Glow 1.0

We launched the first version of glow.mozilla.org with the Firefox 4 release in March 2011 as a way to visualize Firefox downloads and community involvement around the world. Thanks to the development skill of Matthew Claypotch and Jeff Balogh, and the design talents of Sean Martell, it was a great success, with more than 1.2 million unique visitors and frequent press mentions. (It was also a pretty nifty demo of some of the best open technology the modern web has to offer.)

The first version of Glow used several technologies including SQLStream and HBase to process download request logs in real time and make them available for the site to display. If you are interested in learning the technical details behind Glow read this article from the Mozilla Metrics team, which has links to the code repositories:
http://blog.mozilla.org/data/2011/03/22/how-glow-mozilla-org-gets-its-data/

As we move toward a new rapid release cycle, we are finding new ways of measuring Firefox success across the globe. So, we’ve temporarily pulled Glow offline while we cook up the next awesome iteration. Thanks for your support, and stay tuned for more Glow in the near future!

The source code for the original site is at https://github.com/potch/glow (frontend) and https://github.com/jbalogh/glow (backend).

Here are a few of the many articles written about Glow:
http://www.geek.com/articles/news/mozillas-real-time-view-of-firefox-4-downloads-20110322/
http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/article/380693/mozilla_site_shows_firefox_4_downloads_real-time/
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2382394,00.asp
http://asia.cnet.com/crave/firefox-4-doubles-ie9s-download-tally-in-24-hours-62208009.htm
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/380979/firefox_4_speeds_past_20_million_downloads/?fp=4&fpid=1968336438
http://unplugged.rcrwireless.com/index.php/20110324/news/7903/firefox-4-48-hours-18-million-downloads/
http://www.pcworld.in/news/mozilla-firefox-4-approaching-6-million-downloads-and-counting-47252011
http://techleash.com/2011/03/firefox-downloaded-5-million-times-counting-within-24-hours/
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Firefox-4-Downloads-Internet-Explorer-Day-one-Stats,12437.html

alex_mayorga

Posted June 21, 2011 at 8:11 AM

Would there be a http://glowfx5.mozilla.org/ http://glowfx6.mozilla.org/ and so forth?

Pritesh Gupta

Posted June 21, 2011 at 2:05 PM

I don’t think so.

daniel

Posted June 21, 2011 at 11:46 AM

no me gusta el firefox 05, puesto que es lento descargando archivos y todos los complementos que utilize en firefoxes anteriores en este no puedo ocuparlos, seria importante que se reveyeran las posibilidades de instalarlos ya que como a mi , a muchos firefox no acostumbro a la utilizacion de esos complementos….

Pritesh Gupta

Posted June 21, 2011 at 2:04 PM

This thing was amazing, should have been there for Firefox 5 too. 🙂

phaizin

Posted June 22, 2011 at 12:41 AM

Where’s the statistic for firefox5??

TheK

Posted June 24, 2011 at 10:33 AM

So we have some kind of final results: 227 million downloads of Firefox 4 in those three month. A number superseeding the population of all but four Countries on this planet…

meemee

Posted June 26, 2011 at 12:15 AM

how to download fox 5?

Gary

Posted June 28, 2011 at 5:28 AM

To get Firefox 5 on Ubuntu Lucid, just add the following to your sources.list by editing or through update manager screen:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mozillateam/firefox-stable/ubuntu lucid main

…as discussed here

Link Shortened

For Debian folks go to mozilla.debian.net

Other folks should visit getfirefox.com