The Inquisitr » firefox

Wow … Mozilla sides with Microsoft over Google’s Chrome Frame plugin

Steven Hodson — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:14:32 +0000

It was expected that Microsoft would attempt in some fashion to downplay Google’s Chrome Frame plugin that is designed to replace Internet Explorer’s web rendering engine with the one that power’s Google’s own Chrome browser. Of course they didn’t let us down in that fashion calling the plugin as a security threat for users of IE and the Internet. What wasn’t really expected was for Mozilla to come out publically on the same side of the fence as Microsoft.

Google’s reasoning for creating and releasing the plugin is that they just couldn’t get IE to play nice with their upcoming release of Google Wave so rather than wasting valuable time trying they created the Chrome Frame plugin.

While Mozilla agreed with Microsoft about the security issues Mitchell Baker, CEO of the Mozilla Foundation, argues that it could end up being detrimental to the user experience

According to Baker, Chrome Frame’s browser-in-a-browser will confuse users and render some of their familiar tools useless. "Once your browser has fragmented into multiple rendering engines, it’s very hard to manage information across Web sites. Some information will be manageable from the browser you use and some information from Chrome Frame. This defeats one of the most important ways in which a browser can help people manage their [Web] experience."

Source: Computer World – Mozilla slams Google’s Chrome Frame as ‘browser soup’

In addition vice president of Mozilla Mike Shaver had this to say in a cnet interview

Specifically, Shaver said Chrome Frame can disable IE features and muddle users’ understanding of Web security matters. And users of the reviled IE 6 browser, he added, often won’t be able to run Chrome Frame anyway because their computer is locked down to prohibit changes or lacks sufficient power in the first place.

"As a side effect, the user’s understanding of the Web’s security model and the behavior of their browser is seriously hindered by delegating the choice of software to the developers of individual sites they visit. It is a problem that we have seen repeatedly with other stack plug-ins like Flash, Silverlight and Java, and not one that I think we need to see replayed again under the banner of HTML5," he said.

Over 50% of Firefox users are cheap pricks

Steven Hodson — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:48:57 +0000

We live in an online world where everything is suppose to be free (thanks for that Mr. Anderson) regardless of the number of hours someone has put into what they are making available via the web. Whether it be something as simple as a blog post or as involved as writing a plugin for Firefox everyone wants it for free.

There is no denying that Firefox would be as popular today without the incredibly rich add-on developer community that has made the browser the potential Internet Explorer killer it is. I have lost count of the number of times I have seen people write about how important the Firefox add-ons are. So much so that there has been an on-going discussion among developers about how they can monetize their work, because trust me there is a lot of time and effort that goes into creating and maintaining these add-ons.

Well Mozilla obviously has been listening to these conversations and as a result have introduced a pilot program to make a little spare change for their efforts. At this point the pilot program is only including a selected number of developers but if it proves successful they will open it up to all. For those that are involved in the program you will see the following when you go to the add-on’s page

But here’s the thing – not everyone is willing to pay anything for even the most popular add-ons if the poll being run by cnet is any indication. In fact right now more that 50% of the people who have responded to the poll say that they would never pay for a browser add-on.

As someone who has spent over a hundred dollars in the last couple of weeks for something as simple as themes; which it ends up I won’t be using for various reasons, the idea that people aren’t even willing to chip in something like $5 for a Firefox add-on they just can’t live without says only one thing – you’re a bunch of cheap pricks.

No related posts.

First Microsoft shook up its search – next up: Internet Explorer

Steven Hodson — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:45:00 +0000

There were, and still are, a lot of naysayers about Microsoft’s recent reworking of its search offering and subsequent launch of Bing. Its impact on the whole search business was never expected to be earth shattering but it has surprised more than a few by gaining percentage points. One can’t be sure if it will continue to grow or not but it showed that the company can indeed shake things up.

As I was reading a post on Technologizer by Harry McCracken about the slipping of Internet Explorer’s market share it got me thinking about the same thing I had written about in the past when it came to search. In a post on my home blog back in January 2007 where I suggested that if Microsoft wanted to make headway in search it was time they started a search skunkworks project.

