Mozilla has gone crazy with three new Firefox versions on the way

[Zocom7]

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2011/05/firefox-5-beta-arrives-for-desktop-and-android.ars

WTF? Firefox 4 is just not enough? It's not just Firefox 5 beta released already by Mozilla to the public, so is Firefox 6 beta, and Firefox 7 is just a short matter of time before it's released. No matter what new version of Firefox is, it's not even close enough to compete it out with Google Chrome on low memory usage and faster loading. Mozilla should have merged 4 different Firefox versions into one and become the new hybrid Internet browser as the ultimate Firefox 4, not split into four different versions of Firefox with minor significant improvements and features or one unique ability(s) for each version. It's a thumbs down on Mozilla because you can't just release and use a released new version of Firefox that has a short shell life before a new version comes out in a couple to few months. This will affect future support and coordination.

As for me, I still stick to Firefox 3.0.19 most of the time because the latest versions of Firefox still hasn't been simplified and made other features better and faster. And you know what I hate about the recent versions of Firefox, they use an independent "plugincontainer.exe" to run flash videos and images which slows down the browser.

Geez it won't be long before I will predict that Mozilla will release Firefox 12 in 2012.

[Kyang]

It's not different "versions" in the way you're thinking of, and it's not at all crazy.

It's actually different stages of development of the same product, Firefox.

It's actually incredibly simple too:
(QA = Quality Assurance)

-Nightly, no QA testing done on new features. New updates every night.
-Aurora, Some QA testing done on new features.
-Firefox, Release level QA testing done.


The fact is, the model you're suggesting they go to is exactly the one that couldn't compete with Chrome on for the quick release of new features.



EDIT: Think of them as Open Betas.

[CyborgBanana]

Firefox 4 crashes and freezes on me all the time, in my opinion it was a failure... not to mention sometimes it takes up to a GB of RAM. :/
Mozilla have really lost the lead, Chrome is amazing... and this announcement just makes my opinion even more factual.

[Kyang]

and this announcement just makes my opinion even more factual.

Chrome actually does the exact same thing, lol.

There's a Canary, and Dev build in addition to the final "Chrome" build.

EDIT:
Unless you mean it supports your opinion in that Mozilla is adopting Google's model, and is thus, "Behind".

[CyborgBanana]

Well not for me, Chrome takes up 500mb at most... this seems to be the same for a lot of people. The browser also hasn't crashed once on me since I downloaded it.

[Kyang]

Well not for me, Chrome takes up 500mb at most... this seems to be the same for a lot of people. The browser also hasn't crashed once on me since I downloaded it.

I was referring to criticism around "versions".

[apt.pupil]

yeah, chrome goes through a tonne of version numbers and upgrades, but the thing is they are silent upgrades, and there has only really been one beta version of chrome.

Chrome runs a process that continuously checks for updates in the background, and hen it detects one it automatically installs it, then gives you a little green arrow next to your settings icon. that simply tells people its time to reboot their browser.

However while chrome crunches through the version numbers like there is no tomorrow, the number of game breaking bugs is really limited. Every now and then I might find that flash player wont load, or if I maximise a youtube window the video disappears, but hitting the Esc key fixes the latter problem, and hitting the refresh fixes the former. I still find that mozilla is the biggest resource hog out there that is only as popular as it is because its one of the oldest browsers and it crushed the original "good" browser- Netscape

[Kyang]

I thought it was popular because it was crushing the original "evil" browser, IE6. :/ . Now there's other competitors though, and Firefox is the new "old", lol.

[apt.pupil]

nope. netscape is considered to be the first internet browser and suite ever. It is what made Bill Gates bring out Internet explorer in the first place, since ordering an installation CD obviously wasn't a practical way to get onto the internet, but microsoft also changed how an internet browser should display a web page. after Internet Explorer won the first war, part of Netscape communications broke off and founded Mozilla. By that time, Macintosh brought out safari, and the second browser war began with 5 players fighting for browser dominance. AOL finally fired the netscape staff in 2008 when the netscape penetration was at an all time low, and they couldn't update the Gecko engine in netscape

[Kyang]

nope. netscape is considered to be the first internet browser and suite ever. It is what made Bill Gates bring out Internet explorer in the first place, since ordering an installation CD obviously wasn't a practical way to get onto the internet, but microsoft also changed how an internet browser should display a web page. after Internet Explorer won the first war, part of Netscape communications broke off and founded Mozilla. By that time, Macintosh brought out safari, and the second browser war began with 5 players fighting for browser dominance. AOL finally fired the netscape staff in 2008 when the netscape penetration was at an all time low, and they couldn't update the Gecko engine in netscape

I know the backstory. And Firefox became popular thanks to Netscape losing to IE, while IE was simultaneously dominant, yet stagnant.

