An optimized Firefox for the Mac

(Credit: BeatnikPad)

OK. I can't actually call it "Firefox" due to trademark concerns, but a colleague sent me this link to "Minefield," which is a version of Firefox optimized for the Mac.

Is it any good? Well, according to one user, "Starts up faster, scrolls smoother, resizes windows smoother...It's like it's Safari." In other words, a bit like the new launcher icons for OpenOffice.org Aqua, but probably better.

Does this mean it will close the gap with Safari as the world's fastest browser? (Mind you, the gap wasn't very wide.) Perhaps.

I'm going to download it now and give it a try. It won't will work with Firefox extensions so it doesn't hold much interest for me (What would I do without Adblock Plus, Forecast Fox, and my other Firefox extensions?), so it's a great way to get both the best of performance and the best of third-party extensions. For those of you looking for a Mac-optimized speed demon, this may well be your day.

Updated with correct information on extensions. Thanks, James, for the correction.

[jamesurquhart]

Matt,

Minefield for Mac-Intel does in fact support all Firefox 3 compatible extensions. The warning about extensions was simply that Firefox 2 extensions will break, which we knew already. I installed Minefield and ran it, and all of my Firefox extensions and tabs started up as expected.

The only issue that I have is that the app seems to react to calls for execution by third party apps by starting a second instance, which fails. I'll post here if I find a solution.

[asadotzler]

Matt, I'm very interested in your findings. If you get a chance, can you compare it on SunSpider or some other benchmark? It's not at all clear to me what they're "optimizing" here and whether or not they're throwing out Mozilla optimizations like PGO. Also, be careful because the builder is confirming JavaScript problems http://www.beatnikpad.com/archives/2008/06/18/firefox3#c4385

[ducttape36]

you can get this for windows too.