I tried to download firefox

[Jesus Saves]

on to my mac and it downloaded as an excel document with reams of code. It didn't work as a program. Any thoughts?

www.firefox.com

[indy_azcat]

1. are you using OS X?

it's a dmg (disk image file). The apple disk utility should mount the image as a virual drive and run the install from there.

[Jesus Saves]

4. Yes OSX

it's just pages and pages of code.....

[realisticphish]

2. that's odd

every time i've downloaded it or an update onto my mac, it's worked fine

^^^As said above, if you don't have OSX, it won't work

[emulatorloo]

3. Well, I am not sure you have the right link

Try this one instead:

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

[Jesus Saves]

5. that's where I got it from...

[emulatorloo]

9. 1. Make sure you have Mac OS X 2. Make sure you are downloading Mac

version of firefox.

You should be getting a file called Firefox 1.0.4.dmg, which OS X will automatically mount on your desktop.

[kenny blankenship]

6. I wouldn't download it from there! (looks like bogus site )

go to mozilla.org
http://www.mozilla.org/

[Jesus Saves]

8. oh shit

I'm trying your site and it's a dmg file so it will probably work.

Think I have some kinda nasty virus now? That other site looked legit. At the least it would be against the law to mimic firefox.

[emulatorloo]

10. Doubt it -- I think you downloaded the wrong file (windows version maybe)

EOM

[kenny blankenship]

12. I don't know, but on looking more closely at firefox.com

it just seems to link to the firefox pages at mozilla.org
So as other posters said, maybe you just downloaded the windose version of firefox.

[Jesus Saves]

13. I got it working now

I'm up and running on firefox right now...

[BillyDoc]

7. I think you must have downloaded the wrong file

Firefox works great on the Mac . . . assuming you are using OSX.

Try going here: http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/all.html and picking the version you need (English? OS X?) then just follow the usual install instructions.

[meegbear]

11. GET A PC!

Gotta post that in any computer thread.

Sounds like you may have downloaded a Windows version.

[emulatorloo]

14. LOL - n/t

[Ksec]

15. I use it and its great , no popups or freeze since

Im not on a mac though

[kenny blankenship]

16. Another possibility is that you downloaded the SOURCE version

of firefox. That is, programming code that has to be compiled to produce the files that make up the firefox software.
Hard to see how you could have stumbled into the source download area, though.

One way firefox and mozilla are different from IE is that anyone can download that sourcecode, look at it and modify it (within some free licensing restrictions).

[Jesus Saves]

17. that must have been what happened

however I was on the first page and then went to getfirefox.com as requested and downloaded straight from there - I got the code though which I have no ability to read or understand.

Question - what is open source code? Is this open source code? How do they make money off of this? What's the backstory?

BTW - I downloaded a different file and it's working now. I'm on it right his second.

[kenny blankenship]

18. Much information on your questions can be found at mozilla.org

look in the 'about' section and 'developers' sections there.

Open source code differs from closed source by being viewable--depending on the technicalities of licensing by anyone or by customers. It can be programming that is free of charge like mozilla and mozilla derived projects like firefox, or it can be for sale with access to code available only to paying customers.

Open source is ordinary programming with a license that allows people to contribute new code or modify existing code, depending on the precise terms of the license used, (there are many different kinds of opensource licenses).

Some developers on mozilla, firefox and thunderbird are paid to work on the projects by various companies including the owner of the Netscape codebase rights, AOL-TW. Many are volunteer programmers who do it for the heck of it and the recognition of their peers.

Way in the back of the backstory is a need for AOL to have a possible browser to integrate into AOL if and when Microsoft decides to expunge AOL from bundled programs on PC makers windose boxes. Microsoft would love to do this to herd their customer base towards their own MSN internet-substitute product. The rest of the firefox backstory starts with Netscape corporation opensourcing their browser suite code -or most of that code at the time they were being bought out by AOL. It's a long story. Firefox developers aren't doing it for the money to answer your question but to provide a standards-compliant alternative to a monopolists' browser product and all the distorting effects the dominance of such a proprietary product can have and has had on the internet and www, which are supposed to be based on open, publicly & equally accessible standards for information sharing.
for more on that subject:
http://www.w3.org/
http://isc.org/