Firefox 3 "Download Day" Pledges Pass 1M; Release Gets Dated

You'll recall that the Mozilla Foundation is trying to set a Guinness World Record: the most downloads of software in the first 24 hours of its release. But we had no release date and we received an RC3 on Wednesday.

Well, relax, Firefox fans. Despite the release of an Mac-only RC3 because of a Mac bug, release of the newest version of the browser - and the first major release since October of 2006 - now has a release date scheduled: June 17th, a Tuesday.

Speaking as one in the industry, Tuesday is frequently picked as a release date because it gives tech support enough time to react in case of a major fiasco (Patch Tuesday, anyone?).

At the same time, the Download Day site trumpets that the Mozilla foundation has received over 1 million pledges to download the software on the day of its release (including my pledge). The U.S leads the way with 179,844.

Remember, it's Tuesday. Let's try to help them set that record.