. Just look at the comment threads running on the spreadfirefox site.

It's also rather weird that they're promoting Firefox 2 banner icons!

It may also be too late - the servers are failing:
spreadfirefox.com/firefox3 now just gives:

Unable to connect to database server

If you still have to install Drupal, proceed to the installation page.

If you have already finished installed Drupal, this either means that the username and password information in your settings.php file is incorrect or that we can't connect to the MySQL database server. This could mean your hosting provider's database server is down.

The MySQL error was: Too many connections.

Currently, the username is sfx_v2 and the database server is 10.2.70.80.

* Are you sure you have the correct username and password?
* Are you sure that you have typed the correct hostname?
* Are you sure that the database server is running?

For more help, see the Installation and upgrading handbook. If you are unsure what these terms mean you should probably contact your hosting provider.

Ahh, the memory of the frustration of waiting for the download of IE3 over dialup. I too received one of those T-shirts and I think mine also has ended up in the rag pile somewhere.

I have moved primarily to Firefox and am looking forward to see what improvements have been made in this latest round of the browser wars.

YES! The day has arrived and I-Man Heart VCSY couldn't be happier! Well, other than if MS would finally settle with VCSY, but I won't digress. I have been dabbling with FF3 since it came out in alpha. It was not very usable at that time and didn't have the features it eventually ended up with. But now, it is so good it spanks IE back into 1996! I dual-boot a Linux distro and Windows XP, and FF3 is gives me the best browsing experience I have had to date, in either OS. I am so trying to use Linux exclusively and probably do use it 90% of the time. I will never give MS a cent for that piece of garbage Vista. And I don't even want IE on my system. Does anybody know a way to extract IE out of XP? Beside purchasing XP Lite? I don't mean just to hide IE, I mean to extract it like the virus it is.

@I-Man Heart VCSY :
"Does anybody know a way to extract IE out of XP? Beside purchasing XP Lite? I don't mean just to hide IE, I mean to extract it like the virus it is."
-------------------------------------------------------
Back in the days of Windows 98 it was possible to do that, not sure I have seen a version of XP without IE. I expect it would still be there, more with the links removed and off the menu, but I could be wrong about that.

With the first version of 98 out, I became very interested in the malware problem at that time. One of the suggestions back then was to get rid on IE and Outlook. Both good suggestions, but not easy. Another suggestion, which did work well, was to hamstring IE so badly, that it basically would not work. Go into the settings of IE, disable activeX, change all the setting to highest, disable pictures, disable about everything. If it ends up not working, you have done a little more to secure your OS, at least back then. But I would warn, you, that some programs piggyback on IE, and may not work if you do all this. Also, many people who do this may not be able to restore IE back to normal settings easily, as they might lack the knowledge to do so.

Doing all that (and more) did give me my first almost completely malware free Windows on the internet system. As you can never, it seem, completely protect, and find useful at the same time, a windows system.

Which brings me to my next point. You need the right tool for the right job. A hammer to pound a nail, Linux to surf the internet, not a malware target like Windows.

@I-Man Heart VCSY :

again, check out this link;

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6142_102-0.html?forumID=5&threadID=31055&start=15

I have not tried this, but one commentator said it worked, if you try it, make sure its a system you don't depend on. Could crash your computer, so beware, you have been warned.

from the link;

"Re: Best way to delete IE from HD
by raj22 - 7/30/04 8:22 AM
In reply to: Best way to delete IE from HD by ghost ryder

1) While you are logged on as an administrator,click
Start, and then click Run.
2) In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.

a) then click on the + besides HKey_Local_Machine
b) click on the + besides SOFTWARE.
c) click on the + besides MICROSOFT.
d) click on the + besides Active Setup.
e) click on the + besides Installed Components.
f) then click on the yellow folder "{89820200-ECBD-
11cf-8B85-00AA005B4383}.

3) Locate the appropriate registry subkey, on right
side of the window that says "IsInstalled".

4) Double click on "IsInstalled".

5) "CHANGE THE VALUE FROM 1 TO 0".

6) And restart the computer, you'll get the message
when you restart the computer and would say
something like "DO YOU WANT TO COMPLETELY REMOVE IE
AND ALL OF ITS COMPONENTS".So just follow the
instructions and after this IE WILL BE REMOVED...."
--------------------------------------------------
So much for Bill Gates and Micro$oft lying about that Internet Exploder could not be removed from the operating system. I would hope that the EU would force MS to remove completely IE in Windows Seven and make IE as an optional download only.

