Mozilla last week issued a fifth beta of Firefox 3.6 rather than move on to a release candidate, a decision that will push the final code ship date into early 2010, a company executive said Friday.
Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 was released as an update to current testers early Thursday, and can also be installed by others who download it from Mozilla’s site.
Beta 5 includes nearly 130 fixes from the last beta , which Mozilla released in late November. The fixes resolved numerous crash bugs, including a major crash problem in the Mac edition’s TraceMonkey JavaScript rendering engine , and other bugs in Firefox’s private browsing mode, the automatic password retrieval component and the fast startup module. The release of the new beta was up in the air last Monday, when Mozilla said it was only one option for the week. “Beta 5 builds are being tested by QA now, targeting a Thursday release unless we get to RC [Release Candidate] first,” the company said in a weekly status meeting . “We are really, really close to being code-complete & only need 8 more patches and a TraceMonkey merge. If we can go to build today or tomorrow, QA will scrap Beta 5 and we’ll release RC to the beta audience ASAP.” The appearance of Beta 5 means that Mozilla has pushed back both the Release Candidate — typically the last preview milestone — and the final, finished software. “Mozilla released a fifth version of Firefox 3.6 to its more than 600,000 beta users as part of its continuing program to gather feedback and get fixes into the hands of the people evaluating the preview,” said Mike Beltzner, director of Firefox, in an e-mail Friday. “We expect to be able to issue a release candidate before the end of this year, but we’ll likely hold off on the official release until early in the new year.” As recently as September, Mozilla was planning to deliver the final of Firefox 3.6 by early November. Subsequently, Mozilla began using a by-year’s-end window to describe its release plans for Firefox 3.6. Such delays are not unusual. Last year, for example, Mozilla originally shot for a late-2008 release of Firefox 3.5, but eventually postponed the ship date to mid-2009 in order to add features and quash troublesome bugs in the then-new TraceMonkey. Firefox controls about 25% of the global browser market, according to the most recent data from U.S.-based metrics company Net Applications. Over the past week, however, Firefox’s share slipped slightly as users tried out Google ’s Chrome, which made beta for Mac and Linux on Dec. 8. Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 can be downloaded from Mozilla’s Web site for Windows, Mac and Linux. People using an earlier preview of Firefox 3.6 should see upgrade notices shortly if they haven’t already.
On top of promised features such as faster javascript handling, outdated plug-ins check, and bookmark synchronization, Mozilla pushed out more enhancements:
• Browser appearance modifications using Personas.
• Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
• Support for the Web Open Font Format (WOFF).
• Amped-up browser responsiveness and start-up time.
• Support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.
Firefox 3.6 beta — emphasis on beta — is built on the Gecko 1.9.2 Web rendering engine. Gecko is a layout engine that gets along well with Web developers, add-on developers and users. Gecko was created by Mozilla and its latest iteration seems meant for the latest Firefox.
One of the biggest perks of Firefox as a whole is the ability to tinker underneath the hood, and Mozilla appears excited to assist developers in the process of improving its browser with a special Web site devoted to the process.
However, there are numerous flaws. I tinkered with Firefox 3.6 beta for the Mac and was disappointed. While the browser certainly loaded faster and dexterously opened pages, I did not see the Vista-ish theme I was looking forward to, and when I tried altering the browser’s appearance with Personas, I got this fun little message:
If Mozilla is going to promise improvements, it should follow through.
Mac users who aren’t keen on Safari have been stuck with Firefox for quite some time. The browser is steady, reliable and has been a staple on my MacBook for ages. However, the moment Google Chrome is released for the Mac — after what has felt like an eternity hearing about its mind-blowing speed — my loyalty to Mozilla will be quickly replaced by my adoration for Google.
Mozilla is prepared to release the latest beta version of its Firefox browser next Friday, October 16, with a few added enhancements to whet the palate of those eager to get their hands on the upcoming Firefox 4.0. The updates will be “minor,” according to sources, so don’t expect mind-blowing changes that’ll transform your browser experience. You will have to wait for Firefox 4.0, expected to launch in 2010, for the big update.
News mavens at The Register claim that version 3.7, which does not have a release date, will cop a feel from Windows Vista and feature the “Aero Glass design … taking on the same translucent appearance as the OS itself.” Sexy!
Firefox 4.0 has a few mockup pictures on the wiki Web site. So far so good … but there’s something suspicious about its veneer. Can anyone say Google Chrome lookalike?
Eager users are already complaining about the new look. “I think Firefox SHOULD be distinctive, and have its own look and feel, not something borrowed from Chrome, or IE,” gripes one user on a wish list site. I’m hoping the similarities between Firefox 4.0 and Chrome don’t stop at the pretty window dressing. I was an avid Firefox user on Windows and Mac until I stumbled across Chrome, which is leagues superior to the slow and buggy Firefox browser (now if only Chrome would release a stable version to Macs…).
Personally, I just want it faster. Security has never been (too much of) an issue for Firefox, so improvements there could only be, well, improvements, not crucial updates to patch gaping holes as is the norm for browsers like Internet Explorer.
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