The Inquisitr » mozilla

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mozilla should be thanking Microsoft for bundling IE not kissing EU’s butt

Steven Hodson — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:47:17 +0000

I can’t believe we are still dealing with this non-issue of Microsoft bundling Internet Explorer with the Windows operating system, let alone looking to the European Union (EU) to give the company another slap for antitrust violations in the matter. On top of that Mozilla has come out on the same side as the EU regulators complaining about Microsoft’s actions. It’s not like past action of the EU regulators made any difference when they force Microsoft to sell a version of Windows without the Windows Media Player bundled with the OS. In fact European OEMs gave Windows N the cold shoulder because no-one wanted the stripped down version. Do we really think that an IE less version of Windows will fair any better?

As far as the monopoly angle that everyone is whining about I think felix over at #comments has the right idea when he said the following in a post today

But that’s not what this law suit is about. It’s about Microsoft’s monopoly. Really? Come on. Are we still on this crap? Microsoft’s browser share has been falling steadily for years – this is non-trivial stuff. Their share is being steadily and meaningfully eroded. It’s not a monopoly anymore. There’s competition. Look Opera, I know you have a cult following, but people just don’t want your browser. Firefox is moving up the charts, so it can obviously be done. Why does the law need to be brought into this?

The fact is that if Microsoft hadn’t been the dominant browser they way it had we might not even have Firefox because it only came about because people were pissed with Internet Explorer. If anything the dominance of IE has spurred browser development as we have Google Chrome slowly making its way up the popularity tree and along with it and Firefox Apple’s Safari has seen a growth in users since it came out with a Windows version. this was the point that Michael Masnick at Techdirt tried to make in his post on this today

Last month, it seemed silly that EU regulators were pursuing Microsoft for antitrust violations in the browser market for bundling IE. It was clear that some of the initial complaints had come from Opera — an also-ran in the browser market. However, it seemed silly because there is vibrant and growing competition in the marketplace. Firefox has continued to grow its market share, and in the past few years we’ve seen new entrants in the browser market from Apple and Google — both of whom have established small, but significant footholds.

So tell me – where the hell is the monopoly?

Personally I think Internet Explorer is still a pile of crap – IE8 is better but compared to the other browsers it is a bloated trojan attracting website breaking pile of crap, and this comes from some-one who has been a faithful IE user for years. Now however I have switched over to Chrome and haven’t looked back since. And I am not alone as looking at the browser market share numbers will tell you – IE is losing its dominate position slowly but surely.

I still hold out hope for the venerable browser though but I also believe that Microsoft needs to start over from scratch. Take their best minds and coders that deal with the web – lock them in a room and restart their browser effort. Key principals should be – extremely light footprint, extensible but without those stupid and dangerous Browser Object Add-ons and finally be totally web compliant – not Microsoft’s version but real compliance.

But this stupidity of Mozilla joining the appeal to the EU for action against Microsoft give me a break. all it is doing is making Mozilla look like a bunch of whiners.

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.

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.

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.

Mozilla Releases New Version of Fennec Mobile Browser

JR — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:48:36 +0000

Mozilla’s long-under-development mobile browser, Fennec, is now in its second alpha phase. Fennec Alpha 2 was officially released this week, taking the focus away for a brief moment from the Firefox 3.1 beta progress.

The Mozilla team says the updated Fennec contains huge performance updates, with faster startup times, better panning and zooming, and better responsiveness while pages are loading.

“We’ve re-factored a significant amount of the front end code resulting in substantial speed improvements as well providing a much better base for extension authors to build upon,” says Stuart Parmenter, Fennec engineering manager.

The Fennec Alpha 2 release is accompanied by an updated desktop version with support for Windows, OS X, and Linux. The desktop version is designed primarily with third-party extension developers in mind, to make testing easier.

Mozilla says its Windows Mobile build is seeing “great progress,” and work is now also beginning on a Symbian version of the program.

More information as well as download links can be found here.

Meet Firefox 3.1 Beta 2

JR — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:21:22 +0000

Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 is officially available. The release marks the first time Mozilla’s super-speedy TraceMonkey Javascript engine is enabled by default and also includes several new features that had been under development for some time, such as Firefox’s Private Browsing Mode and new functions to target specific browsing times or URLs to remove from your history.

Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 also marks the debut of web worker thread support and support for video and audio tag elements. Other under-the-hood additions include the W3C Geolocation API, JavaScript query selectors, CSS 2.1 and 3 properties, SVG transforms, and offline applications. A full list of added features is available here.

The new beta is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. There’s one more step before the final release — Mozilla decided a couple of weeks ago to go for a third beta prior to finishing the new Firefox. Beta 3 is expected to come out in early January, with the full 3.1 release to follow soon after.