The idea was of putting together a very small core group of developers and keep the marketing department as far away as possible in the hopes that they could build something new and fresh. While they didn’t go that route with Bing they came pretty close and I think that they should do exactly the same thing when it comes to Internet Explorer.

End of the line

In effect I would suggest that IE8 should be the last Internet Explorer. Any browser from Microsoft that comes after should be a completely new beast with a new name, a whole new frame of mind. I say this because the Internet Explorer name has way too much negative ‘emotional’ baggage that is being carted along version to version. The only reason that IE has any placement on the desktop anymore is because it comes with the operating system.

Other than those wanting to test out each new version so they can write negative posts about it, or diehard IE users looking to upgrade. Hell I was a diehard IE user for years. Sure, I tried out Firefox (never have liked it), Opera, Safari and Chrome. It is the last one that finally got me away from IE and chances are I won’t go back; and I’m not alone. As McCracken points out in his post

But I assume that Microsoft would prefer to not only stop the bleeding but to get IE growing again. The only way that’ll happen is if users of other Windows browsers–Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari–switch to IE in measurable quantities.

What are the chances of that happening? Slim, I think. For Windows users, running anything other than IE represents a conscious decision to use a browser other than the default one their OS came with. Typical users of Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari-for-Windows users all seem to be dedicated fans of their browser of choice. And once you’ve found a browser you’re comfortable with, the incentive to stick with it is high. For all these reasons, any version of IE is going to need to be strikingly different and better to lure expatriates back.

Why a skunkworks project?

One of the biggest problems that Microsoft has created for itself is that because of the ingrained nature of Windows and IE their software has to be backward compatible to the point that it becomes a bloated mess of code. If they were to start fresh it would have to be with the internal understanding that this is a complete fresh start – no dragging any code from IE forward. If they were to do this and word got out I think you would see a lot of corporate businesses become worried because of the in-house investment they have in using IE.

This in turn could exert pressure on Microsoft to re-consider and that would kill any chance of a fresh start. Make no mistake Microsoft has to do something when it comes to a browser. Internet Explorer is becoming an albatross around their neck and will continue to lose ground in the browser world.

So any initial work on a new browser would have to be done very quietly. There are a lot of people who would question whether or not Microsoft could do something like this on the quiet but just look at Windows 7 and Bing to see that they can do it. We might have known Windows 7 was coming but unlike previous versions of the operating system next to nothing was known about it until Sinofsky said so. We might have been hearing something about Kumo, the codename for Bing, but we didn’t find out much about it until they were ready.

Time to send Trident to the bottom of the ocean

Now assuming for the sake of discussion Microsoft did decide to take the plunge and work on a completely new browser. The first thing I would suggest doing is to ditch the Trident rendering engine at least as far as the browser is concerned. They have been using Trident for as long as there has been an IE but I would strongly suggest that they switch to using WebKit as the basis for the browser.

I suggest this for a couple of reasons. As I wrote previously one of these reasons is

If you consider that by moving to the WebKit engine Microsoft would be giving an incredible boost to an open source product as well the number of developers that would begin getting involved in making the engine better is huge. Consider that in this case WebKit would now be the default rendering engine being used in IE, Safari and Chrome – that means a shitload of developers are now available to improve the common engine. It would also leave Firefox out on its own and with it’s mortal enemy IE able to claim open source and compliance rights thereby taking away the major arguing point Firefox has for getting new users.

The effects of this kind of move would be a big public relations plus for the company. Microsoft has already been making moves to be a part of the open source movement but this would be a big step forward that would get a lot of people talking.

And that is one oft he other reasons why a move to using WebKit would be a key idea. The buzz that would surround the company as they launched a totally new browser based on the same open standards as two other major browsers would be immense. McCracken asked in his post what it would take for people to move to a Microsoft browser and stem the flow of people moving to other browsers as well as bring in new users. Well I think some thing like this would definitely fit the bill as an answer to his question.

