A news item with the headline "Firefox browser takes on Microsoft" from 20 years ago has attracted renewed attention. It was originally published on the BBC News website on November 9th, 2004 recording the release of Firefox 1.0. The latest stable version of Firefox is 132.0.1 released on November 5th, 2024.

The BBC's post about "the long-awaited Firefox 1.0 web browser"  referred to "a respectable amount of pre-launch fervour" and noted:

The release of Firefox 1.0 on 9 November might even cause a few heads to turn at Microsoft because the program is steadily winning people away from the software giant's Internet Explorer browser.

It also reported that fans of the software had banded together to raise cash to pay for an advert in the New York Times and while this didn't appear immediately, a few weeks later this double spread did run and with a message about Firefox that is still relevant today. 

Underneath the endorsement of three users from New Zealand, USA and Finland the text reads:

Firefox is the free, open source web browser from the Mozilla Foundation that lets you surf faster and more efficiently and helps avoid annoying pop-ups and spyware. Join us and make the switch today — Firefox imports your Favorites, settings and other information, so there’s nothing to lose.

Find out what more than 10 million users from around the world already know: there is an alternative!

The background of the left page of the ad is the names of donor to the campaign in alphabetical order. If you blow it up you can read individual names, some of familiar and others not. Sponsoring organizations are acknowledged at the foot of the right page and include Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Sourceforge and Red Hat. 

Firefox had had an extensive prehistory prior to the release of Version 1, which is why it was expected to be a competitor to Microsoft Internet Explorer, which had seen a decline in its market share that year from a high of 95% to below 93% after news of a serious security vulnerability.

Firefox was the successor to Netscape Navigator, the dominant browser in the late 1990s. The Mozilla open source community was founded in 1998 by members of Netscape, taking the name Mozilla from the original code name of Netscape Navigator. The browser was included in the Mozilla Application Suite but was then forked as Phoenix - a reference to rising from the ashes, it was soon rebranded as Firebird before adopting the name Firefox, reflecting a fresh start and a focus in speed and innovation.

Key features of Firefox 1 included tabbed browsing, a pop-up blocker, its customizable interface and a strong emphasis on standards compliance. Its main significance was that it introduced competition into the browser market and challenged Internet Explorer's dominance. It also also pioneered open-source development in the browser space.

In terms of market share Firefox reached its peak in 2009 when it surpassed Internet Explorer in some regions.Chome first appeared in 2008 and by 2011 had surpassed Firefox.

I Programmer, which started reporting news in 2010, first covered Firefox when its reached 4.0 in March 2011, see Firefox 4 Final Release Available Now. That item, by Mike James, concluded with:

The key features of the new version are that it runs under Windows XP (unlike IE9 which only runs under Windows 7 and Vista), it supports HTML5 and WebGL, it has a modified user interface, it uses hardware acceleration and it has a new JavaScript engine - JaegerMonkey.

Better?

Yes!

Better than Chrome?

Ask the question again later.

That was the first of over 70 news items on this site with Firefox in its title.

Over the years I Programmer has followed the decline in Firefox's share of the desktop browser market and its failure to make inroads into the mobile market - after all with Safari on Apple and Chrome on Android it hardly stood a chance. However, we have continued to champion Firefox for being open source, for its role in enforcing of web standards and its emphasis on privacy, security, transparency, and giving users choice and control. 

Ironically coinciding with the invitation to forthcoming celebrations of Firefox's 20 years headlined "Join Us to Mark 20 Years Of Firefox - Open Policy and Advocacy", comes news of further layoffs being made by Mozilla. This time around the cuts entail winding up the Advocacy and Global Programs divisions and affect some 30% of the workforce. 

This follows an earlier round of layoffs that, as I reported took place in February just after Mitchell Baker step down as CEO from Mozilla Corporation, to resume her prior role as executive chair of Mozilla Foundation. Baker was replaced by Laura Chambers as interim CEO who was expected to focus on Firefox and AI and to:

Refine the company’s vision and aligning the corporate and product strategy behind it.  

Since her appointment Chambers has put her efforts into attracting advertising as a new source of revenue - something that seems to be at odds with Firefox's core values.

More Information

Firefox browser takes on Microsoft (BBC News 11/9/04)

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