@chips

That is the best answer. You are right. Even if I could eliminate IE completely from XP, it would cause more problems than it solves. Hamstringing IE is my best option, and I browse the internet very little in Windows XP. It's only when I am using Windows software and need some quick info. I don't want to reboot just to do a quick google search and then reboot to go back to my work.

My goal is to run Linux 100% and use some kind of virtualization in Linux to run the few programs I must for my job. It brings me great joy that there is no IE whatsoever, not even available, for Linux. Some may think I just have a hatred toward IE. Perhaps I do, but it is because I have been burned by it too many times.

c should have been chips, my typo

@I-Man Heart VCSY :

I run linux, either Mepis 7 or PCLinuxOS, on computers. Only one has XP on it as a dual boot, and that one has not been on XP in at least 4 months now. When it was running, it was to just download virus updates for it too. Now I just go to majorgeeks.com and download the virus/malware updates for XP with linux, and move them to the xp installation, so I don't have to even go online with xp.

I do have XP running inside a virtual machine on the one laptop as well, using virtualbox, Its used to play one online game, that so far has evaded wine. Wine or Crossover, will run all the windows games I used to play. Other than that, I seldom have a need for XP, and will never ever use Vi$ta or $even.

My other big use for windows, is of course, to stay on top of it, for cleaning up malware for customers.

Direct link for FF 3.x for Windows, US.

http://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-
3.0&os=win&lang=en-US

Or...

http://TinyURL.com/6s83q5

Nice way to mangle URLs... yeesh.

So the moral is, don't encourage the world record for downloads unless you can meet the demand on your servers?

I-Man Heart VCSY Says :
"It brings me great joy that there is no IE whatsoever, not even available, for Linux."

@ I-Man Heart VCSY :
You can install IEv6 as an option with 'crossover' for Linux.

"This application installs, and runs well enough to be usable. However we find it has enough bugs to prevent it from running flawlessly."

@_ http://tinyurl.com/5hvkx3 _

After downloading and installing FFv3, it restarts and launches a new tab that proudly announces "You’re now running Firefox 2.0.0.14"

(corresponding URL: http://en-gb.www.mozilla.com/en-GB/firefox/3.0/whatsnew/).

developer.mozilla.org/devnews/index.php/2008/06/17/quick-note-on-firefox-3-downloads/

"Quick note on Firefox 3 downloads

Thanks to overwhelming demand we’ve passed through 14,000 downloads a minute! This will put us well into the tens of millions of downloads in a 24 hour period if we can sustain it. Each download is about 7MB so that’s around 13 Gigabits/s of just download traffic. Not too shabby!"
Get yours here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html

Nice link Marco, thanks! Linux version 8.7mb, Windose version version not required here, LOL. I would not be too hard on I-Man Heart VCSY. While I would not say that anyone who uses IE is a moron, I would say they are most likely either a newbie, or hardheaded, unless they are coding for it. Most of the folks that bring their WINDOWS computers here to get the malware cleaned off it, are using IE and outlook. Some are running Norton as well. We all say things at times we should not have on these blogs, its easy to get carried away sometimes.

Take for example, when I asked Joe, if he got any of the free laptops. It was a legit question, as he did how many powder puff pieces praising the "great man Gates?" It was at that point that I started wondering if he was becoming an "advocate" again for all things microsoft. But mostly, if most people and Joe recall, I was, and am, one of his best readers. Simply because, unlike the vast majority of bloggers out there, Joe Willcox generally gets its far more correct than the others.

No FF3 Download Day for me, particularly in light of all of their server problems. I will try it next week. I wasn't impressed by FF2, and use IE7 instead.

Hi Chips, I understand you because we all (without some “link” with MS) are tired of Ms abuse. But balance is a good thing (for us and Joe.)

Downloaded and installed on Windows Vista, everything went really smooth. :)

No, not right now. I did participate in the big download day for Ubuntu 8.04.

iGot Firefox 3 and iGot a Add-On that blocks flash items from being loaded and displayed... including advertisements on Microsoft-Watch.com!!!!!! LoL!!!

I use FF3 since Alpha on WinXP without any major problem. I just download FF3 for XP and Ubuntu 8.04 and works like charm. Also no problem with the servers for me. As for the IE talk here i never used it!I stayed with Navigator for a long time and then went to Opera (paid version) and the first versions of Firefox (named back then Firebird).

I-Man Heart VCSY Said :
"It brings me great joy that there is no IE whatsoever, not even available, for Linux."