Wrapping up

Internet Explorer (any version) is a pig with a lot of bad press surrounding it and I don’t believe that IE 8 or any future version of Internet Explorer will do anything to change that perception. I realize that any chance of anything I have suggested coming to fruition is probably never going to happen. It is also obvious that the company is losing market share in the browser world and that is something it can’t afford to let happen. Unfortunately I just don’t see Internet Explorer, now and the road forward, ever being able to turn things around.

Q: What browser do you use? – A: Google [VIDEO]

Steven Hodson — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:08:08 +0000

I have to give big props to the guys over at TheNextWeb.com for finding this gem of a video – oh and the headline it’s actually from the video and their answer wasn’t Google Chrome. It was just – Google.

While the Zee might have been surprised by some of the answers from the people on the street I’m not. the fact that the majority of people thought Google, Yahoo were browsers doesn’t surprise me one bit. Heck there was even one diehard “AOL is the web” guy. Rather than spoil it any further take the 2 – 3 minutes it takes and watch the video. It’s a great way to end a Friday.

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The war of browser plug-ins

Steven Hodson — Sat, 02 May 2009 17:45:05 +0000

At some point this had to happen – browser plug-ins with opposite agendas coming into some sort of conflict. Such is the case of the recent updating of the well known NoScript plug-in and the equally well known Adblock Plus plug-in, both for the Firefox browser.

The simmering war of words has been most apparent on the Adblock Plus blog where Wladimir Palant, the author of the plug-in, keeps in touch with the users of the plug-in (I was unable to find a blog for NoScript). It was a recent post that Wladimir first talked about the problem that a lot of plug-in authors face, especially if their work becomes popular as is the case with his; and the NoScript, plug-in has. It is a problem of time versus earning a living.

Many of the most well known plug-ins are still a labor of love with their authors doing all the work in their spare time. The problem is that once you cross the line from being just one of the many available plug-ins to being one of the plug-ins that devoted fans of browsers like Firefox install by default. It is these plug-ins that require more and more of the author’s time. Time that some authors are trying to find ways to get paid for.

In his post Wladimir made it quite obvious that he understands why some authors may go the monetization route but what worried him was the methods that would be used.

So far, getting money for your work ranges from begging for donations over post-install pages with ads (where some go pretty far to make sure these ads are seen) to showing ads in the extension itself. Now I am afraid that we might see another development that we already know from desktop applications: extensions that change your homepage/default search engine or install unrelated extensions if you aren’t careful enough to opt-out.

It wasn’t long after that post that he found himself having to deal with a competing plug-in that in order to monetize itself was making modification to his plug-in, Adblock Plus. From today’s post on the escalating war of words

What followed was a small war — the website would add various tricks to prevent Adblock Plus with EasyList from blocking ads, EasyList kept adjusting filters. Then, a week ago a new NoScript version was released. A few days later I noticed first bug reports — apparently, Adblock Plus “glitches” were observed with this NoScript version, especially around NoScript’s domains (but not only those). When I investigated this issue I couldn’t believe my eyes. NoScript was extended by a piece of obfuscated (!) code to specifically target Adblock Plus and disable parts of its functionality. The issues caused by this manipulation were declared as “compatibility issues” in the NoScript forum, even now I still didn’t see any official admission of crippling Adblock Plus. Clearly, NoScript is moving from the gray area of adware into dark black area of scareware, making money at user’s expense at any cost.

Now Wladimir has added an update to that post letting everyone know that this current battle has been won in that NoScript, through some pushing from the people responsible for the Mozilla Add-ons Policy, has had to stop modifying the Adblock Plus subscription filter. How long this quiet period will last is anyone’s guess but it belies a larger problem in the plug-in landscape; which Wladimir talked about – how do popular plug-in authors justify their time spent on these often complex pieces of code?

There are literally thousands of plug-ins available for just Firefox alone, often doing similar jobs and vying for user attention. Trying to set oneself apart from the pack is a difficult proposition even without having to consider if you want to make any kind of money from your work. Granted a large majority of plug-in authors are firm believers of the Open Source and GPL licensing model; but when you get to the level of popularity experienced by plug-ins like Adblock Plus and NoScript it can be harder to justify all the time spent on the project.

