Microsoft sends an IE9 cupcake to Mozilla for shipping Firefox 6

By Tom Warren, on 16th Aug 11 5:33 pm with 44 Comments

Microsoft sent Mozilla a congratulatory cupcake on Tuesday for shipping Firefox 6.

The software giant continued its tradition of sending cakes to Mozilla by shipping an Internet Explorer 9 cupcake to the team. Mozilla shipped Firefox 3 in 2008 and the Internet Explorer team sent a cake, Microsoft also sent a cake to Mozilla in March after they shipped Firefox 4. Microsoft then shipped a smaller cupcake to Mozilla in June after the company shipped Firefox 5.

Internet Explorer 9 was released to the web on Monday March 14 and clocked up 27 downloads per second, over 250 downloads every 10 seconds. Microsoft claims it reached 2.3 million Internet Explorer 9 downloads in just 24 hours. Mozilla breezed past Microsoft’s download stats with Firefox 5 thanks to its support for Windows XP and other operating systems, it remains to be seen how well Firefox 6 will fare. Microsoft is currently working on Internet Explorer 10. The company is expected to offer a beta version at its BUILD developer conference in September. Internet Explorer 10 builds on Internet Explorer 9 and includes support for even more standards like CSS3 gradients, multi-column, and grid layouts.

Firefox 6 cupcake from Microsoft

Image Credit: Johnath (flickr.com)

  • http://www.facebook.com/ParkerReno Parker Ciambrone

    Remember firefox also auto-updates, IE does, too but through Windows Update and takes a while to be released

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KTAHVKS2RNDWTQPHQEJALLRNEQ Adam Paris

      Which is good, cause no company wants a brower with  a new version every 6 weeks.

  • J A

    How sweet of the softies!!

  • http://twitter.com/JayMontano Jay Montano

    Just saw update…well I think it’s already installed. Switched to Chrome after long die-hard FF user. It was fab on FF4 then FF5 broke everything, becoming nigh on unusable. Shame. (Might be a bad install, but can’t be bothered to find out. Chrome works fine)

    • Jinge

      Be careful with chrome. It is kind of stupid, but the exe is stored in the app data folder, and the software keeps all previous versions stored for I don’t know what. As every version is about 100Mo, the folder reaches gigs quite quickly!
      After that the browser is not bad…

    • Hino Musouka

      I didn’t know that. Thanks for a hint. Now I’ve got 270 MB of Chrome and that seems like an overkill…

    • Hino Musouka

      I didn’t know that. Thanks for a hint. Now I’ve got 270 MB of Chrome and that seems like an overkill…

    • Hino Musouka

      I didn’t know that. Thanks for a hint. Now I’ve got 270 MB of Chrome and that seems like an overkill…

  • http://twitter.com/Exyaster Mykal Joseph Day

    Hopefully IE10 won’t be half bad by it’s beta. I love using IE (mainly the pins.) I don’t plan on using Firefox anymore anytime soon. Version 4 killed it for me.

  • Anonymous

    I think Firefox just went to the faster release cycle to get more cupcakes from Microsoft.

    • http://twitter.com/furdworetzky Fur Dworetzky

      Makes you wonder about the contents of an IE cupcake.

    • Hino Musouka

      But the cakes are getting smaller. I wonder if it’s because MS guys think there is less changes in the subsequent versions of Firefox or they’re running out of money to splash on a bigger cake every 6 months or so ;)

    • Hino Musouka

      But the cakes are getting smaller. I wonder if it’s because MS guys think there is less changes in the subsequent versions of Firefox or they’re running out of money to splash on a bigger cake every 6 months or so ;)

    • Hino Musouka

      But the cakes are getting smaller. I wonder if it’s because MS guys think there is less changes in the subsequent versions of Firefox or they’re running out of money to splash on a bigger cake every 6 months or so ;)

  • Anonymous

    It’s been getting smaller and smaller….

    • President Baltar

      No wonder MS does not do this at Chrome releases… expanses would be immense even if it’s just a jaffa cake :D

    • Guest

      Is that what she told you?

    • Anonymous

      Smaller cake for faster updates. They want nice big cake, they update like they used to :P

  • Anonymous

    It’s been getting smaller and smaller….

  • https://profiles.google.com/116073748054291541228/posts Techy8789

    I just don’t understand…

  • Aaron

    I understand why Chrome and Firefox adopted this type of release schedule, but I much prefer the yearly schedule the IE team seems to have now.  The time between IE6 and 7 was way to long.  But the quick pace of Firefox has made me completely uninterested.  Really ought to leave about a year between major updates to let people get use to the current software and build up some anticipation for something new.  I know they are trying to move beyond the concept of versions.  I’m just old fashion I guess.

    • Entegy

      It’s a version number. It means nothing. The downside is that Firefox extensions used major browser versions to limit compatibility issues. Now extension developers don’t really have this to fall back on.

    • Aaron

      I said I understand that.  I just don’t like it personally.  I like a new version of a product coming out every so often.  Gives a chance to get use to the old and get excited about the new.

    • Test1ngi23

      Since it’s completely free and has automatic updating, your reason sounds kind of stupid.

    • Anonymous

      Well, if Firefox wasn’t a piece of sh*t, the he probably wouldn’t care. The damn thing crashes four or five times a day, and is prone to memory leaks. It’s also slower for me than IE9. But I get tired of constant updates as well, especially since those updates are minor at best.

    • President Baltar

      I don’t think that ANY of the actual browsers crash four or five times a day by design – a crappy machine, a dying OS, some faulty add-ins or a really stupid user, well those things can do it for ya.

    • Anonymous

      And you sound like a troll-baiting child. 

      He has a valid argument and point of view.

  • Anonymous

    now it will be more expensive for MS. since every week firefox is releasing a new version! well maybe they just wanted cake more often lol.

  • Anonymous

    Yuck. Microsoft sends cheap sugary cupcakes, while Apple would have sent some creme brulee.

    • http://josedmorales.net Josè Daniel

      ‘would have’ yet they ‘did not’
      By the way, you might want to look at past full-sized cakes before FF5 – my guess, the faster the updates, the smaller the cake now – thus – cupcakes lol

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jeffrey-Syang/507688178 Jeffrey Syang

      nope, too stingy.

    • Anonymous

      You mean a subpoena haha.

  • http://twitter.com/fillupt Philip Turnbull

    I wonder if they sent it half-baked?

  • Jorge

    Do Microsoft owns the patent for IE cupcakes?

    • Anonymous

      funny ?

      failed…

  • http://twitter.com/Wheezle211 Wheezle

    Why does MS do this? It seems vaguely like gloating, but the IE team really are in no position to be smug about anything.

    It’s just weird.

  • http://twitter.com/Wheezle211 Wheezle

    Why does MS do this? It seems vaguely like gloating, but the IE team really are in no position to be smug about anything.

    It’s just weird.

  • Guest

    Next time they should send Mozilla a halfbaked cookie and by the time of FF8 just a crumb :D

  • Lucas Naceri

    Firefox

  • Lucas Naceri

    Firefox

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Nick-Swarfega/100002474232381 Nick Swarfega

    What will happen when firefox stops using versioning? How will Microsoft keep tabs.