If you ever doubted Firefox's add-ons have played a major role in the browser's success, Mozilla has some staggering numbers to prove you wrong.
The Firefox add-on website recently passed the two billion downloads mark.
That's more add-ons downloaded than there are people on the web. Of course, that doesn't mean everyone has add-ons installed – many of us have a dozen or more add-ons installed at any given time – but Mozilla has previously shown that some 150 million add-ons are in use every day.
Of course the word "add-on" is a little vague. Mozilla isn't just counting web developer favorites like Firebug or YSlow, but also things as simple as Personas themes, which might explain why the numbers are so high. For instance, if you frequently change Personas, you're downloading a new skin every time, and that drives the numbers up.
UPDATE: The original version of this post incorrectly stated that Mozilla was including individual downloads of Personas in its count. The two billion number is new downloads of extensions and themes since 2005. Personas are not included in the count.
Still, there's no question that Firefox users love their add-ons, and Mozilla has the McDonalds-esque number to prove it.
If you're looking to extend Firefox, or just curious about what other people are using, check out the new "Best of 2 Billion Firefox Add-ons" collection Mozilla has posted. There are number of web developer favorites, including the aforementioned Firebug and YSlow, as well as some other must-haves like NoScript, Xmarks and Greasemonkey.
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