Throw in the fact that many of the users of one plug-in are going to be users of a similar; and to a degree competing, plug-in things might get a little nasty. This might only be one little skirmish but is is also a window onto a larger problem that the plug-in authors may be facing more and more as the popularity of plug-ins increases across the board. At some point people are going to want to find some way to be compensated for their time and warm and fuzzy words of encouragement aren’t going to be enough.

I expect we will see more things like this recent war of words happen more and more on the road forward.

Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 Is Finally Here

JR — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:34:22 +0000

Mozilla has finally released what’s set to be the final beta before Firefox 3.5. Firefox 3.5 beta 4 was made available late last night. It’s the first release under the newly assigned 3.5 label.

Firefox 3.5 Beta 4: What’s New

Despite the impressive number jump, Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 is just a stepping stone up in the beta development chain. The release incorporates a handful of fixes and improvements from its predecessor, Firefox 3.1 Beta 3, including better private browsing functionality and a more stable build of the TraceMonkey JavaScript engine.

The new beta also adds support for geolocation-based location award browsing and native JSON. It’s said to feature faster content rendering as well.

Full release notes about the changes follow. Visit this page to download the release.

Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 is based on the Gecko 1.9.1 rendering platform, which has been under development for the past 10 months. Firefox 3.5 offers many changes over the previous version, supporting new web technologies, improving performance and ease of use, and adding new features for users:

This beta is now available in 70 languages – get your local version.

Improved tools for controlling your private data, including a Private Browsing Mode.
Better performance and stability with the new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine.

The ability to provide Location Aware Browsing using web standards for geolocation.
Support for native JSON, and web worker threads.

Improvements to the Gecko layout engine, including speculative parsing for faster content rendering.

Support for new web technologies such as: HTML5 and elements, downloadable fonts and other new CSS properties, JavaScript query selectors, HTML5 offline data storage for applications, and SVG transforms.

Mozilla Releases Firefox 3.0.9, Preps 3.5 Beta 4

JR — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:57:41 +0000

It’s not Firefox 3.5 yet, but Mozilla has an update available to the Firefox 3.0x browser today. Firefox 3.0.9 is now available for download here. Current Firefox users should be prompted to upgrade within the next two days.

Firefox 3.0.9 fixes a number of security and stability issues. It also repairs a bug in which a corrupted database would cause stored cookies to disappear, as well as a glitch that prevented embedded images from showing up within e-mails on various Web-based mail services.

Two other issues are corrected in the update: one in which new windows would not focus properly, and another in which large forms would submit too slowly.

As for Firefox 3.5 Beta 4, it should be on the way any day now. The fourth beta was originally set to have its code frozen last week, but that was evidently delayed.

Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 is Here

JR — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:57:02 +0000

The much-delayed Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 is now out in the open and available for download. Mozilla says the latest update features numerous new features and performance improvements.

Firefox 3.1 Beta 3: What’s New

Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 was behind schedule because of problems with its TraceMonkey JavaScript engine. Mozilla now seems to think those issues are largely resolved, noting that TraceMonkey’s “performance and stability” are improved in the new release. Other changes in the third beta include:

• An improved “Private Browsing Mode” (commonly called “porn mode”). The history sidebar now has a button to “Forget This Site” as well.

• Improvements to Web worker thread support.

• The addition of native JSON support.

• Improvements to the Gecko layout engine that’ll deliver faster rendering.

• Support for video and audio tags and other new technologies.

You can read more about the new Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 and download a copy here. Remember that this is not a final release and may still have problems — Mozilla does not recommend it for general public use.

Firefox 3.1’s New Number

This beta will be the last release under the Firefox 3.1 designation. Starting with the fourth (and as of now final) beta, the program will become Firefox 3.5. Developers decided to make the jump because of the vast amount of changes within the release.

