The popular Mozilla Firefox browser, a direct competitor of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, exceeded the ceiling of one billion downloads. According to an article in the web technology PcActual during today’s browser has come to be downloaded up to 24 times per second.

The figure does not mean that Firefox is one billion active users, the number reflects the number of times it has been downloaded since its introduction in 2004. Firefox is currently in version 3.5 and is one of the fastest browsers, behind only of Google Chrome

According to a recent study, just over 20% of Spanish internet users use Firefox to browse the Internet.

Browser wars

Microsoft proposed last week to the European Commission to be a solution for users to decide what browsers installed on the new operating system Windows 7. The software giant and trying to avoid a further fine of Brussels, which accused him of abuse of dominant position to include the Internet Explorer on Windows.

The solution proposed by Microsoft is a home screen from which users can easily install, if desired, rival Explorer browsers such as Firefox or Chrome, set one as default, and even disable the Explorer.

With this proposal, including the Windows Internet Explorer 7. At the same time, Microsoft recognizes the principle that users should be able to choose freely their browser and posed method (the home screen) to get it, according to the Community Executive stressed. “The Commission welcomes this proposal and investigate its effectiveness in practice now to ensure that consumers can choose,” explained the executive community in a statement.

The new version will automatically hide the menu bar, you may add sounds to certain events and to locate geographically. Be ready in 2010.

Mozilla already thinking about developing the new version of its search engine. The company has issued guidance for the development of Firefox 3.6 that includes the ability to automatically hide the menu bar, a change that molds to the user interface designs that Mozilla has started studying for versions 3.7 and 4.0 of navergador .

This is a key feature for those involved in the development of “plug-ins or extensions and other items that use the bar to control their creations. For web application developers, the guide includes an explanation to add sounds that can be played with certain events, such as the arrival of an email.

In the new version, the browser will not only provide latitude and longitude coordinates, but other terms located as street, city or ZIP code. The incorporation of options geolocation, which can display the location of a place and what’s around you, is one of the improvements most valued by those who have used the Firefox version 3.5, released in June.

The work being done with ‘Namoroka’, the code name is known in the next version of Firefox, it focuses on performance, integration with services such as dictionaries and web applications. It is expected that its development is completed in 2010.

At the same time, Mozilla is working simultaneously in the next version of its Firefox 4.0 browser, known as’ Firecat ‘. Like Chrome OS, has been chosen to take away weight to the toolbar and address, so the tabs will be displayed with a thick top frame.