Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

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EvaUnit02
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Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by EvaUnit02 »

Well this update seemed to come out of nowhere, certainly for me anyway. Brad, you're much more dialled into the general tech news than I am, what are your thoughts on Firefox 5.0?
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by romerojpg »

Sadly Firefox is fucked, they are going to be releasing new ones all the time from the sound of it. Pointless major updates for no real reason will be its death.
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by bradavon »

@ Eva: It's basically Firefox 4.1. There is little difference to Firefox 4. As you know Firefox 4 was a major upgrade to make Firefox modern again. I've not tried it. I stopped using Firefox shortly after trying Firefox 4. I miss the ability to customise the UI so much but otherwise Chrome is so much better in every other respect, I really don't miss it.

As Firefox is going to be upgraded so quickly, Mozilla badly need to implement a silent upgrade feature. One that can be turned off obviously but on by default.

@ Romero: Trying doing some research. You know what assumptions equal right? Both Microsoft (kind of) and Mozilla are following (being forced to) Google's lead.

Browser version numbers don't mean what they used to. Yes agreed they should really use point releases more (4.1, 4.5) but they no longer mean "major version number" equals "major changes". Google decided every set of changes would mean a new version number and Mozilla are forced to follow. Lets face it, to the uninitiated Chrome looks better because it's at version 12 compared with Firefox's version 4. It makes it appear to be fresher, more often.

Be it's death? :D. Ha ha. Chrome is doing just fine thanks. Firefox 6 will be out in 6-8 weeks. Get used to it.
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by EvaUnit02 »

The trouble with this browser version number arms race is that extensions will break more often. Bah, may as well modify the Max Version field in install.rdf's for older, unsupported extensions to read "99.x" or something.
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by bradavon »

True.

Mozilla really need to fix that MaxVersion extension bollocks. Guess what? Extensions "just work" in Chrome.
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by bradavon »

I switched to Chrome back in March because Firefox 3.x/4.0 still felt bloated and took an age to load. Since then I've been largely impressed with Chrome, it was sleeker, opened much faster and Chrome Sync is excellent but the past 6 weeks or so it's become very sluggish.

Taking longer to load, open more than a handful of tabs and it literally causes Chrome to freeze (Firefox never actually froze), I had to wait for Chrome to sort it's shit out before I could look at the tabs I'd loaded. I tried to completely remove/install Chrome fresh (nothing extra installed, all defaults) and the problem remained. Weird.

I heard about Firefox 7 coming with Memshrink. An idea to greatly reduce Firefox's memory usage and particularly with multiple tabs (up to 50% less). The other day I officially switched back to Firefox. It still uses way too much memory (but then so does IE/Chrome etc...) but it's kept much better in control (I'm averaging 200-300Mb) and crucially I can open multiple tabs without Firefox grinding to a halt.

To my amazement it even opens quicker than Chrome when using App Tabs (I've got 4 sites pinned to my tab bar), without App Tabs they're about the same.

I literally never thought I'd see Firefox open as quick as Chrome. Chrome's clearly been good for Mozilla. A lot of performance enhancement have happened between Firefox 4 and Firefox 7. I'm also loving how much I can configure it again. I've started using Tab Groups too, mighty useful when you want to separate lots of tabs into groups. Come on Google and add it to Chrome! Opera's got it too.

It's not perfect though:

1. Chrome still has a sleeker interface, although Firefox 4-7 is a hell of a lot better than Firefox 3.x in this respect. I gather Firefox 9 or 10 is going to fix this.
2. Isn't it about time Flash came preinstalled?
3. Chrome Sync is so good you literally just need to install it, login and that's it. Chrome is just how it was on another PC. All you have to do is change any extension setting (most are left at defaults anyway). Firefox sync tabs and history (Chrome doesn't) but Chrome syncs extensions. Something Firefox really needs to add!

I appreciate Firefox's sync model is much more complicated than Chrome's (they're a lot more powerful too) but even if it just synchronisation what extensions you've got installed and you still had to go into Add-ons to install them, it would be something. This makes it much more complicated to install Firefox on another PC.

It's crazy to think Firefox 7 and Opera 11.5 both support Windows 2000 still. Mac support only goes back as far as Leopard (10.5).

I'd still recommend Chrome to the average user though, who only ever have 3-4 tabs open. Any more, Firefox all the way. I can understand why Photoshop uses so much memory but why do browsers? I'd love to know why.
EvaUnit02 wrote:The trouble with this browser version number arms race is that extensions will break more often. Bah, may as well modify the Max Version field in install.rdf's for older, unsupported extensions to read "99.x" or something.
It looks like they're now routinely bumping the MaxVersion flag more quickly. Most of the extensions I'm using had the flag set to 8.0.* when Firefox 6 was the latest. On the day Firefox 7 was released, I only had to bump then manually install one extension. All the rest were already compatible.

Adblock Plus is something like 15.0*. I guess they're assuming Mozilla aren't planning anything drastic with extensions any time soon.
Last edited by bradavon on 04 Oct 2011, 05:17, edited 7 times in total.
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by bradavon »

romerojpg
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by romerojpg »

and that me out of Firefox forever! it just AUTO updated to 7.01 and fucked up my entire PC, well done! its updated and god only knows what it has done, overwritten /changed important things and its gone. What a joke. Lost loads of important work, tossers! no other browser even works properly now either, so its done something to a few things somehow. No browser even shows emails properly in Firefox for gods sake!
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by gasteropod »

:lol: you're absolutely insane.
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

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romerojpg wrote:and that me out of Firefox forever! it just AUTO updated to 7.01
Turn off Auto-Update then jack ass. Jeez do some research. It's well known Firefox 4.0+ auto-updates but (unlike Chrome) it's a tick box to disable. It's a good thing, too many people still use IE6-IE8/Firefox 3.x.

