Is Firefox's 15 Minutes Up?

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For a time, Mozilla's Firefox was considered the bomb when it came to Internet browsers. It was just a year and some change ago that Mozilla released Firefox's 3.0 version garnering a stunning 12 million downloads in just one week; eight million within the first 24 hours after release.

Geez, so what happened?

This week, Mozilla released version 3.5. Did you hear about it? My point exactly.

It was a big "who cares" event.

This is just another cautionary tale of how much the tech landscape can change in a mere 12 months.

Here's what's happened since:

1. Microsoft released a new version of Internet Explorer, new and improved.
2. Apple released a new version of Safari, new and improved.
3. Both of those come pre-loaded onto their respective computer platforms. In other words, it's a passive choice for users. Users need a reason to go looking for Firefox.

and last, but not least...

4. Google launched it's own browser, Chrome, which is doing quite well. By coming out with its own browser, at the same time Mozilla lots it greatest heavyweight champion of Firefox. Ouch!

Question:

- Will Firefox fizzle?
- Will anyone care?

Renee Oricchio

Renee Oricchio is a technology writer and former supervising news producer for CNN Financial News. She has been covering the computer industry since 1987.