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Net Applications, published some interesting data about Mozilla’s Firefox in this month’s newsletter. Specifically, they’re projecting that users of the world’s favorite alternative browser will account for 20% of all web traffic sometime in July.

“Net Applications Global Internet Usage Market Share for May 2008 shows Firefox gaining more momentum,” said Vince Vizzaccaro, executive vice president, marketing. “Firefox market share for May was 18.41% up from 17.76% in April. If recent trends continue, Firefox should achieve 20% market share some time in July.”

Source: Net Applications

It’s all in the timing

However, with Firefox 3 RC 1 already in circulation and the full release expected soon, Mozilla may be able to steal a march and shoot past 20% before the end of June.

Firefox 3 RC 1 has been my browser of choice, I love the thing. Already, prerelease versions of Firefox 3 account for close to 1% of web traffic as measured by Net Applications

Lastly, SpreadFirefox.com is planning a major marketing push for the release of Firefox 3 with the Download Day 2008 promotion, whereby backers hope to break the single-day record for the number of downloads for a single piece of software.

Whereas Firefox growth to date has been slow and steady, it seems to me that the time may be right for a major surge in adoption.

Microsoft’s just-announced Live Mesh platform is, as most things out of Redmond these days are, a complex offering that can be difficult to understand with the company’s typical marketing-speak and software-plus-services buzzwords. So what the heck is Live Mesh?

Microsoft’s new Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie is the mastermind behind Live Mesh and it’s been in development for two years. Live Mesh, if successful, could change the way PCs and other devices interact with Internet services and each other. Microsoft wants data and applications to be accessible from anywhere — online and off — using any device. When Ozzie came on board many assumed it was because, while Microsoft wouldn’t admit it at the time, the focus of your computing will be moving away from a single centralized desktop. Ozzie was going to bring true “cloud computing” to Redmond.

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