A test version of an updated Firefox browser is out, offering such features as automatic updates and improvements designed to speed browser navigation.
Firefox 1.5 Release Candidate 1, which came out earlier this week, is a preview of the upcoming version of the browser. The final release is expected later this year, following several delays.
"It has been made available for testing purposes only, with no end-user support. If that sounds scary, you'd probably be better off with the latest version of Firefox 1.0," according to a statement on the Mozilla Foundation Firefox Project's Web site. The Mozilla Foundation assists in the development of the open-source browser.
Firefox 1.5 Release Candidate 1 offers several new features, ranging from navigation changes to increased support for the Mac OS X operating system.
The test release includes automated updates and more prominent notice of an available update. In addition, the test release is designed to speed navigation via changes to its back and forward buttons.
Security features include enhancements designed to improve pop-up blocking, as well as the ability to quickly remove personal data through a keyboard shortcut or menu item.
Increased support for Mac OS X versions 10.2 or greater includes profile migration from Safari and Mac Internet Explorer.
Does anyone else get a bit suspicious of that number? I appreciate Firefox, and use it for much of my browsing. But that's a _lot_ of downloads. Would Firefox zealots go so far as to create download routines that simply repeatedly download the browser in order to inflate that number?
The 100 million number may be accurate without any shenanigans by zealots. Consider: between two home computers (one Windows, one Linux) I have personally downloaded various iterations of Firefox about 40 times since release 0.8, more than a year and a half ago (some of these were repeat downloads due to having done something incredibly stupid). Given that their upgrade methodology requires a fresh download, this may not be atypical for a medium or long-term user. If we settle on, say, 20 downloads per long-term user, then only 5 million of us need exist to attain this milestone. Toss in the five-or-fewer recent downloaders and 100 million now seems to have taken a while to reach. I can't say that intentional inflation wasn't employed by the misguided; it doesn't seem necessary, though. There are just too many unknowns to know for sure.
That wouldn't surprise me -- I recall a quote from an IBM executive (John Patrick?) in the mid-90s touting the market share of OS/2 when most of the "users" were not human, but merely the OS/2 kernel running ATMs.
Ok, not really. I don't really buy into the whole conspiracy theory thing, but I have noticed that firefox seams to hang more often these days on websites. I also noticed that it seams to have started happening after some of the post SP2 updates on Windows XP Pro. Of course it's probably either Microsoft has changed some underpinning again or firefox is getting more complex and will require some speed enhancements.
Maybe percentage use of Firefox is more important than how many downloads have been done. When you consider all the strikes against Firefox, i.e. sites that only function with IE, I think it is doing quite well.
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/440" target="_newWindow">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/440</a> "Firefox fanbase reaches new high More than 10% of net users are going online with the Firefox browser, show figures from analysis firm One Stat. The global average of 11.5% is the highest percentage of users that the open source browser has ever reached. The research also reveals that Americans are the biggest fans of Firefox with 14.1% using it. In the UK 4.9% use it to get around online."
I don't think FF should ever consume 95%, but I do find it to be a memory hog when multiple tabs are open. I do have more than a few extensions, so I'm pretty sure that's the issue -- extensions need to tightened up.
I wouldn't go as far as to say 95%. Under 2% if idle. Mine uses around 30 percent of my CPU when loading sites. Usually it uses around 34 megs of memory. You might be having problems.
This refers to Firefox 1.5 RC 3
Also, just putting this out, I use Firefox, but supposedly Opera is a really good browser, too. Just don't use Netscape or IE. Netscape is quite slow and IE is very insecure.
If you need your browser to be stable, wait for the official release and skip this beta.
If your not using Firefox already once you switch you will never go back to IE.
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Tom
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<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/440" target="_newWindow">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/440</a>
"Firefox fanbase reaches new high
More than 10% of net users are going online with the Firefox browser, show figures from analysis firm One Stat. The global average of 11.5% is the highest percentage of users that the open source browser has ever reached. The research also reveals that Americans are the biggest fans of Firefox with 14.1% using it. In the UK 4.9% use it to get around online."
This refers to Firefox 1.5 RC 3
Also, just putting this out, I use Firefox, but supposedly Opera is a really good browser, too. Just don't use Netscape or IE. Netscape is quite slow and IE is very insecure.
If your not using Firefox already once you switch you will never go back to IE.
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