Week in review: A speedier new Firefox

Mozilla's latest browser version, Firefox 3.5, made its official public debut this week, pleasing users with new, faster features, but in no particular way leaping ahead of its predecessor or its growing host of competitors.

Firefox 3.5, the embodiment of Mozilla's attempt to "upgrade the Web," was released Thursday for Windows, Windows Portable, Mac, and Linux. Some of its key improvements are a new a new JavaScript engine for faster Web applications such as Google Docs; the ability to show video built into Web pages without plug-ins; a private browsing mode; fancy downloadable fonts; and geolocation technology that can let Web sites know where you are.

Firefox 3.5 slideshow

1-2 of 10

Scroll Left Scroll Right

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

These features excited users, though they came as little surprise. The release followed a testing process that involved four beta builds, three release candidates, and a version number change.

But the thing is, even though Mozilla's browser broke Microsoft's lock on the market--Internet Explorer's market share is down a dramatic 8 percentage points to 65.5 percent in about the last year--Firefox is no longer the only scrappy, alternative browser in town. Other serious contenders now include Apple's Safari, Google's Chrome, and Opera.

And of course, there's also the challenge of getting Web programmers to employ Firefox 3.5's features.

Still, Firefox has come a long way, as we illustrate in this history of its big interface changes, from version 0.8 up to this week's release. And don't miss our list of Firefox extensions we've found to work--or break--in the new Firefox 3.5.

Mozilla Firefox 3.5

More headlines

Touch in Windows 7: Just for show?

Support for multitouch input is one of the most tangible ways that Windows 7 differs from its predecessors. But will many people actually get their hands on the technology?
•  FAQ: Making sense of Windows 7 upgrade options
•  Microsoft Bing's first month produces small share gain
•  Report: Microsoft to cut Razorfish loose

DOJ to investigate Google Books settlement

Investigators with the Justice Department will probe whether or not Google's agreement with publishers over the digital rights to index books violates antitrust laws.

Report: Acquittal in MySpace suicide case

Lori Drew allegedly used a fake MySpace profile to harass a teenager to the point of suicide, but judge says prosecutors can't use the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act against her.
•  Court: MySpace not liable for offline assaults

Gmail labels get higher placement, drag-and-drop

Google is bowing to the notion that some people use Gmail's labels like traditional e-mail folders, and will now let them to drag messages "into" labels while organizing mail.
•  Postini: Google's take on e-mail security

How I became a walking hot spot

road trip CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman arrived in Aspen with an iPhone with no battery life. He used Verizon's MiFi 2200 to create a walking Wi-Fi hot-spot for an iPod Touch.
•  Arches and canyons and buttes, oh my!
•  Road Trip 2009 hits 1,000 miles in the Rockies

Yahoo redesigns data center, ditches carbon offsets

A new data center in Lockport, N.Y., is part of a strategy that Yahoo believes will allow it to end carbon offset purchases to reach carbon-neutral status.
•  Yahoo winding down Maven Networks
•  Yahoo enables twittering via Flickr
•  Yahoo's Delicious proves Chrome extensions real

China delays rule for Net-screening software

Beijing postpones a requirement that PC makers preinstall Green Dam software for filtering Internet content. But it may be just a temporary reprieve.

Report: Dell working on Android gadget

Dell is developing a pocket-size Internet device to take on Apple's iPod Touch, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Also of note
•  Facebook cleans up its privacy controls
•  New dashboard shows where federal IT tax dollars go
•  'Accidental Billionaires' is deliberately careful
•  Swedish company to buy Pirate Bay
•  Apple's Steve Jobs back at work