As for timing, Mozilla has stated it does not expect to make its original first quarter goal for the final Firefox 3.5 release. No specifics have been determined thus far, though, so stay tuned.

Mozilla Changing Firefox 3.1 to Firefox 3.5

JR — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:39:06 +0000

Update: It’s a go. Mozilla has approved the proposal to make the change.

Mozilla’s frequently delayed Firefox 3.1 release may now become Firefox 3.5, the company has revealed. Engineers are considering renaming the next major Firefox update to reflect the significant changes within the program.

Firefox 3.5 Discussions

The idea for skipping ahead to the Firefox 3.5 designation came up at Mozilla meeting Wednesday. The proposal would leave the upcoming beta 3 under the 3.1 name, then bring in the 3.5 branding beginning with the (apparently now definite) fourth beta.

“The increase in scope represented by TraceMonkey and Private Browsing, plus the sheer volume of work that’s gone into everything from video and layout to places and the plugin service make it a larger increment than we believe is reasonable to label ‘.1,’ Mozilla’s Mike Shaver writes in a company discussion forum.

“3.5 will help set expectations better about the amount of awesome that’s packed into Shiretoko, and we expect uptake help from that as well,” he says.

The new numbering, Shaver notes, would not indicate plans for additional features to be added into the upcoming release; rather, it would simply better represent the work that has already been done.

As of now, Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 is expected to be made publicly available late next week, on March 12. That date, however, has been set and changed before, so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, Firefox 3.0.7–a minor security and stability update–was released this week. It is available for download at the official GetFirefox.com Web site.

Safari’s market share passes 10%, and it deserves it

Duncan Riley — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 04:04:55 +0000

The release of the lightning fast Safari 4 web browser has pushed Apple’s share of the browser market to above 10% for the first time.

Reports Net Applications (via ITPro UK)

Internet Explorer (IE) retained its dominant position last month, as its average browser share dropped marginally from 68.18 to 68.17 per cent.

Mozilla‘s Firefox gained 0.21 per cent to achieve a 21.96 per cent share, and Google’s Chrome grew 0.03 per cent to 1.16 per cent. Opera grew from 0.68 to 0.70 per cent of the market.

But the main change came with Apple’s Safari, after the version 4 beta of the browser was released last week.

The beta release helped push Apple’s browser market share to 10.91 per cent, or 1.88 per cent more than the same time in the week before its release. Last month, it was 9.04 per cent.

The report also said that the Safari 4 beta release grew its share of users by almost 0.5% a day following its release, to 1.04% on day four, or 10 million users, a quicker uptake rate than ever recorded for previous releases for browsers such as IE and Firefox.

As I type this post on my laptop via a reasonably slow 3G modem, I can only say that Safari deserves the share. As we reported initially, Safari 4 is fast, but you don’t notice the difference as much on a highspeed connection. On a slower connection like the one I’m on now, the difference is remarkable. I’m that impressed that it’s now my number one recommended web browser for people on slower connections.

Gmail Adds New Custom Title Bar Labs Feature

JR — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:59:43 +0000

Following its day of nonstop downtime coverage, Google is releasing some slightly less negative news this Wednesday: a new Gmail Labs feature that lets you customize the browser title bar.

The option, now available in the Gmail Labs menu, lets you choose to place your inbox count before the word “Gmail” in the browser bar. That way, you can see how many new messages you have at a quick glance on a toolbar or inactive tab.

A handy little feature–though one already familiar to users of Gina Trapani’s Better Gmail Firefox extension, which has offered the option for quite some time.

Google

The EU, Google, Mozilla and especially Opera are a bunch of asshats

Steven Hodson — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 03:53:29 +0000

I’ve been stewing over this bucketful of crap about the European Union wanting to give Microsoft the good old underhanded grab because Opera is whining about how it can’t get any market share away from Microsoft because of Internet Explorer being shipped as part of the Windows OS. Then Mozilla decides that ya that sounds like a great idea and jumps on the EU bandwagon like a bunch of whiney little brats. Now today Google decides is doesn’t want to be left out of any parties so it petitions to join in on the anti-trust case.