Also, Google's backing helped a lot.

[apt.pupil]

yeah. Its quite sad. I was a fan and supporter of netscape through and through.

[ohither]

i'll get chrome as my default browser when it finally gets ad block plus in some form

[apt.pupil]

i'll get chrome as my default browser when it finally gets ad block plus in some form
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gighmmpiobklfepjocnamgkkbiglidom?hl=en

Chrome has had ABP for almost as long as it had an extensions library

[ohither]

yeah, i said ad block PLUS, which is more robust then what GC has

[Kyang]

?

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cfhdojbkjhnklbpkdaibdccddilifddb?hl=en

[ohither]

lol beta version

[Kyang]

lol beta version

Lol, so?

[stormgear]

Firefox 4 crashes and freezes on me all the time, in my opinion it was a failure... not to mention sometimes it takes up to a GB of RAM. :/
Mozilla have really lost the lead, Chrome is amazing... and this announcement just makes my opinion even more factual.
Weird, I have ff4.0.1 with 17 tabs currently open while viewing this thread. And it currently uses up to 318mb.

It's really faster compared to 3.17. I think your performance issue might have to do with the updates themselves and some add-ons that might contribute to its underperformance.

I've read somewhere that it's suggested that you have to thoroughly uninstall the older version to avoid the latest one on using the "wrong resources" that can contribute to its underperformance.

I uninstalled 3.17 in the hopes that 4.0.1 would be better than that and it is. Try this guide to uninstall ff thoroughly, install the latest version and see if it made a difference.

http://www.tweakguides.com/Firefox_3.html

Mozilla has gone crazy with three new Firefox versions on the way
Hmm, they probably hired someone from EA to do that XD

[CyborgBanana]

Weird, I have ff4.0.1 with 17 tabs currently open while viewing this thread. And it currently uses up to 318mb.

It's really faster compared to 3.17. I think your performance issue might have to do with the updates themselves and some add-ons that might contribute to its underperformance.

I've read somewhere that it's suggested that you have to thoroughly uninstall the older version to avoid the latest one on using the "wrong resources" that can contribute to its underperformance.

I uninstalled 3.17 in the hopes that 4.0.1 would be better than that and it is. Try this guide to uninstall ff thoroughly, install the latest version and see if it made a difference.

http://www.tweakguides.com/Firefox_3.html

Hmm, they probably hired someone from EA to do that XD

My issues with Firefox have stopped, I think the issue I was having was patched. But I still use chrome as my default browser anyway, it's so fast.

[R315r4z0r]

I've never tried Chrome, so I can't say anything about it. I've just grown so accustomed to FF that I don't really feel like switching.

Plus, FF4 at the moment is only using about 190-210mb, see:

771

[Zhen]

Ever since I downloaded 4.0.1 I've had small hangs after trying to open the bookmark tab, this happens every time I open firefox. Although it resolves itself after a few minutes, it's horribly annoying.

Has anyone else had this issue? I've never had it on past Betas, RCs or even the latest version of firefox 3. I'll see if 5.0b7 fixes it.

[CyborgBanana]

I've never tried Chrome, so I can't say anything about it. I've just grown so accustomed to FF that I don't really feel like switching.

Plus, FF4 at the moment is only using about 190-210mb, see:

771


In the past, I only used FF and I rarely used Chrome, but after that little issue I was having (which is now fixed) I had to switch to Chrome, and I'm glad I did... it's cleaner, faster, more reliable and less buggy then FF 4. So yeah, this is going to be my default browser for a while...

[Kyang]

Firefox 5 was just released. Mainly performance enhancements and bug fixes. Check it out.

I'll be sticking with Nightly as my main browser.

[CyborgBanana]

Firefox 5 was just released. Mainly performance enhancements and bug fixes. Check it out.

I'll be sticking with Nightly as my main browser.

Ok, I will... and 'Nightly?' Never heard of it... :/

EDIT: Downloaded FF 5 and using it now, very, very fast. And it even uses less RAM then Chrome. Infact, it's faster then Chrome too... I just hope it's as stable. :)

[Kyang]

Nightly is basically the absolute, bleeding edge Firefox. So right now, it's Firefox 7 alpha.

It's updated every night with some of the latest work that the Firefox developers did that day.

Zocom7 was referring to this in this thread, but he didn't really understand what Mozilla was doing.


https://developer.mozilla.org/devnews/index.php/2011/04/07/new-development-channels-and-repositories-for-rapid-releases/

http://blog.mozilla.com/blog/2011/04/13/new-channels-for-firefox-rapid-releases/