Mozilla Releases New Firefox 3.1 Update, Prepares for Third Beta

JR — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 21:07:10 +0000

Mozilla has released what appears to be a complete or near-complete version of Firefox 3.1 beta 2, just one day after officially deciding to insert a third beta in the browser’s development plan.

The build, branded as Firefox 3.1 beta 2 rather than as Mozilla Minefield, appeared in Mozilla’s nightly builds directory early Wednesday morning, as first spotted by the folks at TG Daily. It has the much-touted TraceMonkey Javascript engine enabled, along with what TG Daily interprets as a “look and feel” that “appears to be final.”

Mozilla had originally planned to have Firefox 3.1b2 locked down by early November with a release soon after, so this would fit within that same timetable. The preliminary plans, though, called for the full 3.1 release to follow by late 2008 or early 2009. Now, a third beta will be debuted in early January instead.

The extra beta will be used primarily for last-minute fixes and testing, particularly related to features added into beta 2. Those features include TraceMonkey as well as the private browsing mode and other improvements.

“The insertion of another beta also offers another public consultation point for web and add-on developers, allowing us to react to their feedback,” lead developer Mike Beltzner explains. “With wide-reaching changes like those listed above, it was felt that this was prudent, especially if it could be done without major impact to schedule.”

Beltzner says no changes affecting themes or add-on compatibility will be made in the third beta.

Surprise! The memory issues are back in Firefox

Duncan Riley — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:00:38 +0000

Numerous users of the latest version of the Firefox web browser (3.0.4 released yesterday) are reporting memory issues causing the browser to freeze up or crash. Firefox 2 was plagued with memory management issues, but users had thought Mozilla had put these behind them with Firefox 3.

In my own case, Firefox 3.0.4 has become nearly unusable. The first couple of Firefox 3 releases were fine, and after years of complaining about the product, I couldn’t have been happier. Firefox 3.0.3 seemed a little more unstable, and although there were no clear memory leaks, I went from Firefox never crashing, to Firefox crashing maybe a couple of times a week. Now with Firefox 3.0.4, its a multi-day occurrence. The issue in the new release would appear to be memory related, with memory on my machine spiking over 100% for Firefox with only a handful of tabs open.

Now before Firefox fanboys do their usual trick and whine “it’s your plugins that are doing it” (which is the usual response, because it’s NEVER Firefox’s fault), I’ve tested the latest version of Firefox on three different Macs. My Quad Core Mac Pro with 4GB ram has a number of plugins installed, and I get the memory issue. My Macbook Pro with 2GB ram with 1 plugin installed has the memory issue. My wifes 6 month old Macbook with 1gb and ZERO plugins and really nothing else installed except Leopard HAS THE MEMORY ISSUE.

Here’s some comments on my original mention of the problem from both FriendFeed and Twitter

Its been crashing on me, a dozen times today, at least. – Dave Winer

crashing here too, and I’ve seen it eat all the memory as well – Richard Walker

I’ve continually found FF to be the most constantly crashing browser I have, ever since ver 3. Barring using it’s add-ons for web development, have switched almost entirely to Chrome. – Robin Cannon

Crashed on both machines here in completing their auto update feature. FAIL – Paul W. Swansen

It’s become a crashing bore. Does Chrome work on Macs yet? – Abby Martin

Same problem here, and it’s driving me crazy. I want to use it for the addons, but I’ll go back to using Chrome if I need to. i have no complaints with chrome, except it doesn’t support my favorite addons yet. Does anyone know when that we will see a lot of addons for Chrome? – Michael Fidler

I number of users said they weren’t having issues, although the difference seems to be that the issue may be related primarily to the Mac version, although Inquisitr columnist Steve Hodson who doesn’t own a Mac has the same problem as well: details here on Winextra.

I’ve threatened before to dump Firefox over this issue, yet I’m still using it. Safari doesn’t offer the plugins which are the only reason I stick with it. I guess what saddens me more than anything, as a previous donor to Mozilla (so I’m not just a whining user) is that they never seem to learn. If only someone would come out with a Webkit based browser that supported Firefox plugins natively…..

Mozilla Minefield: Yes, It’s Fast. Really Fast.

JR — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:09:15 +0000

There’s been some talk around the blogosphere about Mozilla Minefield, the superfast and super cool-sounding browser by the folks who bring us Firefox. I decided to give it a whirl and see what it was really about.

Meet Minefield

Minefield, for anyone who may not be familiar with it, is not a secret new Firefox alternative under development. It’s basically just Mozilla’s testing ground for its pre-alpha nightly builds of future browser ideas. I spoke with a Mozilla rep today who told me that we can expect to see a future Firefox version “branch off” of what’s in Minefield now. Since Firefox 3.1 is already in its first beta, the Minefield concepts could likely branch into the second beta, though I was told some could also be held for a future version (Firefox 3.2, Firefox 4.0 — anyone’s guess).