Your entire PC fucking up! I bet you still believe in Father Christmas? You know the world isn't flat right?

A browser being able to fuck an entire PC? Ha ha :D. Please give us more comedy Romero. Unless you downloaded it from some dodgy source, I don't believe it (in which case it'll be malware not Firefox anyway). Your sheer level of nonsense is staggering sometimes.

If you're so dissatisfied with Firefox, give Chrome or Opera a try. In case you wondered what 7.0.1 actually changed look here (not much btw): http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/7.0.1/releasenotes.

p.s - Gas said it more eloquently :cool:
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

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romerojpg wrote:and that me out of Firefox forever! it just AUTO updated to 7.01 and fucked up my entire PC, well done! its updated and god only knows what it has done, overwritten /changed important things and its gone. What a joke. Lost loads of important work, tossers! no other browser even works properly now either, so its done something to a few things somehow. No browser even shows emails properly in Firefox for gods sake!
You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. If I was a betting man, I would put money on the fact you have either a virus or malware on your PC. You complete n00b.
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by romerojpg »

Auto Update was turned off and always has been, it did it anyway :thumbs:
IronMonkey wrote:You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. If I was a betting man, I would put money on the fact you have either a virus or malware on your PC. You complete n00b.
nOOb :lol: Seriously :lol:
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

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romerojpg wrote:Auto Update was turned off and always has been, it did it anyway :thumbs:
Hands in there who believes you? No one? Didn't think so. My guess, you've just found the option and now disabled it.
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by bradavon »

Out of interest, what browser do members use? Me:

Main: Firefox 7 (was Chrome)
Backup (if you use one): IE9

Does anyone use Opera or Safari?
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by IronMonkey »

romerojpg wrote:nOOb :lol: Seriously :lol:
Yes, seriously. If you believe Firefox destroyed your PC like that, you are completely useless with PCs and shouldn't be allowed near one.

n00b.
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by gasteropod »

bradavon wrote:Out of interest, what browser do members use?
Main: Chrome 15
Backup: Internet Explorer 8
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by bradavon »

Are you still using XP? If not, upgrade to IE9 dude. It's significantly better.

If you're still on XP, it's so old (over a decade old). Windows 7 is massively better. I've yet to see a BSOD on Windows 7 only had to use System Restore once, which is a stark contrast to XP. Everything just runs more fluidly too, plus the ability to pin apps to the task bar is very useful.
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by gasteropod »

We've been through this before lol, I'm using XP until they stop updating it, I have no need for another operating system until then.
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by bradavon »

gasteropod wrote:We've been through this before lol, I'm using XP until they stop updating it, I have no need for another operating system until then.
They pretty much stopped updating it a long time ago. It barely gets any Windows Update any more. Windows Live Essentials, IE9, Facebook Messenger to name a few that aren't support on XP. I didn't reckon I needed Blu-ray Player (my DVDs work fine) until I saw Blu-ray. XP just about croaks along, then so does Windows 95.

You're better of waiting for Windows 8 now, some 10-12 years after XP came out.
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by bradavon »

Some interesting titbits regarding Firefox 10 (released 31/01):

The new Aurora builds bump Firefox 10 to beta status. Changes in this version offer users an improved add-on experience, as all compatible add-ons except for binary add-ons will not be disabled by the browser. This sorts out the "maxversion" situation, which required developers to set a Firefox version number with which the add-on would stop being compatible. Mozilla expects that this will significantly decrease the number of problems related to add-ons. The Sync setup process has been improved, too.

This small change will be a major benefit for Firefox users. It's one of the biggest complaints since Mozilla adopted a faster upgrade release and the majority of the time isn't necessary. It's so rare (but does happen, if the extension is really old) that an extension doesn't work perfectly with newer versions of Firefox.

Also interesting changes for Firefox 11:

Meanwhile, Firefox 11 Aurora for desktops gets two useful changes. Windows 7 and Vista users will no longer see the User Account Control (UAC) for Firefox after the browser's initial installation. This completes Firefox's alignment with Chrome's seamless updates, which haven't required your interaction with the UAC. On first installation, the browser now adds Chrome to its list of browsers from which it can import your personal data.

Personally I'm not so sure about this one. You only see a UAC prompt when new versions are released (which is roughly only once every 6 weeks) and the fix for getting around this is to decrease security. There's a solid reason Microsoft would prefer programs are installed in Program Files (which is a protected folder) and user data in AppData (which isn't a protected folder, providing you've got rights).

This follows Chrome and now Spotify's approach of circumventing UAC prompts by putting the entire program in AppData.

The source also gives details on what is changing with Firefox on Android. Which I may switch to (especially for Firefox Sync) when I get a tablet but I don't need on my phone. I still wish it put tabs in their natural place at the top though. Having to press a button to see them pop out from the right it just dumb. I can see the UI logic on a small phone screen but not a larger tablet.

Source: http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-57 ... firefox-11
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by bradavon »

Firefox 10 is here:

www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/10.0/releasenotes

And as stated only one of my extensions needed it's MaxVersion flag bumping (A dictionary one). I checked a few others and many which passed, the MaxVersion was lower than v10 (i.e - in older versions would've been disabled). That's a major step forward and a big request since Mozilla upgraded Firefox more often.
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by EvaUnit02 »

So there are plans to stick the tab bar permanently at the top, with no option to change it (they already hid the option from the main menus, you have to dig into about:config options to display the tab bar on the bottom). I'm not sure I like that at all. One of the selling points of Firefox is the customisability compared to casual user garbage like Chrome.
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Released

Post by bradavon »

You put the tab bar on the bottom? WTF!
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