8 replies to this topic

[qubit]

Today, Mozilla launches its latest version number-inflating release of its flagship browser: Firefox 12. However, it's considerably more than just a bigger number to compete with Google's Chrome.

It only introduces two new features and doesn't appear to have much in the way of rendering speed improvements, but it does include hundreds of bugfixes (including security) and under-the-hood improvements that make the decision to upgrade a no-brainer. The two new features are:

• Page Source now has line numbers
• Windows: Firefox is now easier to update with one less prompt (User Account Control)

Exciting, huh? It can be obtained from the mozilla.com homepage and the full release notes are available here.

Click here to view the article

[_JP_]

Sill using 3.6.xx. Not going to change.

[qubit]

Refusinik! I wonder why you're so keen on the old version though? I suspect you had some bad experiences with version 4, perhaps? That one wasn't their greatest, I have to admit.

They've made some serious improvements to FF since that version - especially security improvements and bugfixes. Why not try it out on another machine/partition/VM and see how it goes? Stick on all the add-ons you want and try it all out. Modern FF is fast and stable and renders very well. In short, it's the business.

[Static~Charge]

I'm waiting for Waterfox to churn out the version 12 update. Love that 64-bit goodness!

[_JP_]

Refusinik! I wonder why you're so keen on the old version though? I suspect you had some bad experiences with version 4, perhaps? That one wasn't their greatest, I have to admit.

They've made some serious improvements to FF since that version - especially security improvements and bugfixes. Why not try it out on another machine/partition/VM and see how it goes? Stick on all the add-ons you want and try it all out. Modern FF is fast and stable and renders very well. In short, it's the business.

If you must ask, yes I did have. It disabled AdBlock (which is something that makes the Internet tolerable to me) and some other plugins. Wasn't fluid and used more RAM (and I noticed this more than any other, because at any given time, I usually have some 30-odd tabs open). I also don't like the layout/GUI and how they messed with the settings you could changed. It's basically the same situation when I was forced to work with Office 2007, coming from Office 2003.
This is also my way of responding to the childish behavior Mozilla has taken towards Google's Chrome scheme.

Edited by _JP_, 25 April 2012 - 03:00 PM.

[qubit]

Ok, fair enough JP. However, note that Adblock and Flashblock work just fine now and have done so for some time. These are the two killer features that keep me using Firefox, regardless of what the competition has to offer. I can't stand animated, noisy ads either.

I don't like that stupid interface "enhancement" either, but you can switch it back to the classic one with a couple of mouse clicks. I can't say for the functionality of your other plugins, but you may still want to try v12, because they reenabled a lot of disabled ones. Finally, all support for your old version has now ended, including security fixes, so now might be time for that reason alone. I'll be doing a news article on it a bit later today.

[Static~Charge]

Sill using 3.6.xx. Not going to change.

FYI - Mozilla has officially ended all support for the 3.6 branch:

Finally Off Life Support: No More Updates for Firefox 3.6
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/mozilla-browser-firefox-3.6-updates,news-38400.html

[qubit]

Sill using 3.6.xx. Not going to change.

FYI - Mozilla has officially ended all support for the 3.6 branch:

Finally Off Life Support: No More Updates for Firefox 3.6
http://www.tomshardw...news-38400.html

That's the article I've been planning to do.

[Static~Charge]

For those people who want a 64-bit version of Firefox, Waterfox 12.0 is now available:

Source: http://waterfoxproject.org/

I'm using it right now; so far, so good.