Sorry but the whole argument that Microsoft has a monopoly on the browser market because it ships IE with Windows is nothing short of bullshit – plain and simple. The idea behind a monopoly is that Company ‘A’ has a complete stranglehold on a segment of the market that not a single competitor has a chance to gain customers away from them.

Well excuse me all to hell but perhaps nobody is paying attention to the numbers in this lala-land but tell me the name of the one company that has been losing browser market share over the past year.

C’mon .. it’s not hard. Hell just Google for it and the numbers are there for those that aren’t frikken blind.

The only company to see its numbers go down; and no Opera you don’t count anymore, is Microsoft. Mozilla’s Firefox has continually climbed with numbers of anywhere between 20% to 30% being commonly tossed around. Even Google’s Chrome in its short life has been taking away users from Internet Explorer so what the hell do they have to bitch about. Then we have Apple’s Safari browser which is also showing strong gains, and speaking of Safari if the big whine point everyone has against Microsoft is that they ship their own browser with their own operating system how come Apple is getting a pass?

The fact is that the browser market is one of the strongest ones out there as far as software is concerned. All the players – the serious ones anyway – hard pushing hard and producing great products. Firefox continues to grow but is facing some stiff competition from both Google and Apple. As far as I am concerned this whole EU nonsense is nothing more than them trying to return to the Microsoft ATM to see if they can grab a few more billion and Microsoft’s competitors are only to willing to tag along.

Safari 4 Beta Released: The Need for Speed

Duncan Riley — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:33:08 +0000

Apple has upped the ante in the browser wars with the release of Safari 4 beta.

The new version of Safari, built on top of Apple’s open source Webkit code comes with a range of new features, but it’s speed where it excels.

Apple claims that its new JavaScript engine in Safari runs JavaScript 4.2 times faster than Safari 3, and up to 30 times faster than IE 7. Javascript engines probably don’t mean a lot to most people, but the end results are just as impressive; Apple claims Safari 4 is three times as fast as Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 3 in loading pages.

In practice, the difference isn’t quite as great as three times, but it is clearly quicker from the moment you first load a page. Across a number of sites, the average load speed for Safari was 66% to 100% (1.66-2x) quicker than Firefox 3 on my MacPro. I can’t compare it to the last version, but feels quicker across a range of sites (I use Safari for most browsing). Either way, it’s fast.

The new version also comes with a range of new features that make the browser highly appealing. Safari’s developer tools have had a big upgrade which takes them further into Firebug territory, but with a lot more polish and a range of extras, such as the ability to browse databases and run SQL queries.

For Safari users on Windows, Apple has abandoned the default chrome look taken from Macs and now presents itself as a normal looking Windows app. Not a huge change, but one that makes Safari less foreign for Windows users who are trying it out.

Safari now supports coverflow, allowing users who like to use a lot of tabs to browse through what they have open, and also previously browsed sites. New feature Top Sites aggregates the sites you most regularly browse to in an appealing 3D interface.

The list of changes and new features is too long, but you can read all 150 of them here.

Getting people to change browsers isn’t an easy task, and Safari only has a small market share today. This new release though defines itself by speed and feature set, and it’s a highly appealing package. If you haven’t tried Safari before, or if you’ve tried it but didn’t like it, give this version a shot.

Firefox 3.1 Update: Possible Fourth Beta, Talk of Pulling TraceMonkey Altogether

JR — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:22:59 +0000

Don’t count on seeing the final Firefox 3.1 release any time in the immediate future. Mozilla now says a first quarter release of the product is unlikely–and that’s just one of several new details revealed in the past few days.

Firefox 3.1: The Latest

Mozilla delayed Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 a few weeks ago. Engineers then targeted February 18 for the release. That, of course, did not happen, and the third beta is currently tentatively slated for March 2.

As for a final release, VP of Engineering Mike Shaver now tells InfoWorld the current schedule on the table would put the date well out of its original early 2008 timeframe.

“To make it in Q1, we’d have to rush it more than we want to,” he says.