Need For Speed

So, onto the browser: As you may have heard, it is fast. Really fast. After downloading it, you do have to manually enable its souped-up Javascript engine to reap the full benefits (type “about:config” into the address bar, find the “javascript.options.jit.content” line, and click it to toggle it to “true”). Once that happens, though, you will be blown away. One user said it made his “DSL Internet feel like a T1 line,” and it’s not too much of an exaggeration. I found the difference to be extremely noticeable.

With that being said, was it significantly faster than the latest Firefox 3.1 beta with the same Javascript engine activated? That’s debatable. Minefield seemed speedy, no doubt, but I’d say they’re in the same ballpark.

Pre-Release Problems

Like any pre-release software, Minefield isn’t without its issues. While I personally have had no problems thus far, some users report occasional crashes and site compatibility concerns. That’s the risk you take, particularly with a pre-alpha build that changes sometimes multiple times within a single day.

What I did encounter were woes related to plug-in compatibility — common programs such as Better Gmail, BugMeNot, even Greasemonkey didn’t want to work. With that being said, though, I’m told the Nightly Tester extension can essentially solve this.

There have also been some questions surrounding conflicts with existing Firefox installations. Again, I personally did not run into these issues; I’ve toggled back and forth between my old version and Minefield without trouble. With that being said, Minefield does use the same profile as your regular Firefox program, so there is certainly the potential for a conflict. It’s wise to make a profile backup before moving forward with an install.

The Minefield Experience

On the whole, experimenting with Minefield has proven to be a positive experience for me. If you’re interested in getting a glimpse into Mozilla’s future development and trying its latest and (theoretically) greatest stuff, it’s worth giving a go. And, as an added plus, seeing that logo on your desktop will make you feel like a total badass.

New Firefox 3.1 Details Emerge

JR — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:00:43 +0000

Mozilla is revealing new details about features in the works and targeted release dates for the upcoming Firefox 3.1. Beta 1, the company says, is on track to launch next week. It’ll include new options such as the long-discussed HTML video tag support as well as some notable changes to the tab bar. Beta 2, though, is where some of the newest options will come into play.

The build, now scheduled for a November release, is definitely set to include the rumored private browsing mode — presumably a reaction to the same feature being touted in Google’s Chrome release last month (and already available in IE8 and Safari).

Also within the realm of privacy, Mozilla’s taking aim at its competitors with a souped-up, schedule-based data clearing service. Beta 2 will have options to let you select specific time and data ranges for deleting browsing history and the likes. Any questions of whether the move is competition-driven are put to rest by these developer notes:

“The above will clear ALL data that you selected. It would be nice if you could
define a time period of what to clear.

Google Chrome offers a ‘Clear data from this period’ dropdown where you can
select a time period of what to delete.

Default option could be ‘Everything’ with other time frame options such as
‘this session only,’ ‘last day’ etc.”

Other features discussed include an expanded address bar — now being referred to, at least internally, as the “AwesomeBar.” Some of the specifics being planned for it are (more) added privacy options and tab search options. Mozilla’s also working on adding the ability to drag-and-drop tabs in and out of windows (a la Chrome). Enhancements to the TraceMonkey JavaScript engine — which engineers have sworn will outperform Chrome’s V8 engine — are also expected in Beta 2.

Then there are some “maybes” that may or may not make the second beta. One is a “Speed Dial,” reminiscent of the option in Opera and now Chrome, that creates a custom thumbnail-driven home page based on your favorite or most frequently visited sites. Developers are looking at a couple of add-ons — one actually called Speed Dial, and another named Fast Dials — for models of what they may eventually integrate. Another interesting possibility is a “site specific functionality” menu that would give you drop-down options based on where you’re surfing — things such as forgetting passwords, showing cookies, or even zooming into the page.

So, the latest status and timeline for all things Firefox 3.1, as of now:

Beta 1: Released next week
Beta 2: Locked down November 4; released shortly thereafter
Full release: Late 2008 or early 2009

In the meantime, Mozilla’s Mobile browser — codenamed Fennec — is expected to hit alpha mode within weeks. More about its development here.

Update: Mozilla Mobile To Hit Alpha Within Weeks

JR — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:30:16 +0000

Mozilla’s mobile browser, long-under-development with the codename Fennec, should be available in alpha release within a matter of weeks. Engineers released Milestone 8 of the tool at the end of September and have previously said the utility will be finished and ready for use by early 2009.

Mozilla chief executive John Lilly now indicates things are progressing quickly. In a new interview with the San Jose Mercury News, Lilly says:

“We want to make sure that the Web on mobile is more like the Web than what the mobile industry offers today, which is closed, separate networks and not a very good information-getting experience for the user. The first thing is to bring Firefox to mobile devices. We’re working on that, and we’ll see some alphas in a few weeks.”

Fennec’s early versions have been tested with Nokia models, but Mozilla intends to have the browser support multiple platforms by the time it’s ready to roll.