@I-Man Heart VCSY :
IEs 4 Linux Internet Explorer 5.5, 5.6, and 6.0 on Linux
@_ http://tinyurl.com/2rmoah _

Dave Says:
"So the moral is, don't encourage the world record for downloads unless you can meet the demand on your servers?"

@_ http://www.itwire.com/content/view/18843/53/ _
"Firefox 3 powers to a smashing download record"

@Dave :
"So the moral is," ... "Mozilla has succeeded beyond its wildest dreams, ..."

Joe Says :
"Mozilla's previous record was 2 million downloads on Firefox 2's release day."

@ _ see URL above _
"Organisers were hoping to at least exceed the '1.6 million downloads' of Firefox 2 on its launch day, and that was reached in 'five hours'."

I see many are proving I am wrong about IE not even being available for Linux. Well obviously you can hack it to work, but at least it is not sanctioned by MS for Linux. Just out of curiosity, I can't help but wonder who would spend their time and effort getting IE on Linux? Must be the same kind of people who write virus code. It's like painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa.

I too work on fixing others computers, and have never had to fix a Linux box, ever. I have plenty of friends and family with Windows & Linux PC's. You might say it is because Linux users are more computer literate and savvy and skilled and can fix their own PC's. Well that tells you something right there. The choice of the more sophisticated users is Linux. However, I have used Windows XP and have frequently enough had viruses and trojans sneak in through simply viewing a page in IE. Or just had slowness from bloat and the registry. Funny, I have been running Linux (and always using the most recent version of FireFox) and in 2 years have not had to wipe and reinstall yet.

I remember someone posting on this site about an issue he had. I searched and found it. It was about a year and a half ago, by Rich Gowran. He said, "The last time I was the victim of malware, was about two years ago. I was running completely updated versions of: Norton Antivurs 2003, AdAware, Spybot S&D, Windows XP, Windows Firewall on, router firewall. I was searching Google, using IE6, for some information on a rock group. I clicked the first result, and noticed a strange Windows IE6 Help box pop up and then quickly disappear. Within minutes I noticed my computer acting strangely and slowing down considerably. I rebooted and when I logged on, I received an info box from Norton stating that Norton AntiVirus could not load.
I am a huge fan of backing up, so I had a very recent image that I restored. Once logged on, without being connected to the internet, I uninstalled Norton AntiVirus and installed Grisoft AVG. I also installed the latest version of Firefox at the time. I did the same Google search this time using Firefox, clicked on the same first reault and nothing happened this time. I then did the same search with IE6. The Windows Help box flashed and this time Grisoft AVG popped up telling me that it had detected a virus and quarrantined it. It told me the name of the virus, so I searched it out on Norton's website. They were aware of the virus, but had not yet provided definitions."

Rich's point was more about Norton, but to me the browser stands out because FireFox protected where IE did not.

I believe that the new versions of Linux are extremely easy to install. I believe they are easier to install than Vista or XP and usually have more hardware working without manual driver installs. Linux may be a bit more difficult to use if you are used to Windows, but the security and stability more than make up for it.

The main reasons Windows continues its overwhelming base is because the PC's people buy almost always have Windows pre-installed, and most businesses have critical software that runs on Windows. We are finally starting to see some headway, but we need the average Joe to get educated and see that they can do everything they want to do with their PC without Windows. And save money and aggravation.

Chips... who knows, maybe someday I will say that anyone who uses Windows is a moron! LOL!

I-Man Heart VCSY Says :
"I see many are proving I am wrong about IE not even being available for Linux."

@ I-Man Heart VCSY :
It wasn't about proving you wrong, just some FYI, cool?

PS. Each on teach one

...layta...

I-Man Heart VCSY Says :
"I see many are proving I am wrong about IE not even being available for Linux."

@ I-Man Heart VCSY :
It wasn't about proving you wrong, just some FYI, cool?

PS. Each one teach one

...layta...

yep, i downloaded

sorry for the double post. typo corrected in the second post

@joe :
"Comments:
(you may use
HTML tags
for style)"

Can you please add this functionality or remove that statement?.

thx

MSFT is sure lucky to have browsers like Opera 9.5 & Firefox 3 on the market. Now they can figure out what features to steal & cobble into IE8.

http://www.spreadfirefox.com/

Amazing work! Over 8,000,000 downloads in 24 hours!

Thanks to your support there were over 8 million downloads of Firefox 3 in 24 hours! Please be patient while our judges and Guinness validate our record attempt.

http://www.spreadfirefox.com
Quoting The Link:

"Amazing work! Over 8,000,000 downloads in 24 hours!"

