lorentz

Firefox 'Lorentz' arrives but with restrictions

Firefox 3.6.4 might not sound like a major update, but the latest version debuts an important new feature for Mozilla's browser. Code-named "Lorentz" and available for Windows and Linux, the update includes the highly-anticipated Out-of-Process Plug-in (OOPP) "sandboxing" feature that prevents specific plug-ins that crash from taking down the entire browser. In this initial implementation, OOPP will prevent Adobe Flash, Apple QuickTime, and Microsoft Silverlight crashes from causing browser-wide instability.

While Mac users do get the security fixes made in their version of Firefox 3.6.4, they won't get OOPP support. … Read more

As Mozilla readies latest browser, Weave becomes Firefox Sync

Mozilla nudged Firefox 3.6.4 one step closer to its official release by pushing out the first release candidate version of the browser. Meanwhile, Weave Sync has been re-branded Firefox Sync in anticipation of its eventual inclusion in the Mozilla product. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, Firefox 3.6.4 Release Candidate 1 began rolling out to Firefox beta users on May 28th and is notable for locking down the features and fixes the browser maker has been working on since January. For its part, add-on Firefox Sync 1.3 introduces a menu option under History for automatically … Read more

Mozilla's 'Lorentz,' 'Lanikai' edge closer to release

Web browsing and e-mailing from Mozilla got a bit of a bump forward on Wednesday, as the company updated its beta test builds of Firefox 3.6.4 and Thunderbird 3.1, respectively code-named Lorentz and Lanikai.

Firefox 3.6.4 beta 3, for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and Thunderbird 3.1 beta 2, for Windows, Mac, and Linux, offer the latest features from Mozilla but are also less stable than the current releases.

When pushed out to all users, Firefox 3.6.4 will incorporate the much-anticipated Out-Of-Process-Plug-in feature, which prevents plug-in crashes from Adobe Systems' Flash, Apple's … Read more

Chrome gets updated, Firefox 'Lorentz' enters beta

The stable build of Google Chrome has updated, introducing seven security patches to the browser. Version 4.1.249.1059 for Windows incorporates four high-priority security fixes and three medium-priority ones.

The high-priority fixes, introduced Tuesday, correct type confusion errors with forums, memory corruption in the V8 JavaScript engine bindings, cross-site scripting vulnerabilities on the Chrome downloads page, and HTTP request errors. The first two corrections earned user "kuzzcc" $500 each in Google Chrome's vulnerability discovery rewards program.

The medium-priority errors involved local file reference through developer tools, cross-site scripting in chrome://net-internals, and the discovery that … Read more

Firefox 3.6 due this month; next comes 'Lorentz'

Mozilla hopes to release the final version of Firefox 3.6 later this month and a stability-improving update code-named Lorentz by March as part of a revised updating strategy.

Mike Beltzner, Mozilla's director of Firefox, said Tuesday that he's pleased so far with his scrutiny of test data from the more than 1 million people using the first release candidate of Firefox 3.6, which came out late last week.

"So far we haven't found showstoppers," he said. If no more major issues are uncovered, "we're looking at releasing somewhere in the last … Read more

Firefox development dilemma: Tweak or overhaul?

Mozilla is building a number of features into the upcoming Firefox 3.7 browser--but the organization now has begun stewing over whether to introduce some of them in a significant update, as planned, or to rewrite some sooner for a variation of the current browser.

Programmer Benjamin Smedberg proposed the retrofit approach with a version called Lorentz on a Mozilla mailing list in late December. In the resulting discussion, developers and observers weighed the tactical advantages to each approach and wondered whether the quickening pace of Firefox development is ill-suited to browser users among businesses.

Firefox is based on a … Read more