Shaver also adds that Mozilla may insert a fourth beta into the process. Developers had initially planned for only two betas but added the third back in November.

Firefox 3.1: TraceMonkey Talk

The date discussion comes as some Mozilla developers are calling for the 3.1 browser’s JavaScript engine, known as TraceMonkey, to be pulled completely from the product. The engine has been cited as the main hold-up with the release.

“Without TraceMonkey, we probably could have shipped 3.1 final by now, or, if not now, within the next month,” one developer posted in a company forum. “I think there should be a limit to the amount we’re willing to slip 3.1 to accommodate TraceMonkey, and I think we should decide what that limit is.”

Another developer suggested leaving TraceMonkey functionality in, but having it disabled by default (as was the case with past beta releases).

“Adventurous users can turn it on, and we can turn it right back on by default on the trunk / 3.2 alpha work,” he says. “Releases require compromise-logic, and there’s good stuff in 3.1 being blocked by TM.”

Shaver, the vice president of engineering, indicated to InfoWorld that TraceMonkey probably won’t be cut altogether. “We’re always looking at all of our choices, but I don’t think it’s likely,” he said.

Firefox 3.2: A Sneak Peek Ahead

JR — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:19:35 +0000

With Firefox 3.1 creeping closer to its release, Mozilla is starting to look ahead to the browser’s next major update. Ready for a sneak peek at what’s in store for Firefox 3.2?

Meet Firefox 3.2

Several new features are being planned for Firefox 3.2, Mozilla engineer Mike Connor revealed in an interview this morning. Among them:

• Integration of Mozilla’s Ubiquity Labs project. Ubiquity lets you enter “natural language” phrases directly into the browser — phrases like “share-on-delicious” to bookmark a page on Delicious, for example. (Demo video here.) The Labs version of Ubiquity, once installed, requires you to hit Ctrl-Space to input the commands. Mozilla wants to build the functionality directly into Firefox’s “Awesome Bar” for the 3.2 release, Connor says.

• Integration of Mozilla’s Prism Labs project. Prism offers the Chrome-like ability to “split Web applications” out of your browser and have them function as standalone desktop utilities. Say you wanted to be able to run Google Calendar like a regular program. With Prism, you can give it its own environment that’ll look and act more like an application than a browser window.

• Addition of “lightweight theming.” That’ll mean you can customize your browser’s look without having to download individual themes or add-ons.

Other features under development in Mozilla Labs may make their way into future versions of Firefox, too. “We’re looking for more pure innovation than just incrementally getting better,” Connor tells PC Pro. “All the stuff we set out to do in the beginning is already done. What next? Make it faster? That’s not really a great answer for us.”

Firefox 3.2 could come by the end of the year, Connor indicates. It may also end up being pushed back until next spring.

In the meantime, Mozilla is beginning its final testing on Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 this week. New details about the timeline for the beta’s release are here.

Mozilla Sets the Date For Firefox 3.1 Beta 3

JR — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:07:36 +0000

Mozilla has set the date for its slightly delayed Firefox 3.1 Beta 3. The product is now scheduled to be released next Wednesday, February 18.

Beta 3, you may remember, was initially scheduled to be completed in January. Mozilla ended up pushing back the date because of some problems with the browser’s Javascript engine. The new date is still listed as “tentative,” so the plans could conceivably shift again.

Mozilla is using this week, meanwhile, to conduct final testing on the program. Beta 3 candidates are available for download at the nightly build site. “This is sort of Bugday and Testday rolled together but spread out over an entire week,” developers say.

Testers are looking carefully at some of the beta’s new features, which include the Private Browsing option, the ability to clear only your recent history, and the inclusion of HTML video and audio tags.

Mozilla had originally anticipated having the final release of Firefox 3.1 ready within the first quarter of 2009. Developers, however, have indicated the recent delays may force them to move the date back past that period.

Amidst all of that, plans are already being made for Firefox 3.2. Get a sneak peek at what’s ahead here.

