Firefox at 50% market share...

... Well, at least on the comic marketplace site I did recently. While this may be community specific, Firefox however is very popular in Germany. The German online magazine Spiegel Online for examples reports a Firefox market share of 28%.

Spiegel online, you may also remember them as the people who think Carl Barks was a German, now published an interview with Firefox developer Blake Ross (in German, though), covering the phenomena:

Spiegel Online: How important the German market is for Firefox?

Ross: Germany is one of our biggest markets, and we work very hard to fit the needs of our German users.

Spiegel Online: Compared to other countries, Firefox market share currently is much higher in Germany. What are the reasons for this?

Ross: Europe seems more open to the idea of open source than the US. I'm not sure, what's the reason for that. The energy and passion coming from our German fans is refreshing and highly appreciated.

Further on, Ross was asked about Google's influence on the Firefox development:

Spiegel Online: Don't you fear Google getting to much influence?

Ross: The world would be better off, if Google had more influence. Google understands what people want from technology - and delivers it with astonishing precision.