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Mozilla nudges Firefox users to latest version
A month and a half after Mozilla issued a significant update to its open-source Web browser, the organization has begun encouraging users of Firefox 3 to install version 3.5.
Firefox 3.0.13 users will see an offer to download the latest iteration of the newer version, 3.5.2, according to a blog post. Firefox 3.5.2 is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Users can go ahead with the update, postpone the reminder, or shut it off altogether, but don't expect this latter option to permanently mute the reminder. Firefox 3.0.x will stop receiving stability and security patches in January, so further coaxing will be likely.
Mozilla touts better performance in version 3.5, along with various features to make the browser a better foundation for running Web applications. But getting people to upgrade can be a problem. One of the biggest obstacles for Firefox, aside from the universal hassle of upgrading, is that Firefox extensions often break with a new version.
Mozilla, though, said more than 90 percent of Firefox's add-ons now work with Firefox 3.5. Meanwhile, Mozilla coders are at work on Firefox 3.6, code-named Namoroka.
Browser upgrades can be a tricky issue. Microsoft is trying to coax users off Internet Explorer 6, a product now 8 years old. Google's newer Chrome browser, by contrast, automatically updates itself to the newest version with no user intervention, though IT administrators can throttle the behavior.
Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank. 
Do yourselves a favor people, use ANYTHING that doesn't come from Redmond. Period. Mac OSX, Ubuntu, Fedora, Solaris, all are more secure and allow you to do what you want without getting in your way. Many of those options are also free and compatible with the hardware you're using right now.
Or stay on the plantation and do as your master commands of you. It's your choice.
Sorry to say it but every paid product you buy comes with a kill switch not just Windows.
Since their product can install on any PC they need a way to protect it from piracy. It may be annoying but its within their rights.
Some examples of products who disable when they detect being cracked or using fake serials.
TuneUp Utilities
Adobe Photoshop
Diskeeper
And pretty much anything requiring a serial.
You can't expect a company to just let people get ahold of a serial and be able to pass it around and be able to unlock the OS infinite amount of times.
I'm running Ubuntu 9.04 & I installed Firefox 3.5 from the 9.04 repository...without any problems. It is now my primary browser.
Re. Firefox 3.5, I've been playing with some of the built in HTML5 stuff (audio, video, etc.) & it is REALLY cool! I can't wait until more HTML5 stuff is added.
@goodspeed8701
We get it, you hate Linux. You can shut up now.
Finally, someone else had the same problem. I'll take it further: Half the pages I went to appeared as broken links and had to be refreshed constantly. My 18mb Internet connection dropped to about 9mb on average. It was so painful, I finally gave up and switched to Explorer 8 and now I'm in heaven, with the exception of the security warning that keeps popping up just about everywhere I go. I really wish the browser wars would actually produce something without all the headaches. For now, Explorer 8 is loads better than Firefox 3.5 and don't even get me started on Google's Chrome (wretched).
Installed FF 3.5 on my neighbors machine running Windows XP (for the moment), it's faster with zero crashes.
She had IE 8 installed on her machine prior to me figuring out what's wrong with it. It was the slowest thing I've ever seen and kept crashing.
Like the other guys said, start with a new profile. It's not the browser that's doing it, it's something in your profile, possibly one of your addons.
He was only detailing his experience no need to troll.
As I've stated above, I had the opposite experience on my neighbors machine. She was running Windows XP with IE 8 and it could barely open. I installed FF 3.5 and it was on the homepage the moment I finished the second click.
Perhaps you'd be so kind as to detail what addons you're using? What other applications are running when you start FF? Which version of Windows are you using?
I can't wait til Google starts adding in things people don't like and half their users get P.O.d because they weren't offered a choice or informed.
I always shut off updates completely, and them I wait for a few months before I decide to install the newer version. That way, all the suckers can work the bugs out for me. I'll then down-load ithe software when it's completely stable and has no more bugs.
But hey, if you like being with the crowd of suckers, that's up to you.
The best thing you can do for your customers stuck on dial-up is write your congressman and get nationwide, cheap, good broadband to be more of a priority.
Wait, did I get you right and you're using 2.0? What system are you using? That could be the real problem.
Your first post proclaims affection for FF 3.5. Everyone taking the trouble to write here likes FF or they wouldn't waste their time. (BTW, USING ALL CAPS IS THE WRITTEN EQUIVALENT OF SHOUTING.) For my part, not only do I prefer FF, but I'm invested in using it--all my financial apps are set up on FF. So I just want to promote efforts to get it fixed.
If you are one of the FF users not experiencing problems with FF 3.5, by all means continue to use it, but keep an eye on its behavior. (E.g. Ctrl-Alt-Del brings up Task Manager on XP: Check that the Firefox process isn't driving the CPU to 100%, especially after you've closed the browser.) If you do serious "production" work in Firefox, it would be prudent to set it up also in IE, just in case. If you do only casual Web surfing in FF, it's only an annoyance if you can't use it for a while.
Finally, in these discussions there is often more heat than light generated. The most anger is expressed by folks who have never had to support complex software environments. The complexity is almost beyond imagination, even in a pristine laboratory environment, which is the furthest thing from the community of Windows Firefox users.
AMD Athlon 64x2 5200+ 2.70GHz, 4GB, 500GB HD, NVIDA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430, Vista Home Premium SP2.
Addon's to FF = Personas, Secure Login, Webmail Notifier, Xmarks, Colorful Tabs, FEBE, IE Tab, MS NET Framework Assistant.
My problems: freezing since in Vista I really don't get any crashes just gray program when it's not responding and it does recover, Problem Loading Page, No Page Found. I really haven't had any problems with speed unless you count the time I am waiting for the freezing, page not founds and problem loading page events and the multiple refreshes. If they only happened now and then it would be fine with me but it's constant so I can't even use it. I save my old downloads it's not a problem for me to just revert back and hope things clear up before support expires but it won't be the first time or the last I run unsupported software because of it's age and the fact that it just works.
- by dimensionless99 August 20, 2009 7:06 PM PDT
- I don't see a point in sticking to one particular browser all the time. I use Chrome for 90% of my browsing and FF for the rest, especially for websites that don't fully support Chrome, like some scientific journals (oddly enough...). Both softwares are great. I've had no problem with 3.5 and I actually do find it faster.
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(47 Comments)I love how the competition is forcing innovation, like FF supporting private browsing and tab dragging as Chrome did... Sure it's "copying" but it makes sense when the features are actually good for the user.