Opera Prepping Superfast “Carakan” JavaScript Engine

JR — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:09:16 +0000

Opera is getting into the game of speedy JavaScript processing with a new JavaScript engine called Carakan. The under-development engine is said to be 2.5 times faster than the engine available now in Opera 10.

That engine — called Futhark — was designed to cut down on memory usage rather than hit the highest possible speed, engineers say. Now, they’re ready to step up to the starting line and duke it out with Firefox and Chrome for the “fastest browser on the market” title. (Sorry, IE. You really just can’t compete here, not even with IE8.)

So what’s the deal with the name? “The name Carakan, like the names of Opera’s previous ECMAScript engines, Futhark, Linear A and Linear B, is the name of a writing system, or ’script,’” engineers say.

Carakan is currently being tested on a small-scale basis. Developers hope to have it released in a future Opera version as soon as they can.

You can read the full details of how the JavaScript engine differs from past versions in the Opera blog here.

Mozilla Releases Firefox 3.0.6

JR — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:22:15 +0000

Firefox 3.1 may be delayed, but Mozilla is sending out Firefox 3.0.6 to its 3.x users this week.

Firefox 3.0.6, officially available as of today, fixes several security and stability issues within the browser. It also corrects a couple of glitches, such as one where users were finding parts of the browser window wouldn’t display correctly once Firefox had been open for a while. The update is supposed to have improved support for scripted commands within add-ons like Adblock Plus.

Firefox 3.0.6 will automatically pop up for current 3.x users within the next 48 hours. You can also get it manually by either going to getfirefox.com or clicking on the “Check for Updates” option within the Firefox help menu.

Internet Explorer Loses More Ground While Other Browsers Grow

JR — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:13:50 +0000

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has lost market share for its seventh straight month.

New numbers released by Net Applications show IE dropping to 67.55 percent of the worldwide browser market. That’s 0.6 percent less than it had one month ago, and a full 7 percent less than it had in March of 2008.

Firefox, in the meantime, has steadily grown in the same time period. Mozilla’s browser now commands 21.53 percent of the market, up from 17.83 percent last March. And it’s not the only alternative product growing, either:

• Safari is now up to 8.29 percent, from 5.82 percent last March.

• Chrome is sitting at a modest 1.12 percent but showing monthly growth. (It didn’t have any users last March, as it hadn’t yet been released.)

• Opera has fluctuated around the 0.70 percent mark.

Microsoft, of course, is hoping IE 8 — which saw its first release candidate hit the Net last week — will help it regain some of its lost ground. While the browser is undoubtedly an improvement over its predecessor, I don’t see it offering anything that’ll convince other browser users to switch back.

Mozilla Test Pilot: Watching Your Web Habits (With Permission)

JR — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:52:41 +0000

Mozilla is preparing to launch a new open data collection program called Test Pilot. The program — which is completely optional and requires an active sign-up to be initiated — monitors your online activity so Mozilla can learn how its products’ features work for typical users.

Meet Mozilla Test Pilot

Test Pilot, announced in a blog posting Tuesday, works by installing an extension to your Firefox browser. It then collects non-personally-identifiable data from your browsing sessions and sends it over to Mozilla for processing. Mozilla promises the information will stay aggregated and anonymized.

The ultimate goal is to have the Test Pilot community serve as a 1 percent representative sample of the entire Firefox userbase. Subsequent releases are expected to target other Mozilla platforms and Labs projects.

Open Testing

Test Pilot will only collect data specific to what researchers need at any given moment — it won’t just broadly record everything you do. And, in true Mozilla form, the data will be made publicly available for anyone to use. Moreover, anyone can submit research tests of their own to be conducted within the Test Pilot community.

“Test Pilot is, simply put, part of the massively scaled open usability lab we’re aiming to build at Mozilla Labs,” Aza Raskin, head of user experience at Mozilla Labs, explains.

“[It will be] useful for both developers trying to prioritize features and academic researchers performing in-depth studies.”

Getting Test Pilot

You can read more about the Test Pilot program and watch for the extension to become available here.