Nearly 8 Million Downloads on the counter. Those are the unofficial results so far from Mozilla as people around the world downloaded the newest release of their browser – Firefox 3.

There were a few blunders. As I pointed out yesterday and CNN later reported, the traffic to Mozilla’s download sites was so intense that it took down their servers for approximately 2 hours at the beginning of the release as 9,000 copies a minute were downloaded. After 5 hours they had delivered as many copies of Firefox 3 as Firefox 2 got in the entire first day of it’s launch – 1.6 million.

Article: Firefox fans celebrate release of new browser

When the sites did become available it was difficult to tell where to download the new release as the pages still prominently displayed Firefox 2, with a link to Firefox 3′s release candidates. So I, as well as many others, downloaded the latest release candidate – RC3.

But aside from the technical fumbles the day went brilliantly. A good show of marketing might on Mozilla’s part. Now Mozilla’s webpages are updated, proudly showcasing their newest work – Firefox 3.

For those who mistakenly downloaded RC3 before the page was updated do not fear, as apparently RC3 was re-released as Firefox 3, and hopefully Mozilla will include downloads of that as part of their numbers in the final attempt at the world record.

Article: Firefox 3 Identical to RC3

8 Million Downloads! Good job, Mozilla.

It is officially Download Day for Mozilla Firefox 3, your chance to help set a world record for most software downloads in a single day by downloading Mozilla’s Firefox 3 official release.

Or it would be your chance, if it didn’t appear as though Mozilla’s websites are down. I’m attempting to upgrade my browser, but have yet to get either GetFirefox.com or SpreadFirefox.com to load. Meanwhile, Mozilla.com/ appears to be working but it is slow and does not seem to be updated as of yet.

Today is Firefox Download Day, but Mozilla’s servers appear to be taking the beating of a lifetime so be forewarned it could take you a bit to get through to a download site.

Good luck, Mozilla, apparently the internet is with you!

I wrote about Download Day a little over a week ago and now the folks at Mozilla have recieved 1 Million pledges to support their attempt at a record number of downloads that will correspond with the general release of Firefox 3.

This is 1 fifth of their goal to get 5 million downloads on Download Day. Considering that some of the pledges own more than one computer, and figuring in for future pledges as well as downloads not pledged, it may be entirely plausible that Mozilla will reach their goal.

If you have not yet pledged to download Firefox 3 on Download Day then please consider doing so.

Edit: Firefox Download Day is scheduled for Tuesday, June 17th.