"Thanks to your support there were over 8 million downloads of Firefox 3 in 24 hours! Please be patient while our judges and Guinness validate our record attempt."

Joe says:
"IE 8 woes are good fortune for Firefox"

@Joe:
Browsers are inanimate and can't have good or bad fortune. An increased in Firefox's market share represents good fortune not for Firefox, but for those of us who don't want to be forced to pay the Microsoft tax in order to use a personal computer. I'm all for competition and don't have anything personal against Microsoft. But neither do I want to be forced into putting up with, and thereby also having to pay for, Microsoft software and its required attendant bevy of virus and malware checkers. Giving Microsoft competition is not bashing Microsoft any more than wanting to live in peace is bashing the ruthless ruling despot. Firefox==Freedom.

@All:
Download problems are a matter of timing. I downloaded the Windows version of FF3 last night at home with no problems. I downloaded FF3 as part of the standard system updates on Ubuntu 8.04 both at work and at home, and again, no problems. I guess I got lucky and picked off-peak hours. YMMV. (Anyway, FF2 was ok, but FF3 really rocks!)

@I-Man Heart VCSY :
"Chips... who knows, maybe someday I will say that anyone who uses Windows is a moron! LOL! "
----------------------------------------------------
Well, the better way to say it, is that they simply don't know, or have the experience to compare systems or software.

The one I like is when some Windows fanboi will tell another windows user that they are an idiot for doing this or that, or running without antivirus protection. They maybe right, of course, but my experience has been, when they bring in a computer to be cleaned of malware, its "not their fault." At least the first time, as I will spend some time with them and show them some free (forget onecare and any ms non-solutions) software to help protect their computers.

Reasons I tell people that its not their fault that Windows has Malware on it;

1. It was never setup correctly from the store self with any serious protection to start with. The average new computer looks at a computer as another applicance.

2. Microsoft has never made the install CD setup by default, a limited user account for internet security. Mainly, because unlike Linux, XP is very painful for the average user to run as a limited account. Microsoft, has never done enough work to make the limited account easy enough to be used by the vast public. And UAC in Vista, is not the correct solution either.

3. If I don't try to blame them for the sorry malware on their computers, they are most apt to listen to me. While I make some money doing this, I would rather see the problems fixed, and not see these users going through the pain of malware. I even cut my own business by showing them how to protect their own computers better for free.

X

Yeah, it's pretty cool that you can get IE to work in Linux. You can also get IE 3, 4, 5 and 6 to work in Vista. It's great for laughs and it trips some people out.

My mom runs XP, FF3 and Outlook 2003. For fun, I have been tempted to get a VM of Windows 95 up and running with FF1 and Outlook 97 with all her favorites, homepage, wallpaper and mail settings carried over and see if she notices the difference.

You may wonder why I don't have her running Linux with Thunderbird and OpenOffice. Yeah right, she's 67 years old and when I tried transferring her to Linux she freaked out. Just to get her into FF in Windows, I had to use an IE skin to hide it from her. She noticed some differences, but I told her it was just a security update and she had no choice. She has been fine with it since. An OS is a different story though. However, I have all the defenses up for her, including that she does not use an administrator account. If she needs anything, I log in remotely as administrator and take care of it for her. So far she has been malware free for 9 months.

Al says:

"MSFT is sure lucky to have browsers like Opera 9.5 & Firefox 3 on the market. Now they can figure out what features to steal & cobble into IE8."

Problem is Al, whatever they do steal, they won't get it right anyway. You know, Opera actually is a very good browser. The only reason I don't tout it so much is because I don't use it much. I have tried, but I have become so familiar and comfortable with FF. But some believe Opera is the best browser. However, I have never heard anyone say that IE is the best browser. IE is sloppy. It is to a browser as the Beverly Hillbillies' jalopy is to an automobile.

@I Man Heart VCSY,

you're right. MSFT will copy the superior browsers, but still manage to screw up implementation.

Isn't that the MSFT way?

Any problems downloading FX3 I am sure was related to timing and the shear volume of activity on the servers. All in all, I think Mozilla did a great job. I downloaded FX3 on 5 PC's yesterday at varying times. 4 Windows, 1 Linux, and did not have one hitch. Personally, I like it. I don't mess around with browsers in beta, so this was my first experience with FX3. It felt faster on all the PC's I installed it on. The thing I noticed and appreciated most was how when you type in the address bar, it goes through your history and bookmarks. I find that easier than riffling through my bookmarks. Great job Mozilla!