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2004–2009 · Browsers

Firefox’s rise: how a non-profit browser took on Internet Explorer

Last reviewed 5 October 2026

Firefox launched in 2004 and within five years had grown into a browser used by hundreds of millions, reopening the browser market.

Out of Netscape

Firefox grew out of the Mozilla project that Netscape started when it opened its browser code in 1998. A slimmed-down browser, first called Phoenix and then Firebird, became Firefox 1.0 in November 2004.

At the time Internet Explorer 6 held the overwhelming majority of the market and had barely changed in years. Firefox offered tabs, pop-up blocking, extensions and fewer security problems.

Community marketing

Volunteers promoted it through the Spread Firefox campaign, and supporters paid for a two-page advertisement in The New York Times. Firefox 3, in June 2008, set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloads in 24 hours.

By 2009 Mozilla was reporting user numbers in the hundreds of millions, and Firefox held a large share of the browser market in Europe.

What it changed

Firefox’s success pushed Microsoft to resume work on Internet Explorer and made web standards support a competitive feature again. Google Chrome, launched in 2008, later overtook it. The competition Firefox reopened shaped the modern web platform.

Sources