Changes

Firefox was originally developed as an offshoot of the Mozilla Browser project, developed by [[Netscape]], as a lightweight version of the software.  The original Mozilla browser was extremely feature rich, including such things as an [[HTML]] editor, which created a large and correspondingly slow piece of software.  Firefox has gone through several name changes, all due to existing trademarks.  It was originally named ''Phoenix'', then ''Firebird'' and finally ''Firefox''.

Firefox was originally developed as an offshoot of the Mozilla Browser project, developed by [[Netscape]], as a lightweight version of the software.  The original Mozilla browser was extremely feature rich, including such things as an [[HTML]] editor, which created a large and correspondingly slow piece of software.  Firefox has gone through several name changes, all due to existing trademarks.  It was originally named ''Phoenix'', then ''Firebird'' and finally ''Firefox''.

Since its original release in 2003, Firefox has had a continued increase in the market share of web browsers.  Exact numbers are difficult to determine, but as of January 2009, in North America Firefox had a 22% share<ref>[http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=0 Browser Market Share]</ref>, and as of November 2008, 31% in Europe<ref>[http://www.atinternet-institute.com/en-us/browsers-barometer/browsers-barometer-november-2008/index-1-2-3-153.html Google Chrome not top in Europe]</ref>.   

Since its original release in 2003, Firefox has had a continued increase in the market share of web browsers.  Exact numbers are difficult to determine, but as of February 2009, in North America Firefox had a 22% share<ref>[http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=0 Browser Market Share]</ref>, and as of November 2008, 31% in Europe<ref>[http://www.atinternet-institute.com/en-us/browsers-barometer/browsers-barometer-november-2008/index-1-2-3-153.html Google Chrome not top in Europe]</ref>.   

The browser is officially supported in 50 languages<ref>[http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html Firefox International Versions]</ref>, and is available for the different versions of Microsoft [[Windows]], [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] Mac [[OS X]], and [[Linux]] operating systems.  Unofficial builds are available for Sun Microsystems Solaris, BSD and other operating systems.

The browser is officially supported in 50 languages<ref>[http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html Firefox International Versions]</ref>, and is available for the different versions of Microsoft [[Windows]], [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] Mac [[OS X]], and [[Linux]] operating systems.  Unofficial builds are available for Sun Microsystems Solaris, BSD and other operating systems.