New York Times runs Firefox ad
After some delay, Mozilla fans who donated money to promote the browser finally see their names in print. Photo: Firefox hits New York Times
The ad was initially expected to run within a few weeks of the launch of Firefox 1.0 in the beginning of November, but publication was delayed due to the technical challenge of fitting the names of all the donors onto a single broadsheet page.
The first page of the two-page ad--which is twice as large as originally planned--features the Firefox symbol superimposed over the names of the 10,000 donors, and a line about the browser. "Are you fed up with your Web browser?" the ad says. "You're not alone. We want you to know that there is an alternative."
The second page features the Firefox symbol, some information about Firefox and quotes from satisfied customers.
This is not the first Firefox ad in print--a separate fund-raising campaign in Germany raised more than $93,000, the majority of which was used to fund a full-page ad in a German national newspaper two weeks ago.
Despite the delay in the ad, both the preview and final release of Firefox have attracted a lot of interest. David McGuinness, a donor to the New York Times campaign, said he hopes the ad will further boost the number of downloads.
"Personally, I think the timing couldn't have been better," McGuinness said. "We've now got 11 million downloads, and the download rate is still going strong. This could be the boost that takes us to 20 million."
Ingrid Marson of ZDNet UK reported from London.