I <3 Firefox (Neatorama just downloads and displays faster on Firefox than any other browser) - so it's my pleasure to try and help spread the word about Firefox 3's Download Day 2008.
In one sentence: on June 17, 2008, Firefox wants to set a new Guinness World Record for Most Software Downloaded in 24 hours.
You can help (and help yourself to the neatest browser ever!): Link
Mine is just as fast as IE7. The only difference in speed is opening the browser for the first time which is only about a half a second longer than IE7. After that Firefox is extremely fast. Plus Ablock Plus and Tab Mix Plus make Firefox far superior to IE7. Fast browsing single window browsing, no ads EVER (Not even a empty spot on a page to let you know a ad was there), and no popups. You cannot get that with IE7.
Again, I'm not dissing Firefox. It has a lot of good features, and great web development plugins. But fast? Not even.